Photo : Lakshitha Karunarathna
Sanctuary Asia began its journey one quiet evening in 1980. Sitting around Fateh Singh Rathore’s campfire under the banyan tree outside Jogi Mahal, Ranthambhore, Bittu Sahgal made an impulsive promise to his mentor that on his return to Mumbai he would start a wildlife magazine and galvanise urban Indians in support of the country’s wilds.
The first issue rolled out in October 1981, with no business plan, no editorial experience and no capital. Since then, Sanctuary has been chronicling India’s natural history and shaping conservation discourse without having missed a single issue despite wars, social strife and economic meltdowns. It is published monthly, with every alternate month’s publication dedicated to young readers.
In 2015, the foundation was established to manipulate the magazine’s wide network of conservationists, naturalists, photographers, writers and editors who run the several projects, campaigns and events that thrive under the Sanctuary brand. The foundation’s reach spans policy, advocacy, science, on-ground support for field workers and environmental education.
At the heart of our purpose lies the conviction that the economies of nations sit on a foundation of stable ecosystems. Sanctuary envisions a world with abundant biodiversity, a sustainable climate and an equitable future for one and all.
Read the latest issue.
We end 2025 on a veritable peak with the Sanctuary Wildlife Awards! The issue is our annual ode to the Guardians of the Wild. The Sanctuary Photography Awards were a sensational insight into nature’s secrets, laid out in the photofeature. Visit the untamed Arctic wilds, and Himalayan brown bears in Kargil. We pay homage to a tigress of Telangana, who captivated imaginations, delve into the breach of a Planetary Boundary, and trek into Northeast China’s forests for a lungless creature.
Encouraged by the support it received, three years after the first edition of Sanctuary Asia came out, a second magazine was launched in 1984. Sanctuary Cub is the first and still the only children’s nature magazine in India. With an aim to instill respect and concern for the environment and wildlife in young children, for many young Indians, Cub continues to be their first introduction to the wild and wonderful world of nature.
Currently edited by Tara Sahgal, Sanctuary Cub aims to inculcate in children an urgency to take action and the need to create a positive change in a society that gives little thought to its rapidly depleting biodiversity.
Read the latest issue.
Protected by a hard shell, the seed is nature’s diamond in the rough. It carries the information it needs to sprout into something magnificent. But like you and me, it needs a nourishing environment to truly bloom. The photofeature is a breathtaking spread of these little packets of life in the wild! We also meet the Young Naturalist Awardee 2025, an eco-restoration practitioner, and cicadas that emerge every 17 years. Jan 2026 is about our innate potential, and everything we can do with it!
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