Tiger Tiger Burning Bright

ON MAY 31, 2025, India lost one of its foremost wildlife conservationists, Valmik Thapar, a man who spent his entire life for the benefit of the tiger. In a twisted fate of irony, or whatever you might call it, my wife, child and I spent the entire week after that on a trip that was planned almost a year ago in Kanha, staying at the Taj Safari Lodge. And what came to one’s mind is how brilliant our ecosystem in India is, and how poor our tourism impetus is towards wildlife.

And the issues that Valmik had raised all his life, of human-animal conflict, of land that abutted resorts and forests and jungles, how that was being slowly taken back by humankind, came to the fore. However, what was truly remarkable and eye-opening was the significant impetus that Madhya Pradesh had given to wildlife conservation and wildlife tourism. The rules are not only strict but almost deathly in their implementation. Poaching has almost become extinct in areas like Kanha, Panna, Bandhavgarh, and Pench.

What one saw was the extreme dedication of everyone—the people at Taj Safaris, the naturalists, the park guides, the forest rangers, or the forest officers. And this brought something to my mind for us all to ponder. We cannot have wildlife disappear from our country, and the efforts that successive governments have made must be lauded. But there now needs some course correction, where we make wildlife tourism responsible and responsive.

Because if our children don’t grow up understanding, respecting and revering nature, that will be the biggest blow to nature in our country. This is why for our five-year-old daughter, Gayatri, it was important to see nature in its natural habitat, animals in their natural habitat, and to understand how life in a forest or a jungle is so alarmingly different from that in an urban situation.

That level of respect now needs to be taught in all our educational institutions. We need travel agencies to understand the role that they can play in promoting responsible wildlife tourism. The example of Taj today, even in terms of lighting, needs to be replicated. Taj uses kerosene lamps and not ugly LEDs, with strict rules both for food and what you can do within the lodges.

Goa has six national parks, so it may be important for Goa to promote those, including the brilliant Salim Ali Bird Sanctuary. The Northeast is replete with parks, and I know that Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma is deeply committed, because I’m seeing the changes that are being made in Kaziranga, qua the one-horned rhinoceros. But we have miles to go.

Madhya Pradesh is an oasis of excellence, but that’s because the state is committed, its people are deeply committed, and the government recognises that this is not a milch cow. But are all the states following this model? Are we doing enough to promote responsible wildlife tourism? Are we exposing our people to the vagaries of nature through wildlife?

It is nature not just in terms of animals, it is nature not just in terms of trees, it is the entire ecosystem that needs to be respected and revered. Because once we destroy this, it will never come back. The good thing is that our tiger population is increasing. Our rhinoceros population is increasing. Our wild elephant population is increasing.

As we were driving out of Kanha, it was almost surreal to feel the spirit of Valmik Thapar hovering above us, both in affection and in guidance. And all those tiger sightings, we devoted to him silently and with a prayer of gratitude. I am sure Anjali and Jaisal Singh, who run the Sujan chain of experiential wildlife resorts and are his wildlife heirs, will continue to do the stunning work they do with responsible wildlife tourism.

human-animal conflictSalim Ali Bird Sanctuarytiger conservationValmik Thaparwildlife conservationists