“There are few things as therapeutic as being in the wild”
Travelling now is less about “checking-in” and more about experiencing authenticity
Aholiday ought to be, at the very least, a considerable improvement on everyday life. For me, preferably more enriching too. Gone are the days when people, well, people who have ‘been there and done that’ were satisfied by just checking into an uber-luxury hotel. Anyone can hire an architect to build one of those, and there are more than enough parvenus to fill them too; the sort who wouldn’t know or care to learn, the difference between caviar and quail’s eggs, as long as the price tag was worth framing—or rather, Instagramming. But for the cognoscenti, it’s really the ‘software’—the people one interacts with on the journey—be it a sommelier or safari guide—the experiences on offer, and the hotel’s commitment to sustainability that matter more today than ever before.
Having grown up with wildlife— no, this isn’t a reference to my family, although it might be apt—one might think I’d occasionally want to escape and lie on a beach, sipping a cocktail and doing not very much. I haven’t dared to thus far, for I think I might end up attempting to climb a palm tree
after half a day of idling, almost certainly causing myself considerable bodily harm. There are no prizes for guessing what my travel obsession is. Undoubtedly, it is being on safari; for there are few things as therapeutic as being in the wild among bird and beast. Right here at home in India, we have some of the most extraordinary and unique biodiversity on the planet. Apart from a handful of national parks and reserves, the vast majority of which are, sadly, unimaginatively managed, even the well-educated, well-heeled Indian traveller is many bricks short of a load on the subject. Wildlife tourism has for long been viewed and treated with hostility and contempt, instead of being harnessed as a tool for conservation. Unlike in numerous African countries where responsible wildlife tourism creates lots of good jobs, supports rural economies, and in some cases is their highest foreign exchange earner, we have been quite divvy about this in India, to put it mildly. Did you know that a third of India’s land mass is legally protected for wildlife of all shapes, sizes and forms? Did you know we have thousands of species—many of these endemic and iconic—that live from the high Himalayas to the deserts and dry deciduous forests of Rajasthan, down to the tropics of Kerala, and everywhere in between?
My first safari experience in Africa was over two decades ago (when I was just 15 years old) and it stayed with me. Many lodges and leopards later, the continent still has a magnetic draw. I find myself there a few times every year and without a doubt I’d choose a responsible operation over mere luxury. The brilliant news is one doesn’t necessarily have to make that choice; there are many that will give you oodles of both, without compromising the other. The likes of Londolozi Private Game Reserve in South Africa, whose owners, Shan and Dave Varty, have been at the forefront of a responsible safari business and conservation for many decades, to Singita, a brand once known only for its luxury arm-chair safaris but one that is now becoming synonymous with wildlife conservation. Singita’s Grumeti Reserve in Tanzania is a fine example of where Singita’s founder Luke Bailes and the billionaire Paul Tudor Jones have partnered to successfully return about 1,500 sq. km. back to a flourishing habitat for all sorts of wildlife. Now, that is a lot of land, and it takes millions of green bucks ploughed in year on year to maintain and protect it.
For the rapid-fire photographer that I am, the thrill of seeing predators in action has always been an obsession, be it African wild dogs hunting in Grumeti, leopards mating at Londolozi, or a tiger killing a crocodile back home in Ranthambhore. These encounters are as enriching as campfire conversations with the Varty Family and their passionate team who have relentlessly championed the cause of restoration; of wildlife habitats not just in Africa but across continents. It is these wholesome, meaningful, and well-rounded experiences that enrich and educate, yet remaining high on the enjoyment quotient, that make me yearn to return to the wild.