1. allaboutyou
170
allaboutyou
Passionate about nature
I’ve always been the sporty
kinds, having competed and
won national-level competi-
tions in judo and basketball
and been in the NCC. So my
decision to go to the jungles
didn’t surprise most.
Although one doesn’t have
to have a science background
to be a naturalist, the ap-
proach ought to be scientific.
The key and most important
factor is to be passionate
about nature. It’s a profes-
sion like no
other, simply
because you
never know
what’s going to
happen in the
jungle. It’s also
a lot of respon-
sibility as you
look after the
safety of those you’re taking
on safari (all naturalists are
certified first-aid givers). What
I like the best is that in the
jungle, you’re back to the ba-
h o w I g o t h e r e
Jungle girl:
home at workRatna Singh, age 27, a naturalist at the Pench
National Park, talks about her unusual profession
CAREERS
I
have always been
close to nature and
the happiest when I
was at my ancestral
home in the coun-
tryside. I come from an
erstwhile feudal family that
lived in a heavily forested
rural area. I went off to
boarding school when I was
four but the tug to go back
to the jungles has always
been very strong.
I studied history in col-
lege and got a postgraduate
diploma in international
law. However, I longed to
be in the jungles, and when
the collaboration of Taj
Wilderness Lodges and CC
Africa (a renowned African
safari company) set up shop
in India, I applied for train-
ing as a naturalist (a ranger
is called a naturalist in
India). It was a male bastion
for the longest time and
a sector that was largely
unorganised. Though most
of the trainees had some
exposure to wildlife, I got
a chance to undergo the
selection process based on
how keen I was.
The selection process took
a gruelling five weeks. We
– 15 of us – were taught about
flora and fauna, with a good
measure of physical endur-
ance tests added, and an
isolated jungle life. I managed
to clear the selection process
and the training that followed.
The entire exercise took about
eight months before I was
a certified naturalist. Very
simply, the role of a naturalist
is to provide an interpretative
safari experience for guests at
the lodge. For that, one needs
to understand animal behav-
iour and be able to track and
interpret signs in the jungle,
including calls, footprints and
smells. The idea is to under-
stand wildlife and translate it
for the guests.
sics. You rely on your senses
to interpret the jungle for the
visitor. It’s an adventure every
day. It’s a job where one may
sit under a shady tree and
watch the birds and squirrels
and no one accuses you of
idling. Besides, you can’t carry
work home!
How to get there
Wildlife tourism in India is
growing and there are a lot of
wildlife resorts that give you
the opportunity to work as a
naturalist. However, there isn’t
a training school in India for
naturalists yet, besides the
one set up by Taj Wilderness
Lodges and CC Africa (www.
tajsafaris.com). Starting at the
entry-level, naturalists can
climb up to become junior and
eventually senior naturalists,
based on experience.
The remuneration
The pay scale, usually
Rs 10,000 onwards, var-
ies enormously since a lot
of factors come into play:
experience in the jungle, the
company you work with, and,
of course, how skilled and
knowledgeable you are. A
great plus is that, usually, for
resident naturalists, the board
and lodge is taken care of, so
it adds up to a lot of savings.
Caveats
If you’d like to be in this pro-
fession, visit a national park
several times,
and get an
idea of how
life can be. Do
it only if you
have a pas-
sion for the
wilderness, as
usually you
are around
villages where
you may not even get a basic
shampoo, and accessing a big-
ger town may not always be
easy. Be prepared to be away
from family and friends.
You’re back to
the basics. You
have to rely on
your senses to
interpret the
jungle for the
visitors
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