SURYA RAMACHANDRAN

Surya is a city boy Chennai who later pursued his passion into the wild. His jungle journey commenced in the forests of Satpura at Forsyth’s. Personally having been mentored by some of the stalwarts of Indian wildlife conservation and research, his interests widened to all types of life forms, especially the lesser fauna of the region and their microhabitats. Satpura having been a less tiger centric park gave him the chance to explore other activities other than just Jeep safaris. After 5 years at Satpura he moved to Kanha and also experienced the feelers of working in a major tiger park. Be it Satpura or Kanha the thing Surya enjoys the most is the idea of guiding, explaining and documenting the little secrets of the jungle to people rather than just seeing it for himself. His work in this regard earned him the prestigious TOfT award in the year 2016. His award winning photographs, articles and research documentation work have been used in journals and published widely in various wildlife magazines.

In 2015, along with a friend and colleague, he successfully authored ‘Photo Field Guide to Wildlife of Central India’ and in 2021, the ‘Photo Guide to Wildlife of South India’ which covers 850 and 1960 species respectively of each region. These are first of its kind field guides in India that simplify information and make it accessible and usable for the enthusiast.

During the Monsoon period he leads specialist wildlife expeditions to parts of Africa, Brazil, the Red Pandas of Nepal and Western Ghats wilderness for specialist groups, photographers and researchers. He is also one of the certified expedition leaders for the WWF international team and an ambassador for Swarovski Optik Birding for India.

Surya believes that the key to sustainable ecotourism is to keep the locals at the helm. He currently is working on creating wildlife experiences in off the map destinations with the locals steering it all the way through. He, along with a team, have spent the last 8 years in Ladakh, working with the local community and assisting in the setup of dedicated wildlife lodges such as Snow Leopard Lodge. He believes that this could help in a lot of conservation issues faced in our country, especially in wild spaces outside protected areas.