EXPERTS
Surya Ramachandran
Surya is academically an engineer from the South Indian city of Chennai, who later pursued his passion into the wild. His jungle journey commenced in the forests of Satpura at Forsyth Lodge where he started as an intern and then later turned into a full-time naturalist. Personally, having been mentored by some of the giants 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. His vehement enthusiasm led to his team pioneering Central India’s first walking safari, canoeing, wilderness camping and night drives at Satpura. 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 experienced the feelers of working in a major tiger park. His love for wildlife and eagerness to learn led him exploring India’s special and rare mammals, birds, reptiles and butterflies. 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 and documentation work have been used in journals and published widely in various wildlife magazines.
The need to guide people and arouse their curiosity encouraged him to write a book. Along with a friend and colleague, he successfully authored ‘Photo Field Guide to Wildlife of Central India’ and the ‘Photo Guide to Wildlife of South India’ which covers 850 and 1960 species respectively of each region, first of its kind field guides in India.
During the Monsoon period he leads his own tours to Africa, the Red Pandas of Nepal and Western Ghats wilderness for specialist groups, individuals, 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. Irrespective of the region diversity Surya’s zeal and vigour never fails to captivate guests.
Siddhartha Ganesh
Sid is a wildlife documentary filmmaker, producer, director, photographer, and drone operator dedicated in documenting natural history and conservation issues that determine our time. Having completed a masters in documentary filmmaking, Sid has been in the field for the past 6 years working on various environmental and wildlife conscious films. Sid is a skilled camera operator and drone pilot, enjoys directing films, delivering high quality cinematic stories with a twist.
Based in Mumbai, his love for capturing details and attention to variable forces fuels his ability to create powerful imagery that is storytelling in action. His technical skills are augmented with storytelling ability making his approach unique, versatile and persistent.
He founded Trippintoe Media in 2019 and through this media production house, he aims to create and present stories across a wide range of themes related to conservation and the natural world.
Trippintoe Media is a visual production company that introduces the audience to the sheer beauty of our complex ecosystem through empathetic visual storytelling, helping them find their space in it, not just as benefactors but also as potential saviours of it. Trippintoe Media offers to educate, inspire, and reflect on important social and conservation issues by providing an end-to-end documentary production and filmmaking services.
THE STORY “CONSERVATION”
Having experienced the natural world first-hand and lived through its many interactions, we are committed to conservation at every level. As visual storytellers, we want to present every story – big and small, and increase the understanding of wildlife species, their interactions, and importance.
“EMPATHETIC STORYTELLING”
The natural world is at the core of what we do, and as storytellers we are proud of being a voice for nature. Through the power of film and media we capture the truest story possible while paying attention to detail with informed sensibility. Through our stories, we want to evoke emotions and help connect worlds that otherwise would never meet.
Faiza Mookerjee
Faiza grew up in the bustling capital city of New Delhi although she hails from the eastern state of West Bengal. Being the daughter of a wildlife conservationist and travel writer, her love for the natural world began at a very young age. Growing up, holidays generally meant accompanying her father to remote wilderness areas on project work and regularly trekking through the Himalayas. She started her career in the tourism world as a SCUBA divemaster at the age of 19 whilst simultaneously finishing her undergraduate studies in sociology.
Faiza grew up in the bustling capital city of New Delhi although she hails from the eastern state of West Bengal. Being the daughter of a wildlife conservationist and travel writer, her love for the natural world began at a very young age. Growing up, holidays generally meant accompanying her father to remote wilderness areas on project work and regularly trekking through the Himalayas. She started her career in the tourism world as a SCUBA divemaster at the age of 19 whilst simultaneously finishing her undergraduate studies in sociology.
Over time Faiza realized what she truly enjoyed was sharing her love for the natural world with others and felt this was a great tool in educating people and bringing about a closer connect to nature. She managed a wildlife lodge in the foothills of the Himalayas for two years and thereafter has worked in the travel industry curating and guiding wildlife tours. She has spent the last few years guiding in the trans-Himalayan region of Ladakh, searching for the highly elusive snow leopard. Faiza also leads tours in the tiger reserves of Central India and rainforests of South India. She has edited a wonderful photographic field guide to the wildlife of South India. Coming from a background in sociology, Faiza takes great interest in how the native communities co-exist with wildlife in these wilderness areas and strongly believes that any sustainable tourism venture has to benefit the communities that live there.
In her spare time Faiza enjoys exploring new kinds of cuisine and enjoys cooking. She has a soft spot for trees and plants and has a wealth of knowledge on this subject. Her personal travel plans generally revolve around food and wildlife.
Varun Devaraj
Varun Devaraj has been working in the field of wildlife and conservation for the last ten years. A fascination for the wilderness started at a young age when Varun spent his school holidays exploring the wilds of the Western Ghats with his Parents.
After a brief stint in the corporate world, Varun joined The Keystone Foundation in the Nilgiris and worked on conservation and afforestation projects in the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve.
In 2011 he moved to Satpura Tiger Reserve in Central India to work as a naturalist and wildlife Guide at Forsyth’s Lodge, a pioneer in alternative wildlife experiences like walking and canoeing in Tiger country. Varun was also instrumental in setting up a multi-day hike inside the tiger reserve, a unique program for the Central Indian landscape.
After a productive five years, Varun spent the next couple of years consulting with wilderness properties around the country, helping them set up wildlife programs and aid in marketing activities.
Varun now primarily focuses on leading wildlife tours in the Central Indian landscape, the cold deserts of Ladakh and the Western Ghats.
Avijit Dutta
Although originally from Calcutta, Avijit spent his entire childhood in the mountains of Kalimpong where he attended school at a Scottish missionary Dr.Graham’s Homes between 1993 to March of 2006. He went on to graduate with an honors degree in history from Jadavpur University, Calcutta in 2009 and followed it up with a tourism degree in his post-graduation between 2009 to 2010 from the Indian Institute of Tourism and Travel Management, Gwalior under the ministry of tourism.
Immediately post studies, Avijit took up his first job in December of 2010 where he joined as a Naturalist at Sunderban Tiger Camp and went to Satpura the following year as a Naturalist at Reni Pani Jungle Lodge. Between 2012 and 2013, Avijit was a Naturalist and host at Itmenaan Estate in Kumaon.
He shifted to Pench Tiger Reserve by the end of 2013 to join the newly built lodge at Jamtara Wilderness Camp where he was the first Naturalist and helped build up the team along with the Manager over the next four seasons while also observing and tracking wildlife in the park and around the camp in addition to guiding and hosting guests. During this time, Avijit was also the visiting Naturalist for Jamtara/Encounters Asia at Mahoora Camps, Sri lanka in august of 2016. He eventually moved on from Pench in April of 2017 when he joined Travel Scope India as their Manager for Wildlife experiences while also subsequently leading trips as a traveling naturalist in addition to traveling overseas to the U.K. between for marketing the curated trips to tour operators/ travel agents in the U.K.
In October of 2019, Avijit moved on from Travel Scope to work independently and has been focusing on leading tours and explorations mainly on wildlife, tribes and local cuisines across the Indian Subcontinent. Since the pandemic, Avijit has used most of this time to explore extensively the forests of Jilling in eastern Kumaon, and the forests of the Northeast which he dearly loves apart from curating and teaching short courses to kids online on wildlife and nature. Avijit’s other interests include archaeology, writing and photography and he has been a contributing
