Into The Wild Through Her Lens

Deemed as the ‘Tiger Princess’ of India, wildlife biologist and tiger conservationist Latika Nath has just released her first wildlife photography cum anthology book, Hidden India, with her cousin sister and writer Shloka Nath. En route to a safari in Rathambore, she talks to Society about the book and her life in and out of the wild…

- Rahulpaul

Latika is the first woman wildlife biologist in India to hold a doctorate on tigers and to enter the field of tiger conservation. With a DPhil on Tiger Conservation and Management from the Wildlife Conservation Research Unit and Christ Church, University of Oxford, Latika claims to love all animals.

“On my first birthday I got a cat and dog and I grew up with them,” says Latika. In the beginning, she wanted to work on snow leopard and Himalayan bear in Srinagar, Kashmir, but due to the immerging military problems in the area, she couldn’t. This led her to taking up conservation of tigers, the animal which was always a passion for her, she tells us. She has spent over 25 years working for tiger conservation at the grassroots level, eventually changing focus from academic work to actually working with the tribal communities in the Kanha Tiger Reserve and the Forest Department of the Government of India. She established the renowned Singinawa Jungle Lodge and through the Singinawa Foundation, she worked on education, health, art and alternate energy programs for the tribal villages in the region.