New Seeds Of Hope For Nature

“What kind of far-sighted vision is needed to turn a devastated overgrazed landscape into a wildlife paradise?” I asked myself as I drove through the Van Vihar Wildlife Sanctuary, Dholpur. I tried to envisage what it would be like, or what it used to be like? Did it have the essentials to be restorable? How long would it take? What are the critical biodiversity ‘switches’, the key actions that are needed to transform a scrubland into a wilderness haven.

- Julian Matthews

I was lucky. I had invited Dr. Goverdhan Singh Rathore to join me on my little expedition along Rajasthan’s borders. He had visited the area as a young boy, while his father, the legendary Fateh Singh Rathore, was busy laying the groundwork for the restoration of Ranthambhore in the 1980s. He knew what a bare denuded landscape looked like, and how it can spring back to life, as Ranthambhore did so magnificently, to become Rajasthan’s premier reserve.

“I slept here in this room, I remember, lovely view over the lotus-covered lake then. Just like Jogi Mahal in Ranthambhore really,” Goverdhan mused sadly, as he recalled his visit. “The place was full of wildlife. Animals drinking around the lake’s fringes, and I recall hearing tigers roaring as I fell asleep. My father loved staying here.”