Ranthambhore Tiger Reserve is the last stronghold of the Tiger in Aravalis and also the northwestern limit of their distribution. Geographically this area is unique as it is the meeting point of the two ancient hill ranges with their own characteristic flora and fauna. The Fort in the park is an added attraction for national and International tourists.

The Ranthambore Tiger Reserve encompasses an area of 1334.64 sq.km constituted by the Keladevi Wildlife Sanctuary (674 sq.km.), Ranthambore National Park (392.5 sq.km), Sawai Mansingh Wildlife Sanctuary (127.6 sq.km), The Qualji Closed Area (7.58 sq.km), and other forest area (132.96 sq.km). The reserve falls in the district of Karauli and Sawai Madhopur. Located at the junction of Aravallis and Vindhyan bounded to the north by river Banas and river Chambal in the east. The forest of the Ranthambore Tiger Reserve is Dry deciduous type and AnogeissusPendula (dhok) is the most common tree.

According to the latest census conducted by Wildlife Institute of India and National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) the estimated tiger population in the reserve is about 32. This park is very important for the conservation of the tiger in this landscape and is the source population of this magnificent cat. The conservation of Tigers in this park ensures long-term survival of the species in the landscape.

• NGTP (Nature Guide Training Program) - The Nature Guides are the representatives of the Park to the Tourists. They provide them with the right information related to the flora and fauna of the area and also educate them about the importance of conservation of biodiversity. The Nature Guide Training Program deals with a structured training programme for the nature guides of Ranthambore Tiger Reserve, Rajasthan to educate and make them aware of the flora and fauna in the jungle. The Training program also aims to improve their communication skills and enhance the tourism aspect of their job.
• Monitoring of Wildlife By Tourist Vehicle - Most of the Tiger reserves are a good area for the wildlife tourism and lots of visitors from India and abroad visitthese reserves every year. Tourism is a non-consumptive use of wildlife and a big employment provider for the community living in or near the Tiger reserves. Tiger is a main attraction for the people visiting the parka and wildlife tourism plays a big role in imparting conservation education and awareness among the general public. The tourist vehicles visiting the park every day, morning and evening both can be utilized for monitoring purposes of wildlife in these areas. This is a very new concept introduced by the TPG and appreciated by many from the field of wildlife conservation. Ranthambore is considered as the best place to see the wild Tiger in the world. Frequent sighting of the Tiger along with other forms of wildlife and their familiarity the animals share with the tourist vehicle makes this park an ideal place to start this pilot project which later on can be replicated all over India. This type of monitoring helps the forest department in making decisions about the management of the park. This is the one of the best way to involve tourism in the conservation of wildlife without investing lots of manpower and other resources.
• Technical Assistance to the Tiger Monitoring Cell - This is first of its kind of participation of any NGO with the forest department. In this project the Technical assistance will be provided to the monitoring cell of the Tiger Reserve. TPG will make the monitoring exercise more interesting and accurate so that each person involved in the monitoring process is self motivated. The process will be institutionalized so that it will keep functioning for a long time.We are planning to involve various methods in monitoring so that the data can be obtained accurately.
• Socio - Economic Study of the Wandering Tribes - There are a few villages located in or near the tiger reserve where these wandering tribes have settled down and are famous for their notorious activities specially poaching of wild animals. Long-time studies have suggested thattheir Socio-economic conditions are the reason behind their involvement in the poaching or killing of the wild animals. We, at TPG have taken the initiative with the support of the forest department to conduct a survey in order to identify each individual and find out the forces behind their notorious activities. We will also help the community to leave such ways of life and bring them in streamline.

After an hour and a half of exhaustive and gruesome presentation given away at an academic institution regarding the need to save Tigers, the students who were at the receiving end questioned us on the very existence of the cause, leaving the entire squad of members of TPG present at the moment, dumbstruck. For a moment, we were stunned, but then got the act together and wrapped it all up, clearing away all the doubts and questions that were raised to us. We departed, promising them the feel of conversation and to some, the answer of the unbelievable question.

Amidst the hustle-bustle of the capitol and hours of quiet introspection, pondering in our brains for a viable and feasible solution for such reactions, we finally managed to arrive at a well thought of plan - Tiger Camp.

Originally, on paper, resembling the charts and schedules of any morbid travel agency, the tiger camp was laid out with the hopes of satisfying every individual desire that wished to witness the mighty tiger and the amazing wildlife in its truest form.

Catering to the "delegates of conversation" hailing from schools, colleges, other academic institutions, corporate, and privately organized trips, the camp involves trips to Protected Areas wherein these delegates are informed about the current scenario of not only the Tigers, but of the entire ecosystem.

The purpose of organizing such a camp is simple, to instill in them love for the ecosystem as a whole, which no amount of theoretical knowledge sessions, presentations, research could do.

This allows us to bridge the gap between urban population and the quietly subsiding wildlife.

Unique points of the Camp:

• Customized Itineraries.
• Scientific and local experts accompany the delegates throughout the trip.
• Focus on the ecosystem as a whole.
• It is essential that people understand that in order to save the Tigers, the ecosystem i.e. the forests and the jungles in which they reside also need to be rescued.
• A healthy ecosystem would result in a healthy environment for the animals to breed in, a healthy prey base for the tigers, so eventually, a healthy tiger population.
• Imparting the feel of conversation in every single participant.

The trip does not end after the Tiger Camp it actually starts! We encourage the students to take the cause forward and spread it across by various ways accredited by us!!

Lets have a glimpse at the benchmarks we have set so far:

• MGD, Jaipur – Over 90 students from the school were taken to Ranthambore. The Response was land sliding. It only fostered our ambitious project.
• St. Stephens College, DU – The wildlife society members were taken to Ranthambore. The group comprising of about 20 hardcore wildlife fanatics paved way for others in the University due to the highly capable promoters of D.U and our very own communications team.
• Amity School, Noida – Around 60 in numbers, these students were also taken to Ranthambore. Post-Trip Response has been staggering and has prompted us in future endeavors with them.

If you feel like organizing a trip for yourself, please don't hesitate and give us a call on these numbers: Shiva Mehta – 9999926399 or Upamanyu Raju - 9810616182

Tiger Fest is an initiative by the Tiger Protection Group (TPG) with the sole objective of bringing the youth vis-a-vis with the plight of the tiger in a fun and educative spirit. It started with the event first unfolding at St. Stephen College, University of Delhi on 8^th March 2011. The event saw numerous prominent faces from the field of conservation and was a huge success.

Also, Tiger Fest Jaipur earmarked with the participation of more than 30 schools involving 10000 students was another benchmark set by TPG.

This year, TPG is set to repeat history on a much larger and wider platform with numerous innovative ideas that will characterize the event. Tiger Fest 2012 will target a massive footfall of 5 lakh people, with a participation of approximately 430000 students from 360 schools. It will be the first ever Tiger Fest reaching out to the General Public at the ground level.

Various innovative ideas will embellish the event beginning from its conduction in a strategically designed mechanism to reach out to the maximum number of students, not only making them participate but also involved in the cause of Saving the Tigers. The event conduction is graphically illustrated below.

For each city, 30 schools will participate from each zone with 1200 students in each school in various activities. These zones will conduct their respective zonal events and at the end of it there will be a huge mega event where winners of various activities from each zones will compete. Other innovative features include:

• General Public - First ever Tiger Fest reaching out to the general public on ground level
• Commercialization - We would invovle a large number of comapnies leading to a good corporate exposure for the fest
• Out of the Box ideas - Paw Print Campaign, Portray the hope, Art of recycling and various other innovative activities
• Inviting local tribe - This will help abridge gap between the tribals and urbans and will help underpriviliged people share their plight.
• Associate Partners - We are planning on connecting with the big guns from various fields of art, dance, singing etc.
• Noble Connect - NGO's, orphanages, people with disabilities will be invited and to perform at the Mega event.
• Activities for all age groups - To achieve our collosal target and maximum participation; the activities are grouped according to class standards.
• Imparting Tiger Education - Activities like knowledge centre, Jungle safari, wildlife based games and various other activities.
• Judgemental Machinery - A fair judging mechanism that is non controversial will include everyone's opinion i.e. Judges, Experts & Public
• Online Presence - The Fest would have a lively online presence owing to our extremely capable and talented social media wing.
• Tiger Anthem - Composed by a famous band or music composer and would be aggressively promoted. This is another way of binding the youth.
• Others - Influencing public opinion, Going eco-friendly, Display of Multimedia Content, etc. The Mega and Zonal Events both combined would involve a huge number of guests hailing from various fields.

This project Seeks to promote social change in the fringe villages in order to secure full participation of the local communities in Biodiversity conservation by their capacity building and finding ecologically sound and culturally appropriate means of livelihoods for achieving sustainable development.

The avenues for achieving these objectives with respect to community development and conservation are as follows:
(i) To establish committed grass root level local organizations concerned with conservation by educating, motivating and involving local people of the buffer zone villages of Kanha Tiger Reserve. (ii) To achieve reduction in resource dependency on forests product of the Reserve and thus lead to habitat improvement and conservation. This can be achieved by providing alternate source of income and its related activities to those who are still dependent on the forest resources . (iii) To create awareness about the value of the Reserve and the Tiger. We need to conserve it, among the target villages using different way (folk arts, audio-visual, posters and brochures). (iv) To enhance the capacity among local people in needed skills and knowledge by organizing training courses, workshops and field visits.

Our study area lies in Kanha Tiger Reserve in Madhya Pradesh. Kanha Tiger Reserve comprises parts of the Mandla, Balaghat, Kawardha and Dindori districts of Madhya Pradesh. It is located in the Maikal hills of the Satpura hill range. Kanha is internationally renowned for its rich floral and faunal attributes. From the survey report it is evident that both villages are underdeveloped and lacking most of the basic facilities. There are ample opportunities for these villages to grow and become a model village, if we educate them and make them aware.

On the occasion of Platinum Jubilee of Corbett National Park, Wildlife Savers Society and Tiger Protection Group in a joint collaboration with Uttarakhand Forest Department have come together to host Eco Engineering-2011 International Conference, on Green Infrastructures in connecting Wildlife Corridors. The Eco Engineering-2011 International Conference will be hosted on 11th December 2011 at Hari Singh Auditorium, Forest Research Institute, Dehradun in the state of Uttarakhand, India.

This conference has been initiated for addressing the issue of habitat fragmentation which has led to an increase in man-animal conflict in the state of Uttarakhand and to provide mitigation measures through green infrastructures and other regulations to reconnect the wildlife corridors.

The Eco-Engineering conference focuses on identified eleven crucial wildlife corridors ranging from River Yamuna to River Kho to provide mitigation solutions through green infrastructures to reconnect these corridors. The selected International and national speakers from the field of wildlife, road ecology, green infrastructure engineering and planning will come together to suggest measures and guide accordingly the authorities responsible for wildlife protection and management to ensure long term survival of Asian Elephants on the basis of sustainable development.

A detailed report on the recommendations of the experts for the proposed green infrastructures to connect the Wildlife corridors will be prepared as an outcome of the conference to put into further deliberation.

The Eco Engineering conference intends to lay a foundation to find a long term solution to the fragmentation problem and ensure a safe haven to these threatened species of wildlife for generation to come.

To know more, please Download the Brochure  |   Download the Summary

The nature guides are representatives of the park who are responsible for introducing the wild jungle and its beautiful creatures to tourists. They not only make the jungle safari enjoyable and intere sting but also educate the tourists about responsible tourism, functioning of the forest ecosystem including its diverse flora and fauna and wildlife conservation and its importance.

The Nature Guide Training Program was a joint effort of Tiger Protection Group and Wildlife Savers Society in association with Forest Department of Rajasthan. It was a structured training program for the nature guides of the Ranthambhore Tiger Reserve, Rajasthan. The aim of the program was to reinforce and improve the skills of the park guides to enable them to become better informed and more effective in imparting information to the tourists visiting the park.

To Read more, click and download the "Synopsis".

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The young blood holds the key to our future and they are the ones to decide what is right or wrong. Tiger Fest is just an effort made by Tiger Protection Group to unveil a clearer picture to the youth, of what our National Animal is going through in our own country.

After the success of Tiger Fest in St. Stephens College, Delhi University, Tiger Protection Group organized a three days fest in Ryan International School, Jaipur in July 2011. This time, the stakes were high, and the Fest became a huge success that involved over 10,000 students from 30 different schools of Jaipur city in 37 different activities. It had a series of educational events, coupled with entertainment to connect the youth in their own language and to make them learn the importance of Wildlife and Nature in our lives.

The main highlights were:

• It was an Edutainment event, where awareness was spread with entertainment.
• It attracted a massive audience and appraised them with the current Tiger crisis.
• No student was left untouched as the event involved all the standards from Montessori to grade 12^th.
• Different educational yet fun filled activities were conducted to send Tiger Conservation message across the masses.
• Our message not only reached the participants but the Teacher Staff, our Guests and the audience were touched with this holistic event and few of them even asked to join us to serve the Tigers.
• It was a proof that even an ordinary person, a student, a teacher or a Managing Director of Multinational company can do his bit to save the Tiger.

Our Supporters for the event:

• Rajasthan Tours and Travels
• Cox and Kings
• United Colors of Benetton
• Lindt Chocolates
• Bikano
• Radio Mirchi

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Tiger Protection Group in collaboration with St. Stephen’s College organized the first TIGER FEST 2011- REALM OF ROAR on March 8th 2011 to create public awareness about the importance of tigers amongst the most powerful citizens of the world-YOUTH.

The idea behind this program was to attract the youth, explain the connection between the tiger’s existence and our survival and apprise them of the current tiger crisis. The future of the tiger lies with the youth, who are the future of the world. There was an interactive quiz and debate at the Tiger Fest. Also there was a Paw Print campaign. In conclusion, there was prize distribution, refreshments and a chance of further interaction. Prominent faces from the field of tiger conservation were invited to judge and witness the event. It was a small step by TPG and it will soon end up making a huge and positive difference in the survival of tigers and therefore the survival of the human kind.

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Tiger Protection Group in collaboration with Tiger Watch organized a workshop on Tiger, its Importance and Conservation in Fateh Public School, Sawai Madhopur. The workshop was organized to increase the participation of the youth of India in Wildlife Conservation especially near the areas where forests like Ranthambhore are situated. The main ideology behind this workshop was to show and give the children of India a different aspect of life as conservationist and to change their mindset in becoming more proactive towards Conservation. This was the first workshop to be held in Fateh Public School and the response from these youngsters was fantastic. It was that kind of a response where you know that you have left a permanent mark on the brains of the children. It was a three day workshop and the classes which participated in this were six, seven and eight. The workshop ended in a fashion quite unimaginable and unexpected from a school in such a small city, but these three days were enough to prove that no school or person is big or small in conservation, it’s just the thought that is required and once this is achieved half of the problem will be solved.

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