About us
OUR FOUNDER
Born and brought up in New Delhi, it was Sharad’s childhood passion to play cricket for India. An ardent outdoor athlete, he excelled in every sport he set his mind to. At the time when his peers were preparing for Engineering and Medical entrance exams, he shifted his focus to pursue Hotel Management to build his professional career. After successfully completing his course, he was selected by Asia’s largest hotel group, the Taj Group of Hotels (a TATA Group Enterprise). At the turn of his first year with the Taj Group, accolades poured in as he was chosen as Employee of the Year. It was soon after that he met his ‘Super Boss’ Mr. Divya Bhanu Sinh Chavda, who was a Wildlife Expert, and an acclaimed author of several books on Indian Wildlife. It was the meetings and interactions with him that inspired Sharad to visit a host of different national parks over next few years.
From the year 1990 to 1999, Sharad travelled pan India, through the jungles of- Bandhavgarh, Corbett, Dudhwa, Kanha, Bharatpur and Sariska. He saw his first tiger in the year 1990 at the mere age of 22, but little did he know that this one sighting would engulf him into a realm where forests were all that mattered. While, Sharad did continue to grow in the corporate world, he aligned himself to the purpose of living in the wilderness of India and to save the Tiger.
With a renewed sense of passion, he quit the hotels and started his own venture, called ‘Nature Safari India Pvt Ltd’, with a motto of ‘Conservation through Tourism’. As he progressed through his journey, he developed and sharpened his skills in wildlife photography. In 2014, he captured an extraordinary natural history moment of an encounter between a tiger and two elephants. It his ongoing effort and enthusiasm in such work, that has earned him recognition worldwide.
He is an avid reader, some of his all-time favourite books are, ‘Autobiography of a Yogi’, Bhagwat Gita, Jobs, and Built to Last. Certain personalities which have left an indelible impression on him are; Paramahansa Yogananda, Mahatma Gandhi, Steve Jobs, Elon Musk, and Jack Welch.
OUR JOURNEY
Nature Safari started with a different vision for Indian Tourism. It wove around the idea of conservation, giving birth to our adage- Conservation through Tourism. Sharad Vats, the founder of Nature Safari India, saw his first tiger in the year 1990. He was merely 23 at the time, but little did he know that just the one sighting would engulf him into a realm where forests were all that mattered.
2005, made us ideate differently. Our objective was to bring lesser known National Parks into limelight, helping locals benefit from the advent of tourism. This successively relieved small scale lodges of their employment problems while assisting the local community. We were thus bestowed by BBC Travel as one of the best Wildlife Tour Operators in India.
The year 2006 however, was the turning point for Nature Safari. We took up the challenge of creating an eco-friendly lodge which came into existence as Chitvan Jungle Lodge. Spread over 14 acres of farming land and sharing its boundary with the lush greens of Kanha National Park, Chitvan was the first lodge in India to introduce its own kitchen garden. Soon after, we were certified by TOFT (Travel Operator for Tigers) for practicing minimum carbon and water footprint.
Carrying forward the Chitvan legacy, Nature Safari became associated with two Non Profit organizations, one of which is the famous Waste Warriors in Corbett National Park. Our commitment to give back to nature was never a second thought duty. In addition to this, our effort to educate an under privileged child for every time a guest books a safari with us, has also been going strong.
Our team and their relentless effort, is why your dream holiday with Nature Safari India, becomes a reality. With integrity and commitment in our blood, we make sure that your personalised itinerary is nothing short of a reverie. We are proud to say that our Guest Loyalty Index over the last two decades has increased manifold. All of this and more, thanks to our team and their inexorable efforts, every day.
OUR LOGO - Our Brand New Identity
Be it the chakras in the human body or the rings in a tree’s bark, they each signify the importance of life. The only thing holding the entire forest ecosystem together, keeps us together too. The concentric circles on a tree bark signify the forest while the beaming center showcases how life flourishes the most in a forest’s core zone. At Nature Safari India, our focus is not only wildlife, but mother nature. We see these marks as a sign of the centuries and decades our ecosystem took to flourish completely, blessing us with this planet, its wildlife, and its seasons. Without the rings, even our life chakras stand incomplete.
OUR MOTTO - We Serve, We Conserve
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