Motivational
Ranthambore Duo Makes Incredible Home for Endangered Tigers
Ranthambore National Park
Aditya and Poonam Singh are not your average couple. In little over a decade, they turned a wasteland near Ranthambore National Park into a lush forest that is now home to multiple species of birds and animals, including the endangered species of the Royal Bengal tigers.
Located in Rajasthan, India, Ranthambore is a natural habitat for these striped felines, one of the most endangered species on the planet. Ranthambore National Park is known for its tiger reserve and is famous amongst tourists due to frequent sightings of tigresses with their little cubs, and the couple wants to ensure that it stays that way!
Just a decade ago, there were more than 100,000 tigers inhabiting Asia. Today, there are only about 3,900 of them left on this earth. While the cause of this has been partly due to poaching, 93% of habitats once inhabited by tigers are no longer available to them as a result of uprooting forests for developmental purposes.
The couple caught a glimpse of a magical moment while on their first trip to Ranthambore national park in 1998 after they encountered a tigress with her three newborn cubs. Enchanted by the beauty and glory of the Royal Bengal tiger, they decided to move to Ranthambore and spend the rest of their lives creating an environment for these tigers to flourish.
The Singhs started purchasing land around Ranthambore National Park and participated in conservation programs. The now 35 acres of lush forest was once farmland that had been left barren due to crop raiding by animals.
An exorbitant amount of manpower goes into uprooting these habitats for the sake of making a dollar, but restoring a habitat back to the lush environment that supports these wild animals does not require much at all.
By simply building fences around the land and maintaining it from overgrazing, in just 15 years, the couple managed to restore the land back to the state that now sustains these endangered cats.
The couple was also pleasantly surprised to find that the real estate value of the land they live on is now worth over Rs. 10 million because of the surrounding land they allowed to flourish, a shining example that sustainability pays too!
“These days I am getting queries from people across India who want to replicate a similar model in their state,” Aditya Singh tells National Geographic India in the video .
Their future plans involve building a small homestay around the area for the guests to experience the magic of Ranthambore and powering the property with solar and wind energy to support sustainable living further.
IC INSPIRATION
This story is inspiring for those who think their sole efforts toward sustainability will make no difference.
A little effort resulted in creating a habitat that sustains life, so while acts such as segregating waste, reducing the use of plastic, and preserving nature around us can seem like a challenge, it goes to show that small efforts go a long way.
And since we are equally part of the nature we are preserving, those efforts are worth doing because they enhance us!
Aditya and Poonam Singh went from the comfortable city of Delhi to a land cut off from the basic necessities of road, electricity, and water service, and now, people want to follow in their footsteps.
The only motivation? Give these tigers their home back, and keep them from going extinct!
A century ago, there were over 100,000 tigers; now, there are only a few thousand because of human development in their habitats. It is a tragic thought to think about what the condition of tigers will be in another hundred years if not for people like Aditya and Poonam Sing. Imagine a world without tigers; a world where the only thing humanity has of them is their pictures.
The land preserved by the couple in Ranthambore national park has increased the population of tigers, and this is the exact opposite of what has traditionally been done: uprooting forest land and eventually causing these incredible cats to become an endangered species.
It took 15 years for the land in Ranthambore national park to become a lush forest and not barren fields, and the difference between their patch of land and surrounding areas makes for a motivational site; similar to the one that millions can now see in the world’s first bee sanctuary, which is yet another example of farmland being turned into an incredible habitat to help rebuild endangered species.
These stories are a classic example of ‘for each bad, there is a good that tips the balance.’