The love for nature and wildlife has driven many to the forests years ago and still people are driven to the lush green of the wild. It was this madness and love for nature that drove former Civil Service official to the Ranthambore Tiger Reserve.
He and his wife Poonam Singh left their house in Delhi and settled adjacent to the Ranthambore Tiger Reserve in Rajasthan. He quit his well paid job and travelled to Rajasthan only for his love for the wild animals and the green world. Singh and his wife has been buying lands adjacent to the tiger reserve for the last 20 years and letting the forest to grow back in it.
He is living in Sawai Madhopur, a small city near the Tiger reserve. He is now a photographer and also the two runs a tourist resort for a living.
Singh remembers the first time when he visited Bhadlav, where he had bought the lands. The famers here sold their lands in fear of tiger, reports quoted him. The couple has about 40 acres of land in Bhadlav. Once trees and plans began to grow in the land that they bought, the tigers stopped venturing into the fields.
Poonam said that it was a dream for them to come and stay in Ranthambore Tiger Reserve.
Many a time, Singh was approached for selling the land. Many have even asked him to do start some project in the land that is worth crores now. But Singh says that money was never a consideration for them. He said that it was love for nature and the wild animals that has led him to Bhadlav.
Ranthambore is one of India’s biggest tiger reserves, with a population of about 60 tigers.