Land near Ranthambore tiger reserve reforested by Indian couple

It was his love for nature and wildlife that led Aditya Singh to quit his Indian civil services job, leave his well-appointed house in Delhi and settle in a remote corner of Rajasthan, abutting the famous Ranthambore Tiger Reserve, in 1998. Over the last 20 years, Singh has been buying tracts of land adjacent to Ranthambore and simply letting the forest grow back.

After shifting to Sawai Madhopur, a small city near Ranthambore tiger reserve (RTR), Singh took up photography. His wife Poonam Singh and he opened a tourist resort there to earn their living. Unlike many tourism establishments that want unrestricted access to the wild areas, they slowly started buying land parcels adjacent to each other just outside RTR’s boundary.

“The area is called Bhadlav. I had first gone to this area soon after settling in Ranthambore along with a BBC filmmaker. This area adjacent to the boundary of the Ranthambore reserve was visited by predators like tigers who used to come for prey. As a result, farmers were selling their land,” said Singh.