Valmik Thapar
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India has more than 1,200 species of birds. The richness and diversity of the country's birdlifehas been celebrated by thousands of ornithologists, birders and amateur naturalists forhundreds of years. Winged Fire brings together the best accounts, pictures and art on ourbirds. Contributors include luminaries like Babur, Abu'l-Fazl, Jahangir, Franois Pyrard,Edward Hamilton Aitken, Douglas Dewar, Jim Corbett, Colonel Kesri Singh, F. W. Champion,Salim Ali, E. P. ...
Conceived and composed over five years, Wild Fire brings the splendour and diversity of Indias animal kingdom to glorious and vivid life and brings together, for the very first time, the finest writing, photography and art on Indian animals over the past two thousand years.
Developed and edited by Valmik Thapar, one of our foremost wildlife experts, the book is divided into three sections. The first section, Thoughts from Elsewhere, written by Thapar, takes the ...
The book views the contribution of Fateh Singh Rathore towards making the Ranthambhore National Park a safe haven for tigers. It focuses on his efforts that involved a tireless struggle to stop poaching in the park which saw him survive a bid on his life and fight off resistance from powerful bureaucrats. This insightful biography based on the author Soonoo Taraporewala’s long association with him presents his childhood, family, education, early days in ...
Written with a personal touch, the book focuses on 35 years of Valmik Thapar's engagement with tigers in Ranthambhore National Park and across India. Thapar takes us on a journey of a lifetime from Ranthambhore's ancient and hallowed history and the story of the last three decades and more of tiger conservation in India to the questionable role of the government to more heartening stories of how local villagers took up conservation-related activities in the quest ...
In the sixteenth century, Dutch traveller Jan Linschoten noted the absence of lions throughout the Indian subcontinent. Two hundred years later, echoing similar comments made by various hunters and observers of Indian wildlife, the British shikari and writer, Captain Thomas Williamson, emphatically declared: There are no lions in Hindustan. Much the same was said about the cheetah in the region. These observations piqued the interest of well-known naturalist ...
The tiger has captured the imagination of human beings from the beginning of recorded history. It has been feared, worshipped, admired, hunted, studied, photographed, written about, immortalized in art and poetry, and has enthralled king and commoner alike. Tiger Fire celebrates this magnificent predator by bringing together the very best non-fiction writing, photography and art on the Indian tiger from the first written description of a real-life encounter with ...
This book is about the very special 'post monsoon' period of Ranthambhore National Park, which in 2011 received a record 1200 mm of rain. Valmik Thapar has known Ranthambhore for 36 years and was amazed at how much monsoon rain the Park had received in 2011. The forest had turned green in days, and all the dry streambeds were literally brimming with water. The monsoon downpour made Ranthambhore look like an 'emerald forest'. Thapar takes us on a journey over the ...
Written with a personal touch, the book focuses on 35 years of Valmik Thapar's engagement with tigers in Ranthambhore National Park and across India. Thapar takes us on a journey of a lifetime from Ranthambhore's ancient and hallowed history and the story of the last two decades of tiger conservation in India to the questionable role of the government to more heartening stories of how local villagers took up conservation-related activities in the quest to find ...
From time immemorial, the tiger, India's national animal, has been represented in various art forms. Valmik Thapar delves deep into the cult of the tiger to show how the animal resides in the very soul of the country's cultural beliefs, myths, and legends.
Exploring the close relationship between man and tiger forged over thousands of years, this book reveals almost every facet of this amazing animal: from 10,000-year-old cave paintings in Madhya Pradesh to ...
This book charts key moments in the fight to save the tiger, from early beginnings until now. It comprises the finest examples of tiger conservation by the greatest defenders of wild tigers.Between 1875 and 1925 more than 80,000 tigers were slaughtered. Over the next fifty years the massacre grew so alarming that the tiger was driven to the brink of extinction. Alongside this mindless butchery, there began a crusade to protect the tiger.The earliest essay here ...
The natural beauty and bounty of Masai Mara in Kenya make it one of the finest places to observe wild animals up close. Valmik Thapar, after thirty-three years of tiger-watching, finds himself in this natural haven where he confesses spending one of his finest twelve-day stretches ever.With nearly 200 colour photographs showcasing every incident as the author tracked the wild animals, An African Diary is an authentic record of what the Mara has to offer to the ...
This is a short book on the cultural and symbolic relevance of the tiger in Asia, and the decline of its cult over time. The author, one of the world’s foremost authorities on the tiger, argues that it is this very symbolic status of the tiger which has been responsible for its survival in Asia. With the invention of the gun, and an acceleration of sport-hunting, the status of the tiger declined, leading to the present situation where specific conservation ...
This book looks at India's wilderness over two centuries. It records the efforts to save the fragile remnants of India’s vanishing wildlife and traces the history of wildlife and forests to understand some of the challenges to the survival of India’s wilderness in the twenty-first century. Illustrated with rare pictures, the book explores some remarkable efforts to save India’s forests. It looks at the ...
Tigers have tended to live secret, nocturnal lives, making human observation of their habits extremely difficult. Valmik Thapar has spent many years in the Ranthambhore National Park, where, thanks to their protection under the umbrella of Project Tiger, the tigers have become less evasive, more visible, and familiar with the vehicles that attempt to spot and follow them. Thapar has been able to document the family life of three tigresses and their cubs at every ...
The Last Tiger is the story of the crisis of the tiger, hunted form times immemorial. The author journeys through 7000 years of history about the killing of the tiger and brings the reader to the present context of what is, in the author's words, a 'terminal tiger crisis.' Where do we go from here? Will there be a miracle that saves the tiger? Can the government act in time? Will the enormous illegal trade in tiger skins that is rampant in Tibet be stopped? This ...
Ever since man first set eyes on the tiger, it has captivated people the world over. With its exceptional photography and insightful text. Tiger : The Ultimate Guide is a fitting tribute to this fascinating creature. An indispensable resource for animal lovers and conservationists alike, this book offers the most complete account to date of the natural and cultural history of the tiger -- from its evolution and behavior to its symbolic importance in myth and ...
This book charts key moments in the fight to save the tiger, from early beginnings until now. it comprises the finest examples of tiger conservation by the greatest defenders of wild tigers. Between 1875 and 1925 more than 80,000 tigers were slaughtered. Over the next fifty years the massacre grew so alarming that the tiger was driven to the brink of extinction. Alongside this mindless butchery, there began a crusade to protect the tiger. The earliest essay here ...
The tiger has always evoked awe, fear, and fascination. Ranthambhore: 10 Days in the Tiger Fortress creates an engrossing, unforgettable portrait of this management creature, featuring many images of tigers in the wild never before captured on Film. The book is as much about the rich and vibrant habitat that makes Ranthambhore one of the finest places to watch wild tigers up close, as about a man who over the years has developed a special intimacy with the tiger: ...