Photo essay: From the eyes of a shutterbug

My first experience in conservation started when I joined as a member of the Dolphin Nature Conservation Society (DNCS), a local NGO in Visakhapatnam. I worked on some environmental issues and campaigns like plastic awareness, snake rescue operations, turtle walks, etc.

I have also worked on a project ‘Conserving Tigers in a newly designed Tiger Reserve’, in Kawal Tiger Reserve, Adilabad. Presently I am working as research fellow in Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun and studying on the elusive ‘Fishing Cat’, which thrives in the delta of the Godavari River.

Godavari one of the major rivers in India, supports unique landscapes and biodiversity found nowhere else on this Earth. From its origin to its confluence with Bay of Bengal the River travels through some of the fossil rich areas of Deccan traps, Central Indian grasslands, mineral rich mighty Eastern Ghats, alluvial flood plains and East Coast teeming with unique marine life. Most of the forests adjoining the Godavari river valley of Andhra Pradesh are rich with beautiful forests in the country. But sadly they are being subjected to intense fragmentation and anthropogenic changes due to encroachments and logging. However, landscape fragmentation is resulting in severe degradation of suitable habitat for wildlife here. Moreover, the Godavari river valley of Andhra Pradesh has rich cultural aspects; tribes of these areas are known from centuries, and have depended on Godavari River for most of their survival. It gives them the entire surplus.