At the age of 19, Suyash Keshari became one of the youngest persons to win Nature’s Best Photography Asia Award, for a photograph of a six-month-old tigress. Now 25, Suyash quit his political advocacy job in the US in order to follow his passion to be a full-time wildlife presenter. He has produced his first series #SafariWithSuyash for WWF International.

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It’s a real-life web series about a young person’s life with tigers and conservation issues surrounding the species, centered in Bandhavgarh National Park. Suyash, who believes that “what we can see, we can love. And what we can love, we will fight to protect”, says that he has always been that kid who wanted to play in the backyard, run on the farm, climb a guava tree, and wait for the birds to come.

“… so that I could eat fruits with them, watch ants parade in a line, sit by a pond in the middle of the summer in 45-degree heat, just to observe the fish, the herons, and other birds come to drink or hunt. 

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“I was that kid who always wanted to go to a jungle for a holiday and that kid who wanted to watch wildlife shows instead of Cartoon Network even at the age of 5. And I was that kid who always wanted to find, wanted to share every single wildlife story with his family, friends, and visitors at the house – no matter their interests,” he told Opoyi.

The young wildlife enthusiast spent time in several cities of Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. “I did my schooling in Delhi. After my schooling in India, I moved to the United States for my graduation. After my graduation, I started working at the US House of Representatives, and later at a political advocacy firm. While I loved my job, in the summer of 2019, I quit my political advocacy job in Washington DC, to follow my passion to be a full-time wildlife presenter. For which I returned to India. My first series was inspired by my early life in central India, its people, and its animals. It was published by WWF International.

“My goal is to tell stories that would evoke passion in hearts and minds across the world and urge people to play their part in conserving our beautiful natural heritage. That made me quit my job and come back to my country and live my dream,” he said.

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 Talking about his first series #SafariWithSuyash , he says that It followed the tracks of a Tigress named Solo and her cubs. 

“It’s really close to my heart and it was one series that people could connect to immediately. The series was showcased at many events, including the 13th United Nations Conference on Migratory Species. Unfortunately, Solo was poisoned last year in October. We made another documentary which traced her life and it has reached over 10 lakh people,” he said.

Suyash says that “India is currently at a stage where people are more involved in wildlife tourism than ever before.”

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“Even the lodge that I am currently in, is fully occupied. People are getting into photographing wildlife. There has been a boost, especially after the pandemic struck,” he said and added that, “the viewership of wildlife documentaries has grown significantly. Attracting viewers to wildlife content is not as difficult as it used to be.”