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Meet the woman of the wild
A qualified safari guide, trainer, sustainable tourism professional and farmer, Ratna Singh feels elated to have trained hundreds of girls in this field today
A qualified safari guide, trainer, sustainable tourism professional and farmer, Ratna Singh feels elated to have trained hundreds of girls in this field today. “When I started 15 years ago there were very few of them in this field. I’m thrilled to see women today becoming a part of this industry in a big way,” said Ratna, who has studied in Lucknow.
The outdoor being
She calls herself an ardent jungle lover. “I have loved staying outdoors be it in school or home. My mother is a dog lover and we lived in a village near Bandhavgarh National Park, MP. The forest literally stretched to my backyard keeping me close to the woods. I was sent to a boarding school in Lucknow. I studied at La Martiniere Girls’ College and coming back to my village, as we drove into wilderness approaching my house near tiger reserve it felt that this is where I belong.”
Being a safari guide
She is currently residing in Kanha National Park with her husband, a chartered accountant.
“I never had a slightest idea that a job like this exists in reality. In the reserve, I used to see people who were naturalist and professional safari guides associated to some resorts. It was like something that women were not easily found doing. I met women in hospitality or hardcore wild lifers and researchers,” said Ratna,
Telling about her journey, she said, “After my graduation, I saw no women safari guide in central India. And when I used to ask male guides ‘aap ki jaisi naukari kasie kar sakte hai, ya aapke assistant ban sakte hai…’ so they used to laugh it off. It was easy to accompany them in their safari vehicles but there was no way how to become one.”
Ratna had no inkling that in Africa wildlife safari was a big industry, “In 2005-06, an Indian luxury hotel group teamed up with an African company and brought in the concept of training people as professional safari guide but it was for in-house. When an acquaintance there asked me would you like to apply, I was like can women apply? He said their ad is not gender specific and they just want physically, and mentality fit graduates and wildlife lovers. So, that’s how it started, till I finally quit my job as a hardcore safari guide and became a naturalist and a park guide trainer working with numerous forest departments and tiger reserves. Primarily, every year in North, I train all girls group.” She has trained 1,200 guides.
The change
She remembers an incident that made her feel that she’s actually in a non-stereotype domain. “I was driving this specially designed 4-by-4 safari vehicle in my professional gear with a big hat that I spotted a few village women on their way. As I stopped my vehicle, almost all of them adjusted their ‘ghoonghat’ covering their faces and giggling thinking I’m a man. When I spoke and they realised that it’s a woman they were all stunned. But then in these 15-16 years things have changes.
She has trained hundreds of girls including a large number from villages. “There was this woman whom I trained two years back she used to attend training while her husband looked after her toddler. Imagine how optimistically things have changed for women in our country,” said Ratna who intends to live in the jungle forever and doing what she loves.
