About us
India has traditionally been a hotspot for serious wildlifers. The diversity of habitat and species, especially in south India is a treasure trove for both, scholars & enthusiasts alike.
Ficus Wildlife & Natural History Tours, founded and operated by Chennai-based natural history addicts, Ganesh KR & Ravi Kailas aim to provide their guests with sensitive guidance and make their visit truly memorable.
What's in a name!
Why Ficus?
The genus, ficus, contains hundreds of species of plants with a global distribution in the tropics and sub-tropics. Ficus, play an especially keystone role in tropical forests throughout the world - they are among the only plants that fruit unseasonably in otherwise seasonal forests. Consequently, they are the only source of perennial food for frugivorous birds, bats, primates and numerous other animals, in a forest seasonally devoid of fruits. Remove ficus from the tropical forest, and not only will the frugivorous fauna disappear, but all the fruiting plants, whose seeds are exclusively dispersed by the frugivores, will also disappear. This is a significant chunk of biodiversity in tropical forests, which reputedly contain upto half of the Earth's terrestrial biodiversity. Furthermore, this closely related community of frugivores and fruiting plants are not independent of the larger biotic community in these forests.
We live in an age of biotic extinctions. Scientists suggest that current species extinction rates are 10 to 100 times the Earth's background extinction rates over geological time. The enhanced rates of extinctions have been, largely, attributed to human activities, both due to the traditional problems of over-hunting and habitat conversion and lately due to factors such as pollution and global-warming. In these times, ficus are a symbol of the complex interactions in our natural world, that have evolved over millions of years to create and maintain the Earth's diverse ecosystems. Ficus are also a reminder of the fragility of biotic communities around us. We chose "Ficus" because we value biological diversity.
People
Ravi is a post-graduate in wildlife ecology & conservation from the University of Kent, UK and the University of Florida, USA. He has spent the last few years researching reptiles & mammals in the natural areas of the Western Ghats & central India.
He feels privileged for the adventures of travel & living that have been inevitably associated with wildlife work, also the opportunity it has provided him to get away from an increasingly stifling big city life of Chennai. Ravi has a very broad interest in natural history, which fortunately, is not 'pigeon-holed' by his academic pursuits as a biologist.
He has traveled extensively to natural areas & reserves throughout India and some parts of Africa & the USA.
Ganesh is an accomplished photographer and mountaineer. He is trained in advanced mountaineering and has been a resourceful team player in several expeditions to summit Himalayan peaks.
Both for a sense of adventure and to explore opportunities to photograph wildlife and natural areas, Ganesh has extensively trekked the lesser known mountain ranges of south India (Western and Eastern Ghats). His expertise in photography has enabled him to work on many documentation projects for the Government, NGO's and the publication industry. His keen interest in natural history has often been the only impetus for extensive travel to several natural reserves throughout India.
About our ToursWe offer custom made itineraries to individuals and groups with specific interests in natural history. We also offer scheduled tour departures, often to coincide with the best seasons to observe specific natural subjects. A knowledgeable naturalist and reliable local guides/support staff will accompany all tour parties.
An element of ecotourism is inbuilt into the tours we organise. Local guides and support staff will be employed from local communities, often tribal, that live in and around the ecoregions we visit. This in turn will contribute to the conservation of local biodiversity, by reducing the dependence of the local communities on ecological resources for sustenance. We also aim for minimal impact on the environment on our tours by choosing ecologically friendly accommodation (where available) and will strictly follow a zero trash policy.
Scheduled Departure
2009 - 2009
We will be posting the details soon.
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