Wild call in the Western Ghats

Harsha at an on-field training session

Well-Travelled naturalists and husband-wife duo, Harsha J and Payal Mehta developed what they say was India's first online nature guide training course last year. In its second year, the programme offers an understanding of the Western Ghats' biodiversity with training in guiding skills and an emphasis on ethics where one ensures visitors respect the culture of local communities, and nature.

Mehta teaching students about termites

The programme was developed in association with Nature Conservation Foundation (NCF) and a host of naturalists who will appear as lecturers throughout the course. The Bengaluru-based couple point to the lack of structured training in the field in India. Designing the course resulted in a systematic beginner's-level syllabus that Mehta describes as broad instead of in-depth. Apart from being one of the world's biodiversity hotspots, Mehta, who has been guiding nature excursions since 2009, explains the choice of focusing on the Western Ghats: "It's hard to do justice to the entire country's biodiversity, so we thought we'd develop the course region-wise."

"NCF's intention is to create the possibility of a nature-based livelihood," Mehta tells us. The aim, the naturalists explain, is to offer a capacity-building programme for those with an interest in nature as well as local communities around the Western Ghats, and who could make a career out of it. "Which is why the course is free of cost," shares Harsha, who has 15 years of experience in the field.

Harsha J and Payal Mehta

Mehta feels that having formal training can help participants confidently foray into the field. Later, the nature guides plan to host nominally priced courses on natural history. The guest lecturers include naturalists, scientists and wildlife photographers such as Karthikeyan Srinivasan, Divya Mudappa, Annie Van Dinther and Kalyan Varma. Participants will be chosen on the basis of application. "We hope that the participants are as enthusiastic to learn as we are to teach," Mehta signs off.

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