April 14, 2026
In the Land of Mowgli, Women Are Becoming Forest Guides
At Pench Tiger Reserve women are being trained as naturalists - this is giving them higher incomes, helping communities co-exist and reducing migration to cities.
Image by A G on Unsplash
What's happening?
At Pench Tiger Reserve in Maharashtra — the forest that is said to have inspired Kipling’s The Jungle Book — women from tribal Gond communities are training as safari naturalists and guides, a workforce they were historically excluded from.
So far 38 women have completed a training program run by the Satpuda Foundation, a conservation nonprofit based inside the reserve and are now working as safari guides. The training covers bird and animal identification, scientific names, and most importantly, tiger behaviour.
The pay makes a real difference. Safari guides earn ₹450–475 per trip, compared to ₹100–150 for five hours of farm labour. Most of them do two trips a day and still work on their family’s farm.
Satpuda Foundation has now trained over 8,000 youth — 3,500 of them women — not just as guides but in hospitality, forest protection, and small businesses like souvenir shops and tea stalls. The forest department has backed this with easy loans of up to ₹2 lakh for safari jeeps.
Why should you care?
Human-wildlife conflict is escalating. Pench’s Maharashtra side is home to 56 tigers and 40,000 people across 46 villages. Tiger numbers have doubled in two decades thanks to Project Tiger, but their habitats have shrunk from mining and industry. The result: tigers now show up at village ponds and farms. 26 people have been killed in tiger encounters in the past six years, fuelling community resentment.
These women are the bridge. By understanding tiger behaviour through their training the women become ambassadors for coexistence in their own communities. It’s also stopping migration. Young people from these villages used to leave for Nagpur and other cities. Now, with ecotourism jobs, dairy farming projects, and 80,000 tourists visiting annually, there are reasons to stay.
But experts warn the real long-term solutions are wildlife corridors, river conservation, and stopping industrial encroachment — not just jobs.