(June 4, 2025) A Bengal tigress stood still in the golden grass of Ranthambore National Park — a moment that would define Valmik Thapar’s life. It was early morning in 1976 when a 24-year-old Thapar, sitting quietly in the forest, saw a wild tigress named Padmini step out of the bushes. His heart raced as he locked eyes with the majestic animal. Years later, he would say, “Once you’ve looked into the eyes of a wild tiger, you’re never the same.”
That first encounter changed everything. It marked the beginning of Thapar’s lifelong journey to protect India’s tigers. Over the next five decades, he became one of India’s most passionate and respected voices in wildlife conservation. He spent years in Ranthambore, tracking tigers, studying their behaviour, and learning from the forest. He believed that saving wildlife wasn’t just about protecting animals — it also meant working with local communities and improving the lives of people who lived near forests. He helped shape India’s tiger protection policies, spoke up when things went wrong, and always pushed for science-based, practical solutions. His work made a lasting difference — not just in Ranthambore, but across India.
Valmik Thapar
Thapar’s work didn’t just stay within India. Through his books, documentaries, and talks around the world, he brought the story of the Indian tiger to a global audience. He worked with the BBC, Discovery, and National Geographic, showing viewers across continents the beauty and challenges of India’s wildlife. His voice became one of the strongest international voices for tiger conservation. Whether he was writing, filming, or speaking, Thapar reminded the world why saving the tiger mattered — not just for India, but for the planet.
Now, after nearly fifty years of tireless work, the forests he loved so deeply mourn his absence. Valmik Thapar — India’s legendary “tiger man” — passed away at the age of 73, leaving behind a legacy that will continue to shape conservation for generations.
The Call of the Wild
Valmik Thapar was born in 1952 into a well-known family in New Delhi. His father, Romesh Thapar, was a respected journalist, and his aunt, Romila Thapar, is a famous historian. He studied at The Doon School and went on to earn a gold medal in sociology from St. Stephen’s College. With this background, many expected him to take up a career in academics or public life. But in his early twenties, he felt unsure about that path. He was looking for something more meaningful — and that’s when he was introduced to Fateh Singh Rathore, the legendary forest officer at Ranthambore. That meeting changed his life.
Rathore took the young graduate under his wing, and it was under this mentorship that Thapar saw his first wild tiger, Padmini, in Ranthambore. That moment – the tiger emerging from the jungle, and a young man awakening to his mission – marked the birth of one of India’s greatest wildlife conservationists. “In 1976, I could never have imagined that my love for the tiger would continue over my lifetime,” Thapar reflected decades later. “Basically watching tigers, fighting for them… fills up my senses like nothing else… it has a power over me.”
His personal life was also connected to India’s rich cultural world. He married theatre actor Sanjana Kapoor, daughter of Bollywood star Shashi Kapoor, and they had a son. Though he was part of Delhi’s influential circles, his heart always belonged to the forest. By the late 1970s, he was spending most of his time in Ranthambore — walking its rocky hills, sitting by its lakes, and learning about the tigers and the people living nearby. These early years shaped his belief that protecting wildlife wasn’t just about saving animals, but also about working with local communities. For him, conservation was about finding a balance between people and nature — a belief that stayed with him for the rest of his life.
Champion of the Tigers of Ranthambore
Throughout the 1980s and beyond, Valmik Thapar became the foremost guardian of Ranthambore’s tigers. He would roam the park for days, cataloguing the lives of individual big cats as if they were family. He named them, tracked them, and even mourned them when they died; tigresses like Padmini, Machli, and Krishna became central characters in his chronicles. His detailed observations revealed astonishing tiger behaviors – males caring for cubs, tigers hunting in water, territorial dramas – insights that helped reshape scientific understanding of these cats.
Thapar wasn’t a trained scientist, but he became a dedicated expert through years of work in the field. In 1987, he started the Ranthambhore Foundation — one of the first groups in India to link wildlife protection with the well-being of local people. Instead of seeing nearby villages as a threat to the forest, the foundation treated them as partners. It supported healthcare, education, jobs for women, and the revival of local crafts — showing that protecting tigers could go hand-in-hand with improving people’s lives. This idea became central to Thapar’s approach. He always pushed for practical, science-based solutions that involved local communities. “To save wild tigers and nature in India,” he said, “we need partnerships with people in villages, towns, and cities — and a change in the way governments think.” In real terms, this meant better support for forest staff, stronger efforts to stop poaching, and using good research to guide policies.
As the number of tigers in Ranthambore began to recover, Thapar’s impact grew across the country. He became a key adviser on wildlife issues, known for speaking honestly and boldly. He was part of over 150 government committees, including the National Board for Wildlife and the Tiger Task Force in 2005. He didn’t hesitate to point out problems. When the Task Force released a hopeful report about tigers and people living side by side, Thapar disagreed. He warned that if people kept moving into tiger habitats, it would lead to the animals’ slow extinction. For tigers to truly survive, he said, they needed safe, untouched spaces with enough food and no human interference.
Thapar was also critical of how India’s forest system worked. He felt that too much time was spent on paperwork and not enough on protecting wildlife. He pushed the government to take stronger action against poaching — even suggesting that forest guards be armed — and called for more scientific research in the forests instead of shutting experts out. Again and again, he made one thing clear: without strong political will and public support, India’s tigers would not survive. His constant efforts played a big role in shaping India’s conservation policies, making sure that saving the tiger stayed at the top of the national agenda.
Storyteller on the Global Stage
Beyond the forests, Valmik Thapar was also a master storyteller who brought India’s wildlife into the global spotlight. Over five decades he authored more than 30 books on India’s natural heritage, including Land of the Tiger and Tiger Fire, blending vivid narrative with deep knowledge. writing was never dry or academic. It was simple, vivid, and full of life — helping readers feel his deep love for the jungle. He also became a familiar face in wildlife documentaries. In the 1990s, he worked with the BBC to create Land of the Tiger, a popular six-part series that introduced the wildlife of the Indian subcontinent to viewers around the world. He later worked with channels like BBC, Animal Planet, Discovery, and National Geographic, making him one of the most well-known Indian voices in global wildlife storytelling. Audiences in India and abroad were drawn to his energy — watching him in the jungle with his binoculars, sharing stories about tiger families and forest life with excitement and warmth.
Even in his seventies, Thapar didn’t slow down. In 2024, at the age of 72, he appeared in a documentary called My Tiger Family, which looked back at his 50-year journey with the tiger families of Ranthambore. In the film, he followed the descendants of tigresses like Padmini and Machli, reflecting on the long and difficult road to protecting them. For Thapar, storytelling was a powerful way to get people to care. “The tiger overwhelms me,” he once said. “I know nothing else.” Through his books and films, he passed on that passion to audiences across the world. By blending real experience with powerful storytelling, Thapar became a true ambassador for India’s wildlife — deeply rooted in Indian forests, yet sharing their message with the world.
Footprints in the Wild
Valmik Thapar’s death is a big loss for the conservation world, but his impact lives on in every success story of India’s tigers. Back in the 1970s, when he started his work, the future of the Bengal tiger looked grim. Today, India’s tiger population has made a strong comeback — thanks in part to his early efforts. Places like Ranthambore, which once struggled, are now home to thriving tiger families. But Thapar’s legacy goes beyond the animals. He helped train a whole generation of forest rangers, naturalists, and local community members — many of whom continue his work today.
He helped shift the way India — and the world — looked at conservation, showing that protecting wildlife isn’t just the job of scientists or governments, but something that involves communities, storytellers, and everyday people. His bold ideas, his love for tigers, and his ability to speak truth to power changed the way India protects its wild spaces.
Valmik Thapar may be gone, but the roar of the tiger — in Ranthambore and across India — echoes louder because of him. His life’s work was a reminder that one person, deeply connected to a cause, can make a difference that lasts far beyond their time. He gave the wild a voice — and in doing so, became one of its greatest champions.
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