Experience the Flora and Fauna of Munnar with a true Nature Enthusiast

This is the story of a nature lover whose absolute passion for the forests and wildlife made him grow from a wild child to a reputed naturalist and environmentalist.  Having being in sync to the rhythm of nature for years, Charan is an expert in finding and explaining about exotic flora and fauna to Travellers and tourists from all around the world.  For Charan, Environmental conservation and  enjoying the true spirit of nature goes hand in hand. Apart from being part of wildlife surveys in association with the Forest department, he has also marked his expertise as a naturalist for Blanket Hotel in Attukad village, Munnar
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Charan’s curiosity about the secrets of nature bloomed out in his childhood as soon as he saw a group of photographers and ornithologists who were visiting his place. His village, being on the banks of Ashtamudi lake, was a habitat to many birds The young boy was fascinated at these people who were looking through their binoculars and clicking pictures around.  With the help of some the club members, he got see around through the binoculars. Since then, there was no turning back and thus began the story of Charan’s walk through nature.  In his 10th standard, he got an opportunity to participate in a wild life survey in Shenduruny forest, which paved the stepping stones in learning more about nature and becoming a wildlife researcher about which ,he later wrote a book called ‘welcome to Shendurunyforest’.

Charan’s passion and achievements are well said in the story below. He is currently preparing his second book about the wildlife and also continuing his beautiful journey with the guests, gleefully explaining about various flora and fauna of the region.

·         Mr Charan started his career as a naturalist in 1996 by collaborating with the Manishada nature group and actively participating in the census of Dashvalsara neerpakshi , a rare specie which is hardly spotted.

·         Active participator of the Vembanad bird’s survey since 2000.

·         A nature lover by heart, he has been vibrantly working for the protection and welfare of the Shasthamkotta Lake which is supposedly the largest freshwater Lake in Kerala.

·         He has been actively resisting the illegal interference in Ashtamudi Lake which is the second largest lake of the state. Charan works actively to protect the legacy of our traditional fishing methods like ‘kakavaral’ (A rustic way of collecting clam fishes from the Lake) and is against exploitation.

·          His services towards protecting the natural mangroves in Kollam Ashramam Adventure park had resulted in the state biodiversity board taking up the land for preservation.

·         Charan has been working as the coordinator of the Manishada Nation Action Group

·         He is currently the chapter secretary of People for Animals group in Kollam and the secretary of the Quilon Nature society.

·         In his term as the secretary for PFA, Charan played an inevitable role in regulating the torture on captive elephants which has made a big difference in the issue.

·         He in association with an international organization called INTER NICHE organized a seminar in SN College, Kollam to implement an alternative frog dissection software in the state level which had put an end to the torture of frogs for academic purposes in Zoology labs. The change was immediately incorporated into the syllabus of the students.

·         Active participant for a venture that aimed at spotting out the geographical distribution of a rare species  locally known as ashambu laughing thrush /Travancore laughing thrush)

·          He conducted a detailed study on the lifestyle of a bird called Broad tailed grassbird (schoenicoda Platyurus) and researched on the difficulties it faces within the human disturbance  areas of Ponmudi

·         He is a proud member of the team in Kollam that founded progressive greying in the Eurasian Coot (Fulica Atra). This was the second time that the phenomenon had been spotted in India

·         He is currently making a suggestion to the forest department to unify the wildlife sanctuaries in Trivandrum and Kollam states and to named it as the ‘Travancore tiger reserve’.

Even after all these lifetime achievements, Charan is pretty known for his down to earth personality and the vibe of warmth that he spreads around. Numerous trails to be covered by this ‘guardian of nature’ and so are to be written by him, a number of books about nature’s secrets.