A Conversation With Latika Nath, Wildlife Conservationist

Latika Nath has spent over 25 years working for tiger conservation in the country. She speaks to Hemchhaya De about breaking into what was hitherto a male bastion and what ails conservation efforts in India.

- Hemchhaya De

Latika Nath, who is said to be the first woman wildlife biologist in India to work on tigers, says she lives “multiple lives”. She works in extreme temperatures and braves tough terrains across the globe to work on her wildlife projects. While she has spent over 25 years working for tiger conservation, she is also a passionate traveller and diver, and has been photographing tigers, leopards, lions, snow leopards, and other members of the cat family over the past few years. When she is out in the field, she works for 16 to 18 hours a day, lugging around equipment weighing close to 30 kg. She says she will soon be spending time at the North and South Pole, studying the impact of climate change. Come June, she will be going to Patagonia, Chile, where one can walk with pumas on foot and photograph them. “The only big cat I haven’t seen so far is the puma,” says Nath, who has done her DPhil on Tiger Conservation and Management from the University of Oxford. Excerpts from a candid chat with ‘The Tiger Princess’, which is actually the title of a National Geographic TV documentary on her life and work:

What are the earliest memories of your interaction with wildlife?