Jungle Belles 4th Anniversary!


 On the Occasion of Jungle Belles 4th Anniversary today - 23rd August.












Jungle Belles is a venture exclusively for women by women started by Hemangi Vartak and Aarti Karve and supported by wildlifer - Sanjay Deshpande in August 2019. Our vision is to build empathy and engagement in the minds of urban women regarding wildlife and conservation so that we can work towards creating a sustainable future for wildlife.

First time I visited forests was in 2010 and fell in love with it. Thereby every year i started going to different types of Forests. I used to share pictures over social media of wildlife and the different habitats of Forests. Our friends would ask us, how to go about it? is it safe for women to go? Hence we thought of starting  Jungle Belles which would have a trifold approach - awareness, conservation and exposure to forests/ wildlife or simply nature. 

Organising getaways for urban women from their stress-filled routine and giving them and opportunity to be amidst nature by introducing them to various habitats and wildlife is one way to build love and awareness. Visiting forests and being in nature is a great to rejuvenate from the daily grind and to get a break from the concrete jungle that we live in!

We achieve this objective by organising trips exclusively  for women to various forests like Tadoba, Kanha, Pench (to name a few) and to habitats such as Ujani Bird Sanctuary, Mayureshwar, Sinhagad Bird Valley etc. Our tours  are a platform for women to go out on their own with other likeminded women and spend time on their passion. This also gives them an opportunity to make new friends with women who share their interest. 

We also organise women's only photography contest which is one of its kind in India. We are also into Wildlife Films which help in creating awareness about the rich bio-diversity around us. 

On Social front, we organise donation drives in the form of shoes, food supplies, gum boots, raincoats, sweaters, clothes to help people who work for forests. 
 
We are also facing a few challenges in trying to get women in to the wild - 
Lack of awareness and empathy in the urban women regarding wildlife and conservation.
Women are unsure about travelling to Forests alone and also they are worried about their safety. 
If the family is not interested in these types of trips and if only the women is interested it gets pushed in the background.
Women want to explore but are bound by home duties so getting them out into nature and making them take their me time is a challenge
Lack of resources in terms of manpower and funds 

Its been a slow but organic growth and we would continue to keep our efforts going - getting more women into nature!


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