Investment banker on Wall Street looking to enter the Safari Business in India

Hello everyone my name is Rithvik and I’m currently working as an investment banker in the US but have always had an avid passion for wildlife.

the safari business in India right now is in its golden age. The establishment of several national parks and key tiger reserves, multiple luxury lodges, demand from families, HNWIs and weekend travellers have made this a billion dollar industry.

The obvious names for wildlife royalty are the key national parks. Think Ranthambore, Corbett, Bandavgarh and Kanha.

But with greater demand and more lodges coming up the quality of the experience is dropping while the prices continue to soar. This is often due to greater congestion, less intimate sightings, large crowds and gate traffic.

Because of this the consumer base has started venturing into smaller parks that aren’t household names in the hopes of getting a wild escape and a more intimate experience. This is why parks like Panna and Tadoba are on the rise while now they are facing similar issues to the top parks.

My love for tigers is what has dictated my decision to get into this field and it’s led me to a small wildlife sanctuary known as Tipeshwar which is in Maharashtra and 6 hours away from Hyderabad.

It is one of the smallest wildlife reserves out there but that may be its greatest strength. It boasts one of the highest tiger densities in the world which makes sightings far more common here than established national parks. While other parks have larger numbers, Tipeshwar has a more concentrated pool which means encounters are more frequent.

Tipeshwar is also very close to the NH 44 highway and is very close to Hyderabad. This allows it to tap into the rapidly expanding Hyderabad market and position itself as a weekend getaway for families who would look to see tigers on flexible schedules instead of devoting a week to Tadoba, Pench or Rajasthan. The smaller size of Tipeshwar also ensures that guests will be able to cover the park in its entirety over the weekend which just ist feasible when compared to the more scaled up parks. This will add to the feeling of fulfillment and increase guest satisfaction as it will be looked at as “value for money”

Tipeshwar‘s size also means fewer jeeps which means more personal experience and it has no real 5 star true luxury players outside of Tipai from andBeyond. This is because tiger introduction here has only been going on for 10-12+ years so it doesn’t have the noteriaty to drive in these resorts. YET.

my idea is to build an intimate 5 tent safari lodge with classic shikar tents and personal experience targeting the upper middle class but not true luxury. the idea is to position the lodge as the perfect weekend getaway for Hyd nature lovers and families who want a curated experience without luxury prices. our selling point will be a tented escape, access to high quality nawabi cuisine as tioeshwar is situated close to hyd to manage logistics but atop it all, an incredible chance at seeing tigers in the wild without crowds on a very flexible and convent schedule.

id love to get into costs and business expenditure in more detail but this is the idea and logic behind what I’m trying to here. just put everything out there I guess so sorry if it’s wordy. will appreciate any conversation surrounding optics, ideas or even partnerships to help with securing land and designing the lodge itself