Startup Mantra: When the jungle calls, a business is born

It was love at first sight, so deep that it compelled Hemangi Vartak to devote a business to it. In 2010 Hemangi went on a holiday to Kanha Wildlife Sanctuary and the beauty and magnificence of the jungle left a deep impact on this ‘city’ girl. Says she, “It was the first time I had taken a trip to the jungle. Until then I knew what malls, pubs, tall office buildings, roads and cars were. But to be in the middle of greens, trees growing unabashedly not manicured to fit into concrete structures, the fresh air, hear different birds chirp and then come across a herd of spotted deer gracefully walking looking for food, or a sloth bear climbing a tree is sheer magic.”

“Though on my first trip, we did not spot a tiger; I have on subsequent trips to varied wildlife sanctuaries. And the experience is unbelievable. Moments before a tiger arrives on the scene, you can hear the birds giving warning calls, and you see deer, and wild dogs rushing away. And then the majestic tiger arrives. It’s a goosebump moment for anyone who has the good luck to witness it,” says Hemangi.

How it started

When Hemangi got back from her first trip, she shared the pictures she took with family and friends. Everyone was amazed and wanted to know more about her jungle stories. Subsequently, Hemangi made yearly trips to different national parks besides Kanha; Ranthambor, Panha, Jim Corbett Kadbanwadi, Bhigwan and Mayureshwar. And every trip to the jungle created its own ripples of interest among her friends.

“Soon my friends began asking me what it would be like to take a trip. Is it safe? I thought to myself why not get the women out into the jungles? Most urban women take time out for themselves and spend time in malls, and theatres while a whole new beauteous experience awaited us in the jungles,” she says.

Launch of Jungle Belles

The women-only holidays that started her love for the jungle turned out to be the differentiating point of business. In 2019, Hemangi along with her friend and now co-founder Aarti Karve launched Jungle Belles which is aimed at providing women only a taste of the jungle, “be it a wildlife reserve forest, grasslands like Saswad or Bhigwan or simply immerse yourself in nature, create awareness and inculcate the need for conservation. Who better to start with besides women?” In the 10 years since her first trip to the wild Hemangi had enough experience to know how to organise this.

She says, “A trip to a wildlife sanctuary can be quite expensive. So, we decided that we should be affordable.” The first trip that Jungle Belles organised was for four women to Bhigwan to watch flamingoes, where they charged them just the cost of the trip. “We wanted to make sure we got everything right, so we made a profit of just ₹200 per person on that trip.”

Getting organised

To make sure each trip is as precious and memorable as it is for her. Hemangi and Aarti worked out deals with hotels near these national parks so that the cost would not be forbidding for their clients. “There were options for homestays, but they were not good enough. So, we have good hotels on a twin-sharing basis as well as MTDC resorts that are really good and reasonably priced. We have a B-B pricing deal, so it helps price our trips well.”

Before every trip, they do a recce to ensure things are as good as they were promised. They even set up a safety protocol for the ladies during the trips. “Even small little things like boarding the gypsy van may pose a problem for some women with knee problems or standing in a moving vehicle that can cause accidents even if they are minor. So, we have established a protocol that is followed as well as brief and debrief our customers before and after every trip.”

Marketing and other events

Even though it was the sharing of wildlife photos that aroused the interest of prospective customers, Hemangi feels that more needs to be done with regard to marketing.

“In 2021, we did four trips with batches of four ladies in each. The next year we did 25 trips with a total of 40 women. In 2023 it was 60 trips with 100 women. But this year we want to do at least 100 trips and take about 500 women with us,” says Hemangi.

In addition to organising trips, Jungle Belles also organises events that help raise awareness levels in society and at times bring in profit. Says Hemangi, “We organise events around wildlife photography that have been quite successful. In the first year, we did this for free. But the next one we started charging people for participating. We charge them ₹300 for a set of three photos. We have three categories for these; still photography, animals in action and conservation. In our first wildlife photography exhibition we had 60 entries, in the second year that went up to 260 and last year we had 500 entries. The event is open to all, even amateurs and even photos on mobile phones are allowed. We have prizes for each category – ₹10,000 for the first prize to ₹5000 for the next two categories.

In addition to this contest, they also organise programs that promote awareness and conservation knowledge. “We have an open house where we invite forest officers, and well-known conservationists (last year it was Kiran Purandare),” she says.

Funding

So far Hemangi has invested ₹5 lakh of her own. Hemangi now realises that Jungle Belles needs rapid growth. “To do that we are going very strong on our social media push, we are planning to reach out to corporates to use our services for their female employees and also looking for sponsors for our events.”

Will she need to raise funds? “No, we don’t want to take that route right now. We have broken even and need to grow to the next level. We plan to do so with our own funds. Should the need arise, we will think about it at that time,” she says.

The future

We started with the goal of creating awareness, making conservation an important issue for urban people and we have made some headway in that with our trips and events. We saw the lack of awareness and empathy in urban women regarding wildlife and conservation. Then they were unsure about travelling to the forests alone, as they are also worried about their safety.

“We have in our five years taken about 200 plus women out into the jungles and created awareness among more than 5,000 people. But we have a long road ahead. We want every woman should not only be able to take such trips but also educate their families so that someday Mother Nature and urban cities live in perfect harmony.” Till then the jungles will call in silence. Will you listen?