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| Pete Cooper managing director and tour leader |
| Born in 1962, Pete spent the first 20 years of his working life in Finance and Management. Inspired by his first trip to Tanzania on his honeymoon, he bought his first SLR camera in December 2000 and began to combine a lifelong appreciation of wildlife with photography. |
| In 2001 he was on a holiday to China, and by chance National Geographic had a Tiger Weekend that was picked up by the cable TV in his hotel. Among the programmes shown was a documentary made by Nick Nichols about the tigers of Bandhavgarh. Inspired by what he had seen, Pete chose to ditch the “rat race” and made the decision to turn professional in spring 2002. Shortly afterwards he made a return trip to the Serengeti and the photography career was underway. Weekends saw him loading an old camper van with photographs and frames, travelling across the UK selling via a combination of craft fairs and exhibitions. That first year was a blur of various marquees, stuck in more muddy fields than he could count! |
| Always a cat lover, Pete was drawn to India to see tigers in the wild, and in early 2004 spent four weeks travelling to various reserves. One of these places was Bandhavgarh, which had provided his life changing moment two years earlier. The visit made such an impression that he returned to the park later in the same year. On his next visit he was accompanied by the BBC and filmed for a documentary screened as part of the Inside Out Series on BBC One in September 2005. |
Pete escorted his first client to Bandhavgarh at the beginning of 2006, and since then has had the privilege of showing hundreds of clients their "first tiger". He spends between 3 and 4 months a year travelling and has led groups to Kanha, Pench, Kaziranga, Gir, Yala and Pushkar as well as countless visits to Bandhavgarh, which he now looks on as his "second home". |
When not with clients, he travels as much as possible to see new places. Recent visits have included Ranthambhore, the Sunderbans, Chitwan, Bardia, Pokhara, Coorg and Nagarhole. Outside of the wildlife parks, his favourite place in India is Kerala, particularly the area around Cochin and the Backwaters of Alleppey. |
| In the UK he spends most of his time trying to outwit his computer, dividing his time between maintaining his extensive collection of wildlife pictures, managing the website, developing new tours for the brochures, and the hundred-and-one things that come with running an office. He occasionally escapes to showcase the company at travel shows and give talks about tiger conservation. He also writes magazine articles and book reviews, media credits including The Derby Evening Telegraph, Nottingham Evening Post and specialist cat magazines such as Cat World and The Cat. |
| He is a member of the RSPB and The Wildlife Trusts, and supports Global Tiger Patrol, the Feline Advisory Bureau and Care For The Wild International. |
| He currently lives in Nottingham with his wife Lynn and three cats. |
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| Dhanya Venkatesh naturalist and tour leader |
| Born in 1981, Dhanya got her first exposure to animals, birds and fish as a child from her parents who are dog breeders and boarders by profession. |
| At the age of 4, Dhanya got her very own aquarium for topping her final exams. From then on there has been no looking back. After helping deliver a litter of Labrador retriever pups at the age of seven, she got involved into breeding of dogs and has helped raise over 500 pups of various breeds like cocker spaniels, German Shepherds, Labrador Retrievers, Golden Retrievers, Irish Setters etc. |
| Dhanya got exposed to the exciting world of birds during her visits to her grandfathers’ estate in Kerala, where she spent lot of time watching the beautifully coloured birds flitting in and out of the trees. Her interest in wildlife really took root when they moved into their own house on the out skirts of Bangalore. Here she saw many a different birds, started learning a lot more about their habits & habitats by putting up feeders, mud baths and water to lure them into the lush garden on the terrace and backyard. She has also worked actively with snake rescuers and helped rescue cobras, vipers, kraits etc that used frequent their neighbourhood. |
| Her 3 year stint working with AXA PPP Healthcare, Bangalore didn’t deter her from her passion & interest for wildlife as she kept on spending her holidays in various National Parks in South India. Dhanya has visited places like Bandipur, Nagarhole, Mudumalai, Eravikulam, Chinnar, Thattekad, Periyar, Ranathambore, Pench, Kanha, Bandavgarh just to name a few. |
| Her interest finally scored over IT when she decided to undergo a specialised training by Taj CC Africa in Kanha & Pench, before working for a season as Senior Naturalist at Tuli Tiger Coridor in Pench. For the last 4 years, Dhanya has worked as an in-house naturalist & tour leader for one of the larger ground operators in India, leading tiger and birdwatching tours to places like Kanha, Bandavgarh, Rajasthan, Bharatpur, Corbett, and Periyar. |
| As well as her interest in the headline mammals and birds, she has a keen interest in the other wildlife and flora, and is just as happy escorting clients on searches for butterflies, spiders, snakes, bugs, lichens, mushrooms etc. |
| Dhanya joins Lionscape Indus as our full time in-house naturalist and tour leader, and will be escorting all of our tour groups into India, as well as private tours for clients on request. |
| A bachelor graduate in English Literature from Bangalore University, she is fluent in Hindi. English, Kannada, Tamil & Telugu. |
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Lynn Cooper |
Born in 1960, Lynn spent the first 21 years of her working life with BT plc. She worked in various departments including Accounts, Training, Corporate Relations and Strategic Development. After taking redundancy in 2001 Lynn worked as a Secretary at the University of Nottingham and more recently as a Personal Assistant to senior managers in the finance industry. |
Although having spent summer holidays in places like Cyprus, Spain and the Greek islands Lynn truly caught the travel bug after travelling to Canada, Australia, China and Tanzania. Pete and Lynn spent their honeymoon in Africa where the safaris were magical. |
| Lynn accompanied Pete on his first trip to India, and takes the opportunity to visit the country whenever her "other job" permits. Her most memorable tiger sighting was seeing B2 for the first time in Bandhavgarh, when he crossed the road right in front of their jeep. |
As administration and organisation is her forte Lynn helps Pete within the business in these areas. She feels her greatest challenge is keeping Pete orgainsed (I agree : Pete)..... |
| As well as travel and wildlife she loves listening to all types of music, walking and astrology. |
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| Tom, Sita & Gerry the cats |
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| top Tom, left Sita and right Gerry |
| Meet our 3 rescuees from the RSPCA, Tom, Sita & Gerry. Gerry came first, and has proven to be the original "green eyed monster" who always wants to be the centre of attention (when not eating and sleeping)........ |
| We then went to get another one as a friend for Gerry, and came back with two, brother and sister Tom & Sita: Tom spends most of his time outside in all weathers, while Sita (the smart one) prefers being indoors in strange places. |
| lionscape indus ltd | All content , text and images © Pete Cooper |