Naturalist
Specialty: Entomology · Coastal Ecology · Urban Ecology
Ask Shambhavi Chavan about her spirit animal and she’ll say the ant — strong work ethic, unmatched inner strength, teamwork, and endless planning and preparation. It’s a fitting choice for a naturalist whose quiet enthusiasm for insects and mangroves surprises nearly everyone who meets her.
Shambhavi Chavan: Mangrove Research & Fieldwork
Her fieldwork has taken her to some remarkable places. She spent eleven months as a mangrove consultant on the Mangrove Coalition Project — an initiative of WWF India, Godrej Enterprises, WRI India, Stanford University and other partners — gaining hands-on experience in mangrove field research, awareness and conservation. In the field, two sightings stand above the rest: a family of the vulnerable Asian small-clawed otter foraging along a serene mangrove waterline in West Bengal, and a tigress with her five ten-month-old cubs emerging from the bushes in a wildlife sanctuary, the young ones surrounding her gypsy like a gang while she photographed a male cub holding her gaze.
Holding a Master’s in Biodiversity, Wildlife Conservation and Management, Shambhavi specialises in entomology, coastal ecology and urban ecology, leading sensory nature walks, mangrove and shore walks, and forest-school programs for every age group. She thinks of teaching nature as an act of translation — turning the complexity of the wild into stories, experiences and connections people can truly feel.
“Conservation does not begin in policies or projects; it begins in the choices we make every day.”
