Why Converse with Nature?

Coming back from our visits, be it a birding trip to a local park or an excursion outside the country, we discovered that people were greatly interested in hearing about our experiences. It seemed that engaging and connecting with nature is so innate that even having conversations brought out those smiles, that feeling of awe and that glint of light in their eyes. So we thought, why not share them with a broader audience? We want this place to be a way for readers to ‘live’ our experiences, get information about the destinations and learn a bit about conserving wild places and its inhabitants. We hope this is a place that encourages you to stay in touch with nature, inspires your next outings and, in a selfish way, helps us flash back to those amazing memories.

Come, converse with nature, and it will speak back to you!

About Us

We are Shweta and Vinayak. Having moved from India to the US for our masters education, much of our life here revolved around ‘making the living’.

Shweta works as an experience design leader and Vinayak, a product manager in the San Francisco Bay Area. Working in the tech hub of Silicon Valley, it was easy to get sucked into the routine of work-weekdays and chore-weekends.

So, how did we re-ignite our curiosity of the natural world and get back to spending time in nature?

Vinayak

For me, childhood in India involved only cursory outdoor nature experiences - a visit to the national park in Mumbai or a local picnic area was all it was. I though, frequently immersed himself in nature documentaries on Animal Planet, Discovery and National Geographic channels and was fascinated by wild animals, with Lions being my favorites. I drifted away from my engagement with nature, as studies and work took precedence and it became a distant memory. It was a chance viewing of the ‘The Life of Birds’ documentary on Netflix that Shweta suggested, particularly the episode about the amazing sounds of a Lyre bird, that fascinated me and caught my attention. From there began more helpings of nature shows, few hikes around the Bay Area and soon led to wildlife focused trips. Nowadays, I like to muse and research about the next place to visit, the next bird, mammal or natural phenomenon to view and plan our trips.

Shweta

I developed curiosity and keen interest in nature and wildlife from a very young age. Our backyard was not just my playground but also a place for spending hours observing the birds, and mimicking their sounds. I was in 5th grade when I got my hands on a bird information book, and I immediately got drawn to the variety of birds that also happened to visit my neighborhood. With my first camera, a humble Kodak point-and-shoot, I started photographing birds and was fascinated by their colors, feathers and calls - the yellow-black color of Golden Orioles, the long tail of the Racket-tailed Drongo or the distinct sound of Koels. I vividly remember going on nature trails in my home town of Mumbai - whether it was the Bombay Natural History Society reserve or the Sewri mudflats famous for its Lesser Flamingoes. After moving to the US, although my curiosity never died (I would often spot animals and birds in the unlikeliest of places), it certainly became more passive. In the last few years, I picked it up interest again, and thanks to Vinayak we made our first trip to a national park in India followed by the safari in Africa. And that pretty much changed everything. Now I try to muster up strength to hold the long telephoto lenses but the effort is worth it to capture a slice of nature!