in 1997 i was working at muskoka woods sports resort and they happen to hire nanda to bring one of his animals to camp.  it was a 900 lb. siberian tiger.  after meeting nanda and talking with him, we started what would become a lifelong friendship.

nanda grew up in the northern part of india and had a pet elephant. yeah, exactly – his stories of childhood are amazing and certainly not average!!!  he was raised by his grandparents and tells the story of when he was three, his gandfather said “you are a man now, come with me”.  he handed him two lion cubs and said “here, these are now your responsibility”.  even with beginnings such as this, he studied to be an economist (which in the end he obviously decided was not for him).  he now has a big cat “farm” in which he houses 2 adult lions, 5 cubs, 2 cougars and a black panther (this combination changes all the time)!

anytime you talk to nanda he has a crazy story.  his life is seriously not normal.  he told me one day michael jackson called him for advice about his pet monkey.  he has worked on movies such as “into the darkness”, “bear” and “jungle book”.  side note: remember the black panther in the movie called bagera?  well nanda has his son who he calls cara (more about him later).  nanda was also flown to south africa to offer direct input on the development of kruger national park.  how cool is that?

so with all this “fame” what does he focus his energy on?  the conservation and preservation of these amazing animals.  he cares more for his animals than anything in the world.  they are literally like his kids (he raised them from cubs in his livingroom)!  i even got to play with a baby lynx in his house one visit!

a very sad fact is people in the past have tried to shut him down for various reasons: thinking it’s unethical, unfair to the animals or poor conditions – all of which are untrue.  as nanda would put it, he’s a lover not a fighter.  raising lions and tigers is not an easy task, and it’s certainly not a money maker!!!  he is all about keeping animals in the wild but he believes in education and the importance of their existence on our planet.

i suppose if we cared for animals more, things would be different – but it’s not.  we obviously care about “stuff” more than animals.  i mean it is so sad to hear him  say “one day it’s a jungle, the next it’s a mini mall”.  when you hear nanda talk about this, you can see his heart breaking.  you can feel his true sadness and it makes you want to do something.  this has been a crazy year for me – from going to haiti and seeing extreme poverty to having a mentor pass away, to wanting to help nanda “save the world”.  i feel the need to just keep doing – to just do whatever i can in each situation that is given to me.  nanda is a do-er, he will never say you can’t do something.  if you have a dream or a passion he will be the first person to encourage you.

this guy is so generous, during a visit about 8 years ago he randomly invited me in for dinner.  we found ourselves talking about more than just lions but instead, discussing some of life’s toughest questions.  he is an amazing person and makes you feel like you are one of his kids.  genuinely and honestly he gives you 100% of his attention – like nothing else matters in that moment.  he got me excited about life and thinking about the possibilities.  he is definitely on my list of people who have inspired me along the way to become who i am today.  i have to thank him for giving me advice and for the memories.

he told me today he’s had 3 strokes and was recovering from a recent heart attack (3 weeks ago).  he is 72.

this winter he is going to siberia to help with a lion breeding program.  as well, he’ll be sending these two cubs to kenya.  believe it or not, they are becoming endangered!  who would think two cubs raised in canada, in captivity will be released back into their native country to help a population?  a bit backwards don’t you think?

this is tayus’ impression of a lion.

this is jomei finding out that there are only 14 panthers left in the world!

to see jomei’s face when nanda said this was so sad.  i mean jomei will probably only ever see this one panther, and to know it is one of 14 seems so hopeless.  it was blowing my mind watching jomei listen to nanda.  it hit me way harder to watch my son process the fact that these beautiful animals will probably no longer be around.  what is so wrong with our world that this sad injustice has to rock the mind of a 4 year old?  just add it to the list of many things us humans are doing to ruin our world.

i feel honored to have seen and played with cara the panther.

wow, ok – to lighten things up a bit… out of nowhere tayus started tickling nanda!  funny eh?  tayus was just laughing so hard to hear a grown man giggle.

somehow tayus just knew, nanda had a love for life and felt comfortable enough to start tickling a man he had never met before.  i think kids tend to see through adult facade and i think tayus could just see nanda is a big teddybear and in many ways really like a kid himself.

if you are ever in the muskoka area, you should totally stop in and see nanda.  it’s $10 an adult (which is cool beacuse then you know you have directly helped the repopulation of lions in kenya – or the siberian project etc.)  he also takes donations.

here’s the info:

Guha’s Tigers & Lions

705.385.0847

RR#2, 752 Raymond Road
Utterson, Ontario P0B 1M0
Canada