Have you ever found yourself stuck in traffic or scrolling endlessly through your phone, and suddenly wished you were somewhere else — maybe in a forest, under open skies, surrounded by birdsong?

Maybe it’s a childhood memory — a family trip to a wildlife park, a photo of a tiger that stayed with you, or just the quiet joy of watching a bird hop across your balcony railing. That tug you feel? It’s a longing that many of us carry — a quiet urge to reconnect with the wild. Not as tourists. Not for the thrill. But because it feels like home.

For Sanket Reddy, that connection isn’t just a feeling — it has become his life. A wildlife photographer, conservationist, entrepreneur, and social activist, Sanket has spent years in forests around the world. He has walked beside grizzly bears, locked eyes with black panthers, and found wisdom in silence — all with a camera in hand. But more than the experiences or the images he’s captured, it’s the lessons that nature has given him that have truly stayed.

“Nature has given me and taught me so many life lessons that I wouldn’t have picked up otherwise,” he says. “It has changed how I see the world — and how I see myself.”

What we can learn from those who live closest to nature

Over the years, Sanket has spent time in some of the world’s most remote forests. And while the animals have always fascinated him, it’s often the people who live alongside them who’ve made the biggest impact.

“They’ve fed me, sheltered me, and taught me things I would never have found in books,” he shares. From South India to Central America, Sanket has met tribal communities whose lives are beautifully in sync with nature. Their stories, rituals, and daily rhythms are shaped by the land and all that lives on it.