In 1997 he set up Discovery Initiatives, an award winning nature tour operator business that included nature travel within the Indian Sub continent. His passion for wildlife and conservation and his belief that nature tourism is one of the key ‘tools’ in a conservationist’s toolbox, meant he wanted to add his experiences to help India save its wildlife and wilderness, through better ecotourism practices. His experiences are derived from his present job and his upbringing in Southern Africa, amongst its conservationists and ecotour operators who have pioneered new initiatives to save wildlife and wilderness.

Today his job takes him across the globe, visiting wildernesses areas across the seven continents, designing and developing new tours and safaris, developing partnerships with conservation agencies and wildlife experts the world over, and running the TOFT campaign from his home office in the late evenings!!

Julian is an experienced speaker and lecturer on travel, wildlife and conservation and has been interviewed and done recordings both for BBC radio and TV and lectures and presentations in the UK and across the world, from Brazil to South Africa.

Abhishek Behl
Director - TOFT India

Abhishek qualified with an MSc degree in Conservation & Tourism from the Durrell Institute of Conservation & Ecology (DICE), University of Kent, UK. He was actively helping TOFT for 2 years in the UK where his MSc dissertation research focused on local community benefits from UK travel operators and conservation organisations at Ranthambhore Tiger Reserve (Research sponsors: WCS - India IPSG & University of Kent).

He started his conservation career with Kids for Tigers (A Sanctuary Tiger program) Coordinator - Delhi (India's largest schools awareness program on tiger conservation). While in the UK, Abhishek worked with the Northumberland Wildlife Trust where he participated on protected area & habitat management research. His job takes him frequently to 6 national parks in India and works with fellow TOFT Representatives on wildlife conservation issues.

Abhishek strongly believes when communities benefit economically, they get incentives to protect wildlife, by doing so it sustains the growth of wildlife tourism and promotes responsible travel.

Director and owner of Bagh Van Lodge, Pench National Park, and today is employed by India Explorations in the UK.

In his former life he was a former Chief Naturalist at Tiger Tops Jungle Lodge in Royal Chitwan National Park, Nepal, and former member of the Indian Board of Wildlife. He has a house near Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve where he has served as honorary wildlife warden, undertaken a bird survey, published a guide to the Reserve and acted as scientific advisor on television films about tigers.