Founder · Ecotourism Curator · Senior Naturalist
Some people build careers around a single ecosystem. Anurag Karekar built one around a rhythm. For eight months of the year he works as an ecotourism curator in the Andaman Islands, guiding guests through tidepools, mangroves and ancient lava trails; when the monsoon rolls in, he returns to Mumbai to run nature-education and ecotourism programs through the company he founded — Naturalist Explorers. Colleagues have started calling him a “monsoon-migrating naturalist,” and the name has stuck.
Anurag Karekar’s Marine & Field Explorations
His love affair with the islands began in 2019, when he spent over seven months on Havelock Island (Swaraj Dweep) as a nature interpreter. Inspired by the marine walks held in coastal cities like Mumbai, he began exploring the Andamans on foot rather than only by diving — walking the beaches at low tide to find fishes, crabs, molluscs and coral that most tourists never notice. Seven years across the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, including Little Andaman and Nicobar, gave him an understanding of tropical marine and forest systems that few naturalists ever reach. One of his proudest field moments? Free-diving so close to his first-ever bamboo-banded shark that he could take a selfie with it.
Anurag’s work has never been just about sightings. As a co-founder of Mumbai’s NaturalisT Foundation, he helped lead hundreds of workshops and trails introducing thousands of citizens — young and old — to the wild pockets of their own city. That work earned him the Sanctuary Asia Young Naturalist Award in 2020, and in 2022 he was recognized as a Grassroots Hero at the Outlook Responsible Tourism Awards. In 2026 he served on the jury for the Indian Responsible Tourism Awards. A free diver, storyteller and restless builder, he holds a B.Sc. in Zoology and a diploma in environmental law and policy.
The Vision Behind Naturalist Explorers
Naturalist Explorers is his answer to one simple belief — the same one he shares with every guest at the end of a trail: once you truly see the natural world, you cannot unsee it. It only takes some patience and curiosity to open up a whole new world beyond mankind.
“Nature conservation is a selfish endeavour — once you see it, you cannot unsee it.”