About Us

We ENVISION journeys that become life experiences for our guests, are unique and creative. We CREATE inimitable journeys tailored for the traveler, wanderer, drifter, explorer, dreamer, adventurer. We are DRIVEN by passion, love and a desire to explore the road less taken. We BELEIVE in being sustainable, fun, ethical and flexible.

The Company

Travel needs to ENRICH, TRANSFORM and INSPIRE. The traveler needs to evolve, experience and make MEMORIES THAT LAST A LIFETIME. JOURNEYS as a company continuously aspires to create life experiences for people across the world. We aim to INVOKE PASSION and LOVE FOR TRAVEL. We stress on the educational and inspirational value of every journey.

We have a company that is driven by people who have spent their entire lives travelling and experiencing nature. OUR EXPERTS travel with the GUESTS, always accompany the camps and personally tailor every itinerary. There is a backup team of volunteers and instructors ensure that QUALITY IS NEVER COMPROMISED and every guest gets the best of what is on offer. We love CHILDREN and have an entire segment DEDICATED to camps and treks SPECIALLY CREATE FOR KIDS. We prefer to focus on the EDUCATIONAL and EXPERIENTIAL quotient of all our journeys and a travel expert simply ensures that this is never lost or overlooked.

Meet the Team

Sushil Chikane

Director

Sushil is an avid traveller and a photo artist based out of Pune. He has traversed India extensively and there’s nothing he loves doing more. His passion for what he does translates into every one of his travels, ensuring every client experiences  and makes the most out of their travel with him.

With a cumulative experience of 15 years in the field in association with an array of organisations, In the course of his travels and having mastered in biodiversity, he has had the privilege to observe some very fascinating and rare creatures that inhabit the wildernesses. Additionally, his unique ability to compose images of wildlife in an artistic manner, gives them a unique feel and can be interpreted in a myriad ways.

Sushil’s pictures have been published in some leading magazines like Heritage India, Saevus and Sanctuary Asia and in books such as the Reptiles and Amphibians of Maharashtra and Reptiles of India.  Sushil garners a deep love for India and a talent to be able to tell stories through his photographs.

Murtaza Chass

Travel Photography Head

A specialist in travel photography, Murtuza, in an ideal world he is forever on the road, looking for new adventures and scapes to capture. Not one to be content with accolades, Murtuza is a PADI certified Open Water Diver and a Beginner Skydiver too.   His longing to travel to unexplored places has taken him to many unconventional locales that go unnoticed by commercial tourism. Murtuza’s forte lies in landscape photography and he is also proficient in Photoshop and Lightroom.

At Journey’s, Murtuza looks after Marketing and Promotion in Hyderabad. He also leads travel and landscape photography journeys and conducts photography workshops.

Apurv Jadhav

Manager and Macro Photography Head

Apurv, at a fairly young age, started off his journey in wildlife by observing spiders and other insects. He now explores nature photography along with practicing various genres of photography. Always fascinated by the detailed perfections of nature, he is passionate towards documenting the subjects and nature artistically. His photographs have been featured on some very well-known platforms like National Geographic, Nature InFocus, Sanctuary Asia. He was also a winner of Macro Photography category in Srushti Photography Contest and Exhibition. In addition to this, his photos are also published in The Field Guide to Spider Genera of India, first of its kind.

Prithviraj Banerjee

Landscape Photography Head

Prithvi comes from an IT background and is a very passionate traveller. His passion extends to food, culture and heritage. He has demonstrable abilities to groom young people and enhance their personal skills. Prithvi has been a guest faculty in various Management and Engineering colleges. He loves capturing landscapes around the world and has travelled across India and to various countries abroad doing what he loves the most. His images have been published in various magazines and are also seen on the page of Nikon India. Prithvi loves sharing his travel experiences and gaining new ones during his journeys.

Ayaan Akkalkotkar

Big Cat Journeys Head

A wildlife enthusiast who grew up idolizing Steve Irwin, Ayaan holds a strong affection towards snakes and wild cats. His trips to national parks as a kid made a huge impact on him and he decided quite early that this was his real passion. He has worked as a naturalist at Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve where he also trained locals to become forest guides. A wildlife photographer par excellence, Ayaan’s photos have been used by many websites and organizations. Ayaan has also given lectures on nature and wildlife conservation.

As a Senior Naturalist, Ayaan brings his long standing affection and years of experience to the Team at Journeys.

Varun Vaze

Underwater Journeys Head

Varun, an IT professional who runs his own software development company is also an avid photographer who takes his passion to the next level by shooting on land as well as underwater. He is a SCUBA diver and likes to document underwater life. He has keen interest into subject of reptiles and arachnids, in which he has published few international research papers. With such unique skillset he is the head of underwater journeys.

Rujuta Parekh

Wildlife and Offbeat Journeys Consultant

Though a journalist by qualification, it has always been the most difficult for her to write about herself. But, if she has to call herself something, she would like to call herself a traveller – not only a traveller of places but also life. She started with camping right out of school and travel has since been her solace. It was what helped her find a direction in life when it came to deciding about her career and even now, when she leaves that same profession behind her to travel once again. With almost a decade of camping under her belt, she knows for sure that she can help people have a good time!

Kumudini Chikane

Kids Journeys Head

An avid traveller, wildlife and adventure enthusiast, Kumudini has successfully toured with over a 1000 children in the past 20 years! Kumudini Chikane has been awarded Best Teacher by the Rotary & P.E. Society and is the principal of P.E.S. N.C.L Pre Primary English Medium School, Pune. With accolades of ‘Cleanest and most Creative Classroom’ by the Pune Municipal Corporation and P.E. Society, she derives her education style from ‘learning from exploration’. Along with her impeccable knack of handling large groups of children, Kumudini brings to Journeys her incredible management skills, her flair for providing enriching and memorable travels and her relentless ability to ensure safe and enjoyable Kids Journeys.

Divyanshu Pawar

Geological Journeys Head

Coming from a Geology background Divyanshu wants to develop Geo tourism and wants to spread awareness about Geological diversity in our country. He believes in sharing his knowledge and travel experiences. Apart from just having Geology in his curriculum he also likes to collect minerals. Additionally he has been working with various NGOs like eCoexist , Spherule Foundation , Changemakers Today, Jeevitnadi.

Devdatta Lohokare

Equipment Rentals Head

Devdatta is an aspiring nature & wildlife photographer & cinematographer based out of Pune. He has traveled in India and Africa for the past 7-8 years. He is passionate about all the aspects of travelling and nature, with 8 Years of photography experience in Indian and African terrane he is upcoming in nature and wildlife photography industry. Having a bachelors in photography and cinematography from well-known international Universities has helped him gaining an unique angle – perspective and story-lining which is reflected in his work.

Akshay Gotkhindi

Bird Photography Consultant

Born in Karnataka, raised in Maharashtra, Akshay is a bird enthusiast who fell in love with birds since he learnt about the feathery creatures. Having covered almost 550+ species of birds from the Indian Subcontinent, his target is to complete all the 1350 we have. He has travelled to many locations till date covering Northern and Southern parts of India including Andaman Islands.Akshay also likes to photograph different species of birds and has also got published in the New York Times. He would like to share his knowledge and experience regarding bird awareness with people around us.It’s all about your vision. “How can we find the most beautiful birds right outside our window!”

Siddharth Biniwale

Siddharth is a Naturalist at heart and a Geologist by academics. The initial curiosity about animals, birds, and creepy crawlies tuned his bonding with nature. Right from his first tra*Siddharth* is a Naturalist at heart and a Geologist by academics. Exploring wilderness, observing and documenting flora fauna and sharing findings have become his way of life. He studied Sand reefs for his Master’s thesis. Contributed in groundwater conservation and watershed management projects across India, as a hydrogeologist. Explored various habitats and forest ecosystems as a Naturalist. His interest in bioacoustics and restoration depend as he participated in research and lead conservation projects in central India and Northern Western ghats. Siddharth continues leading bird monitoring and forest restoration projects with  various stakeholders. Also works with the Ecological Society of Pune, mentoring Nature Educatorsil in the jungles, various nature orientation camps and so on, exploring wilderness, observing and documenting flora fauna and sharing findings have become his way of life. He studied Sand reefs for his Master’s thesis. Contributed in groundwater conservation and watershed management projects across India, as a hydrogeologist. Explored various habitats and forest ecosystems as a Naturalist. His interest in bioacoustics and restoration depend as he participated in research and lead conservation projects in central India and Northern Western ghats. Siddharth continues leading bird monitoring and forest restoration projects with  various stakeholders. Also works with the Ecological Society of Pune, mentoring Nature Educators.

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