OUR TEAM

Founder Trustee & Principal Director 

Featured in Conde Nast Traveler at two separate occasions as one of the “50 amazing ambassadors of sustainable travel” and “50 People to Know in the Himalayas,”Muzammil is a climber, trekker, wildlife enthusiast & a Kargil native who after much wandering around India for a few years decided to come back home and co-founded Roots Ladakh - a responsible travel company with his brother in 2013 with a vision to change the preconceived notion of Kargil as a “war zone”. Muzammil has a background in management, design & research. As a researcher, his work took him to travel to some remote locations in India where his love for traveling and exploration grew. He is passionate about learning new skills and seeing new places. Muzammil wears many hats. Besides running his travel company he loves taking people around his backyard as a qualified outdoor guide, an experienced culture guide, a museum curator, a wildlife conservationist and as a storyteller. He has helped set up various community-run tourism projects in Kargil and is a member of the local Tourism Advisory Board.  He also manages the Munshi Aziz Bhat Museum - his family museum dedicated to the Silk Route trade heritage of Kargil. He is a TedX speaker and was featured in a National Geographic wildlife documentary on Himalayan Brown Bears called “Giants of the Himalayas”. Recently, he was the Gold Winner at the Outlook Traveller Indian Responsible Tourism Awards 2023.

Founder Trustee & Director of Finance

Featured in Conde Nast Traveler at two separate occasions as one of the “50 amazing ambassadors of sustainable travel” and “50 People to Know in the Himalayas,” Tafazzul is the CFO at Roots Ladakh which he co-founded with Muzammil. Fondly known as Tafu, he is responsible for all the operations and finance. Tafazzul comes from a commerce background. He could never take to a typical 9 to 5 job. So after finishing his Bachelor of Commerce from SRCC, Delhi University, he decided to come back home and join hands with Muzammil to create something of their own. For obvious reasons he is the main guy who ensures that the money is being spent well in the organisation.

Joint Trustee 

An aspiring naturalist and an avid wildlife photographer, Karamjeet has spent over 5 years documenting bears in own backyard that is Kargil. He is probably the only individual who has the most extensive documentation of the Himalayan Brown Bears in the entire Indian Himalaya. Formally trained in mass communication and journalism, he aspires to use visual communication as a tool for conservation.

His works have been published on various renowned platforms such as BBC and Round Glass. He work recently came Runner Up in Conservation Photography Award by Nature in Focus

Project Manager

Habeeba Fathima’s journey as a wildlife biologist and conservation educator is driven by a deep fascination with the relationship between people and nature. She is a member of the IUCN-WCPA and the UNESCO - Man and Biosphere Network and comes with a background in large mammal research and building human-wildlife coexistence. Her work is centred on the untold stories of communities living alongside wildlife in non-protected areas and is rooted in the principles of community-led and science-based conservation, emphasizing the empowerment of local youth as conservation leaders by promoting sustainable livelihood opportunities.

As Project Manager at the Himalayan Brown Bear Trust, Habeeba works towards exploring ways to mitigate human-bear conflict while building sustainable partnerships. She provides input for strategic planning and develops project proposals and reports to support the Trust's initiatives.

Field Operations Manager

Fayaz is a native of Kargil and a graduate in Travel and Tourism Management from IITTM, Delhi. After spending a few months working with the Department of Tourism Kargil, he initially joined the team in 2021 as a tour guide. It did not take a long time to realize his qualities and today he plays a key role in managing the field operations.

His soft spoken and humble nature coupled with his intimate knowledge about the region makes him a great field resource. His special interests are cooking, gardening and ofcourse wildlife. 

Project Coordinator 

Kuhelika has majored in Anthropology from Symbiosis School for Liberal Arts and has been trained as a nature guide by Nature Conservation Foundation. She has gained experience in the jungles of Corbett National Park.

Her passion to work closely with communities manifested itself first as a User Experience Researcher in the startup world, before turning towards the human-wildlife interaction space. She is also a member of our team at The Himalayan Brown Bear Trust and has worked on Humās, a field guide on the flora and fauna of Drass valley. She works closely with the community of Holiyal village to engage them in community conservation practices. 

She’s easily excited by the natural world; be it the birds, the caterpillars they eat, or the network of fungi that sustains their habitat. When inside four walls, she enjoys books, music and cooking.

Field Resource Person

Abida Banoo is a native of Drass where communities live closely with Himalayan Brown Bears, She graduated from the first batch of felting training conducted by the Trust and joined the self-help group - Punare. Now, as a Field resource person with the Himalayan Brown Bear Trust, she ensures the group operates smoothly, managing wool supplies, documenting product inflow and sales, and facilitating year-round communication. Abida also advocates for Punare’s mission and identifies potential areas for growing the self-help group.

Senior Advisor

Recently featured in Condé Nast Traveler as one of the “50 People to Know in the Himalayas,” Gulzar Hussain has incredible knowledge and passion for wildlife, history, and culture of his homeland in the Himalayas. With a bachelor’s degree in science and an MBA in tourism, he currently specializes in sustainable tourism planning and policy. He is the co-author of the book, Journey through Paradise, an in-depth guide to Kashmir, Ladakh, and Jammu, and is the founder of the Nomadic Center for Arts and Crafts in Puga Changthang. The Nomadic Center gives underprivileged, vulnerable, Nomadic children better access to health care and education, and involves them in creative arts and wildlife conservation projects. As a naturalist and guide, Gulzar loves sharing his passion for the remote, remarkable, and delicate ecosystem of the Himalayas with fellow adventurers. He enjoys photography and finds that his pictures help bring his stories to life during evenings spent around the campfire.

Senior Advisor

Karan is born n brought up in Bombay. 

There is hardly a bigger contrast than leaving a city with a population of over 20 Million and moving into the fringe of the Kanha National park where he owns and operates a Boutique Safari lodge called Flame of the Forest since over a decade. 

His vision was to live a simple life in the forest and share it with like minded people. He is a trained naturalist and hence the dream of living in the wilderness was omnipresent in this life. 

From the first time he visited Kanha, his heart was captured by the magnificent landscapes, the glorious Sal trees and the variety of wildlife the park has to offer. There is always something to discover, something to learn and cherish and certainly there is never a dull moment when you are on a drive with him. 

Karan is always looking for the next adventure, embracing opportunities to grow, learn and transform. He does not take life too seriously, what ever will be, will be. Life around him is full of energy and laughter.

Senior Advisor

An Indigenous wildlife Filmmaker, storyteller, conservationist

and a Ladakhi native, Imran is firmly rooted in the Himalayan region. He is dedicated to the outdoors and wildlife conservation; he’s an avid wildlife filmmaker, has vast local

knowledge and is a leading expert on snow leopards in the Ladakh region. In a career spanning more than a decade, Imran has effortlessly combined his twin passions of wildlife conservation and filmmaking to educate and inspire the locals through his

documentary films.

As part of his oeuvre, Imran has captured footage of some of the most elusive animals of the trans-Himalayan region such as Eurasian Lynx, Palla’s Cat and Himalayan Brown bear. But his best work has been film SHAN – Spirit of the High

Mountains, a film that has been six years in the making. It is a documentary project on snow leopards aimed to create awareness, educate and inspire the local ladakhi’s. Imran relentlessly followed a female snow leopard and her cubs over this period,

meticulously documenting their lives. Through this, Imran has gained tremendous knowledge about snow leopards and is possibly one of the leading experts on the subject in the Central Asian region, the habitat of this species.

Strategic Advisor

As a conservation biologist Kirti Chavan has a keen interest in understanding human-wildlife interactions, especially the ones that lead to conflict scenarios. Kirti Chavan has worked in many remote locations in India over the last decade. From the central Indian landscape of tigers to the east Indian region bordering Nepal, to the northernmost region of India, Ladakh the land of snow leopards and bears. Kirti has conducted the first ever detailed study of human-brown bear conflict in Zanskar and has published his paper with the Utah State University journal. He has presented his work at the International Congress for Conservation Biology and at SCCS conference at Cambridge. Kirti is also an science educator who has published three books based on the theme of bear conservation and has been teaching modules on Human-wildlife interactions for a Certificate Course in Wildlife Conservation organised by Satpuda Foundation. Kirti is also the first researcher to carry out an intensive three year long study on brown bear occupancy in Zanskar. His work on finding new mitigation measures to reduce the human-wildlife conflict continues in the Himalayan region. 

Strategic Advisor

Chetan Choudhury is a seasoned strategy and public policy professional with extensive experience in innovation, technology integration, and public service design. He is currently Partner & COO at EMIR UAE and the Founder of Wheelhouse Venture Partners. Chetan has served as an Advisor at the Prime Minister’s Office in the UAE and has previously worked with KPMG and Deloitte Consulting. Over the years, he has collaborated with federal and state governments across the US, Canada, and the UAE, bringing transformative solutions to the public sector. As Strategic Advisor to the Himalayan Brown Bear Trust, Chetan brings a wealth of expertise in strategic planning and cross-sector partnerships.