Giving life back to the rainforest
Driven by the devastating loss of biodiversity in the Western Ghats, Wolfgang Dieter Theuerkauf founded Gurukula Botanical Sanctuary in 1981. Gurukula has since grown into a success story for the conservation of rare endemic plant species in the Western Ghats. Gurukula's small teal of horticulturalists, naturalists and educators rehabilitate threatened plant species and subsequently restore them into their habitat, whilst providing training for women of the local rural communities where economic opportunities are otherwise extremely limited.
As a direct result of its complementary habitat restoration and plant conservation programmes, within its 75 acres Gurukula has now nurtured and is home to over 2,000 plant species, from towering buttress-rooted trees to epiphytes, tubers, lianas, mosses, legumes and grasses.
