Valmik Thapar has spent almost fifty years serving the interests of wildlife, especially tigers. He has written over forty books on tigers, Indian wildlife, and his African journeys. Some of his acclaimed books include Living with Tigers, Saving Wild India: A Blueprint for Change, Winged Fire: A Celebration of Indian Birds, Wild Fire: The Splendours of India’s Animal Kingdom, and Tiger Fire: 500 Years of the Tiger in India. He has presented wildlife-related programmes on BBC and several other television networks. He has served the Indian Board for Wildlife (now replaced by the National Board for Wildlife), the Central Empowered Committee, and more. He was also appointed to the Tiger Task Force in 2006–2007.
Thapar created a major non-governmental organization dedicated to conserving wildlife, the Ranthambore Foundation. He won the NDTV Indian of the Year Award in 2016 and Sanctuary Nature Foundation’s Lifetime Service Award in 2017.