The Snake man who s unable to see

Meet the inspiring wildlife activist and adventure junkie, who did not let blindness affect his passion.

Sanjeev Gohil started losing his vision to Stargardt 12 years ago. He suffered from progressive loss of vision which led to the point of legal blindness. But this did not stop him from climbing rocks or rescuing snakes, crocodiles and even leopards! 

“I was born with perfect vision. But gradually I developed vision complications. Today, though I am unable to see, I don’t take it as a challenge. It has not affected my life much,” Gohil says.

When most kids in school were busy catching kites, Sanjeev Gohil loved rescuing snakes and would hand them over to forest department to safely release them in the wild again.

Gohil had to discontinue his graduation mid-way due to low vision, but he continued to successfully finish several rock climbing trips and rescued most dangerous wildest animals like lions, man-eater leopards and crocodiles even at the odd hours.

Three years ago, he went for rock climbing with three other friends to survey the vultures which are on the verge of extinction. Due to many honeycombs, the rock was slippery and the team could not finish climbing it within the stipulated time. As a result, they had to spend the entire night on a 2′ x 2′ platform which was around 300 feet from the ground level. “I still remember the day. We did not even have a single drop of water with us. All four of us anchored each other and spent the entire night there without moving,” he says.

This is one example of the hundreds of adventurous things he has done in his life. Determined to live his life to the fullest, Gohil does not let his disability come in the way.

He had to quit his job due to low vision and that's when he started freelancing with various NGOs to help people with disabilities find suitable jobs.

In the future, he plans to keep himself engaged with all the wildlife activities and activism that he does. “It is not as easy as it looks. People might find it exciting from the outside. But you have to wait for several hours without moving just to get a small glimpse of an animal. There is a lot of hard work involved,” he says.

Thus, Sanjeev is a perfect example of how a setback cannot affect a strong willpower and dedication.