“Spirit of the Wild” – Education and Connection Clothing with a Message, Story Telling, Learning

Spirit of the Wild is our new education platform.

It’s different – clothing with a message, story telling for kids of all ages. It’s about education and connection.

Spirit of the Wild is the result of the evolution where Living with Leopards, Living with Big Cats, The Coexistence Kids and Youth for Human and Wildlife Coexistence as previous incarnations have all played their own role.

Now, as humanity enters the next stages of the digital revolution, it’s time to be part of that but combine what is happening with a reconnection to nature, a remembrance of why the wild is so important.

Spirit of the Wild starts now, Phase 1 of something different, something special.

On the right is Ridam, she is handing over a t shirt as part of Phase 1 of Spirit of the Wild, where children in Bardiya, west Nepal, have been receiving them thanks to some initial support when we launched Spirit of the Wild in the pre-phase stage. Phase 1 is simply about children receiving these shirts, of which there are several designs, from Ridam and others as the network grows. At the handovers, Ridam explains what is coming up in the next phases which includes books published through Mission Leopard and an online learning program through a currently being developed app (due for completion in early Dec 2026).

You can read more about Ridam at the Substack of Mission leopard coordinator Jack Kinross HERE. Ridam sadly lost her mother Sita in a tragic accident which delayed the start of Phase 1 of Spirit of the Wild. Sita was to be an integral part of the Bardiya section as she was in earlier programs, the t shirt at the top, we are finding out is a popular design, is being named in Sita’s memory.

The Sita shirt, as do all designs, comes with a message about our need to respect nature. That is the over-riding theme of Spirit of the Wild. The crux of the message is at the bottom of this page.

All we ask right now is that you consider sponsoring a child to receive a t shirt. The cost is 30 dollars and you can do this through our Patron’s page HERE. A percentage of the cost goes towards the operation of LeopardEye, an important component in Mission Leopard.

The philosophy behind this is clear and simple, respect for nature. Our goal is to get the message to spread as far and wide as possible, we have interested parties in several countries. The t shirts, the books, the app are the phases of action to make that happen. Read below our philosophy regarding Connection to the Spirit of the Wild:

Connection to the Spirit of the Wild begins with a simple recognition: nature is not a backdrop to human life, but something we belong to and are shaped by. A leopard is not a symbol before it is anything else — it is a single, unrepeatable animal, known by its own pattern of rosettes, living its own life in a specific forest or hillside. To truly see that is to already feel the beginning of respect. This way of seeing is not automatic, and it does not last on its own. Left unattended, it fades into distance, into habit, into treating the wild as a resource rather than a relationship. Spirit of the Wild exists to protect that connection before it is lost, and to rebuild it where it already has been — through a shirt a child chooses to wear, a story they carry with them, a program that grows with them. The aim is not simply to teach children facts about leopards, but to help them feel, early and lastingly, that they are part of something larger and wilder than themselves, and that this is worth protecting because it is genuinely theirs.

Next Spirit of the Wild update 1 November.

More on the thinking behind Spirit of the Wild:

For a long time, many of us have lived further and further away from nature — in busy towns, behind screens, rushing from one thing to the next. It’s easy to forget something simple but important: we are not apart from the wild, we are part of it, and we always have been. The rivers, the forests, the mountains, the animals that move through them — we belong to all of it, just as much as the leopard belongs to the mountain. Remembering this is not going backwards. It is coming home.

When we reconnect with nature, something good happens inside us. We start to notice more — the shape of a leaf, the tracks of an animal, the quiet of a forest at dawn. We feel calmer, steadier, more alive. And when we truly see something wild, respect follows naturally, without needing to be forced. That respect is not a rule to obey. It is a gift, one that makes life richer for us and safer for the wild, today and for the children who come after us.

Ridam shows what this looks like in real life. Still young herself, she has become a natural leader in her community, handing children their Spirit of the Wild shirts and showing them, by example, what it means to care for the leopards and forests of Bardiya. She carries forward her mother Sita’s love of nature, proof that respect for the wild can pass from one generation to the next and grow stronger each time it does. Spirit of the Wild is really an invitation to all of us, young and old, to do what Ridam does every day: look closer, care more, and give nature the respect she deserves.