Can sand dunes in a desert be converted into lush green gardens? This question has an answer in Ranaram Bishnoi, a 78-year-old man from Ekalkhori village in Rajasthan's Jodhpur. Ranaram has accomplished the impossible task of converting sand dunes into gardens. Called the 'Tree Man', Bishnoi, since the last over 50 years, has been walking up to the sand dunes each morning to water the trees that he has planted there.

Without a miss, he walks for almost 3 kms everyday with his camel to plant saplings and water the trees. He carries water in big earthen pitchers which he fills from a tubewell. So far he has planted more than 50,000 tree varieties including Neem, Rohida, Fig, Khejri, Kankeri, Babool and Bougainvillaea across 10 acres of land. Bishnoi says that he could not go for his regular schooling but has learnt a lot from nature.