Volunteering with Nepal Tiger Trust: An incredible experience

02.05.20 10:25 AM By Admin

By Kerry Anne Taylor

A volunteer in April,2019

I came across Nepal Tiger Trust (NTT) when researching a conservation NGO that I could get involved with in Nepal. Nepal is one of several Asian countries where the endangered Bengal tiger is an endemic species, and as they are now critically endangered, the WWF tasked each of these countries with doubling their numbers of wild tigers by 2022 (a strategy called Tx2). Nepal has been the most successful in this challenge thus far, in an unprecedented story in conservation. With their multi-faceted approach, Nepal Tiger Trust (NTT) have been indispensable in tiger conservation in Nepal.

   

I spent time with NTT at their base in Meghauli, a village based on the border of Chitwan National Park, in the company of two guides, Baburam and Raju, two charming, humorous men, both devoted to tigers remaining in the wild. Along with two conservation students, we were first volunteers pioneering Nepal Tiger Trust’s volunteer program.

Volunteering with NTT means you will spend your days trekking the buffer zone, an area of jungle between the village of Meghauli and the Rapti river, as well as walking in Chitwan National Park - which is an experience of a lifetime.

These walks are done for many reasons: to spot tigers, or traces of them, such as their pug marks (paw prints) and when these are found they are recorded. Motion cameras are checked along the way too and we also searched for signs of poaching.

Every day we found new evidence of tigers and rhino having been in the area the previous night. We were taught us how to read the distinct pug marks - to tell if they were from a male or female and their age. We learnt to tell the speed that they were walking and whether they were hunting at the time. It was important to know which tigers were around, and in what territory.    

I got the opportunity to mold a tiger pug mark and take it back with me, which will serve as a reminder of the extraordinary time I spent in Meghauli learning about these incredible creatures. Tigers in the wild will most likely be extinct in our lifetime if more is not done to conserve the species. Each fresh pug mark was evidence that the program, the very people I was standing with, were succeeding in their mission to save them. I didn't physically see a tiger during my time in Meghauli, and anyone going with the sole intention of seeing one may be disappointed, for this is not the point of NTT. If anything, seeing fresh daily evidence of them, but not physically seeing them, shows what NTT is doing is working. Interestingly though, I feel that this made me care more about tigers than had I seen or interacted with them, because I spent days tracking them, searching for their pug marks, excited to see each one we found, in awe of their deep claw marks in the trees… they remain mystical in my mind.

Apart from learning about tracking tigers, I loved the general environment of working with NTT. Our days were filled with early starts in the dark and dawn walks in the warm, misty jungles to the haunting harmony of birds, crickets and frogs. Every day we experienced the most incredible sunrises and sunsets, each one breathtakingly unique, illuminating the jungles and grasslands, bathing them in a warm, golden glow. Occasionally, after a long day of trekking, we would sit in complete silence by the river, with the wind blowing softly through our hair, watching the sun go down over the water, it’s dying rays painting the landscape in pastel colors.

            

Currently we are at risk of losing one million species to extinction. The Bengal tiger is on that list. It is very possible that in our lifetime jungles in Asia will be empty, tigers lost to them forever. With the work of NTT and other organizations like them, it is possible they may just remain within Nepal’s picturesque jungles where they belong.

            

I highly recommend anyone considering experiencing a highly successful conservation story to volunteer with Nepal Tiger Trust, it was an incredible experience and with each volunteer they will be able to achieve even more.

Admin