Over the past five years, a fruitful collaboration between Kathmandu Forestry College (KAFCOL) and the Nepal Tiger Trust (NTT) has provided 215 undergraduate students with enriching field experiences at the NTT Meghauli field site. Building on this success, a new Memorandum of Understanding has been signed in 2025, extending the partnership for another five years.
Recently, a group of 19 third-year Diploma in Forestry students, along with two instructors, participated in a nine-day field course at Meghauli from February 27 to March 7, 2025.
The program emphasizes hands-on learning, encouraging critical thinking, fostering a deeper connection to nature, and sparking scientific curiosity. Participants were hosted by Tharu Community Home Stay, where local families provided both accommodation and meals.
The KAFCOL course, titled “Wildlife and Protected Area Management”, offers insights into various aspects of conservation, including park organizational structure, habitat management, eco-tourism, and co-management. The field instructors included the park’s chief warden, a wildlife lodge manager, the buffer zone user committee chair, and NTT field technicians.
During the course, students engaged in diverse wildlife data collection methods, such as:
- Pellet counts,
- Bird circular counts,
- Camera trapping to estimate tiger abundance,
- Identifying wildlife signs, bird species, and plant varieties, and
- Studying human-wildlife interactions.
To assess their learning, students were evaluated both individually and through group presentations.
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