If someone had shown me the photo above out of context and asked me to guess the location, I would have spent hours guessing without correctly identifying it as Nepal - a country I associate with sherpas and yetis, forgetting that the lowlands are at a subtropical latitude.
Before the 1950s, as many as 1,000 rhinos roamed the grasslands and forests of Nepal. But by 1965, rampant hunting, poaching and changes in land use had brought the species close to extinction in the country. Then, the national park was established in 1973 and thanks to concerted conservation efforts, the rhino population began to bounce back [752 in 2021].Today, Chitwan national park has the second-largest concentration of one-horned rhinos after India’s Kaziranga national park, with the two parks accounting for 70% of the species’ global population.
More at The Guardian.
The pretty unicorns get to go to the ball, but the ugly stepsisters are hunted to near extinction.
ReplyDeleteI lived in Kathmandu in the late 1990s and visited Chitwan multiple times. It is truly beautiful, and I had wonderful experiences each visit. Being able to interact with elephants and see the rhinos and tigers was the initial draw for me, but there was so much more to learn and see than I anticipated. So many beautiful plants and birds that I was unfamiliar with, and I was able to see crocodiles, pangolins, and sloth bears, just to name a few. I had never heard of muntjac (also called the "barking deer" or "vampire deer") before visiting - really startling for someone used to whitetail deer.
ReplyDeleteI've learned some unsavory things about Chitwan since then, including the land theft that occurred during its inception, and I've gained a better understanding of how exploitative and unethical elephant safaris are (to my shame and chagrin). However, the conservation work they are doing is extraordinary, not just with rhinos but with tigers, vultures, and many more.
I've learned some unsavory things about Chitwan since then, including the land theft that occurred during its inception, and I've gained a better understanding of how exploitative and unethical elephant safaris are (to my shame and chagrin). However, the conservation work they are doing is extraordinary, not just with rhinos but with tigers, vultures, and many others.
Thank you, Ben, for that insight.
DeleteWould second what Ben said about it. I spent some time there and in Nepal and after some research avoided the elephant part of the safari we did, just asked to opt out of it for the package. And the treatment of the indigenous people is awful. So hard then to tally this with the truly outstanding wildlife conservation thats been done there. It was a magical place where I got to hear a wild tiger's roar from the jungle on the riverbank. But also at a great cost to some of the people there.
ReplyDeleteI wish I could share here a photo I took of a rhino in the town in Chitwan, with locals walking around it seemingly unphased. Later that day someone was seriously injured by a charging rhino on a walking tour in the long grass, which added a big sense of danger to our afternoon walking tour looking for rhinos in the jungle.
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