In the field in Chitwan

For our first day in the field we were designated an assistant who was familiar with the area and the people. His name is Ram. I am pretty sure that is a name of a Hindu god but I am not sure what the significance of the god is. Several of the people working here have Hindu god names. For instance, Vishnu the data manager, Krishna our guide, and finally Ram our field assistant. Ram's english is...so-so. He can speak pretty well if given enough time but he has difficulty understanding our questions. For instance, I might ask him "How far have these people walked to get this grass" and he would say that roughly 1500 people use this community forest.

Anyways, Jenna and I set out without much of a clue as to where we going or whom we would see. That has sort of been the Modus Operandi. We are told very approximately what our activities will be for one day but we do not have any details. I have been trying to determine if that is a cultural thing or just the individuals that we are interacting with. For instance, Krisha will tell us on one day that we will go to explore community forests. We are told when to have breakfast but that is about all we get. Then the next day all sorts of things change or are modified. For a type A personality (like Jenna) it could really start to drive you nuts. I, myself, am not a planner but it still starts to get frustrating feeling like cattle.

Where are we going specifically? When should we be ready by? Oh, you need us ready in 5 minutes. Etc. etc.

The first thing we did was go to Belsher community forest that falls within the Buffer Zone of the National Park. The idea of the buffer zone is that forests immediately surrounding the Park should be managed for multiple purposes. First and foremost, the forests should be conserved as best as possible so wildlife could spill over into those forests without running into a wall of people and creating human/wildlife conflict. The second objective of buffer zone forests is to also provide communities living in them with essential forest products like fodder for livestock, fuelwood, and thatch grass for buildings. The reason Ram took us to this particular community forest was because it sat right on the Rapti river looking at the boundary of the National Park. I had told him that I want to examine attitudes to tiger presence from people living as close to the Park as possible. He obliged. In fact, a portion of Belsher had been turned into a protected area (with requisite restaurant and lodge) for tourists to stroll through while looking at the National Park across the river. We walked across Bamboo bridges and watched people crossing the Rapti from the Park side towards the community forest with backloads of grass. That is illegal. More on that later. Towards the end of our stroll we met an old couple who lived in the forest. They asked us to sit down and Ram began to ask them questions about tigers and the forest. They said that they had not seen tigers for a long time but that they frequently see Rhinos. In the middle of the conversation, the old women changed her blouse right in front of us while she kept talking about the forest. Afterwards, she brought us a slice of apple. Now, Jenna and I were faced with a dilemma because we were explicitly told not to eat fruit if it had been washed in unfiltered water. This fruit literally had dirt smudges still on it. The old woman told us that this apple represented a blessing from god. We just held on to them and smiled a lot at her. The old man also said that members from the local community meet in a meeting hall next door every Monday. I have some survey questions that require forums and so I asked the old man (through Ram) if we could attend. He said absolutely. I am looking forward to that experience.

Then we walked down to the Rapti where we saw a steady stream of people walking with thatch grass on their backs from a forest on the National Park side. Ram explained that people here still consider the island of forest as their community forest. This is because several years ago it was until the Rapti river moved and created an island of forest which was then put under National Park jurisdiction. I do not know if this is because the Rapti represents the Park boundary or if it is for some other reason. Anyways, the people are not buying it and just continue to use it. The funny thing is that when we walked up to the River Ram told Jenna that she should not take pictures of the women crossing the river. This is because they had to pull their skirts up just above their knees in order to cross. Mind you, that their backs are loaded with grass. I thought it was so interesting that women do not appear to be modest about their breasts (old woman undressing among other examples) but are absolutely modest about even the slightest amount of exposed leg showing. After speaking to several women about how often they get grass, how far they walk, where they get their grass, and finally if they have ever seen tigers we went to get lunch back at the Belsher restaurant.

The next day we went to several more community forests. The first community forest we went to was Bandebi community forest right about at the junction point of Barandibar forest and the National Park. The Barandibar forest is particularly interesting to me. The south half of the North-South oriented forest is considered buffer-zone, whereas the north half is a mosiac of community forests. The areas directly east and west of this forest are considered heavily cultivated and are not good wildlife habitat. Very recently, thanks to good forest management, several tigers have been reported moving out of the National Park and into the Barandibar forest. This obviously presents a double edged sword. Several enterprising community forests have incorporated the notion of resident tigers into tourist packages. Revenue from these tourist packages would go directly back into community development. Not bad right? However, more tigers always means more conflict with humans. They eat goats, cows, chickens, and even sometimes attack or kill people. The Barandibar forest is also interesting precisely because of the different types of forest management that occurs within it.

Ram did a lot of the same. He talked to local passersby about any tiger sightings and the structure of their community forest. The things I took out of these conversations was that 1) people have not seen tigers at all, 2) Rhinos used to be a big problem because they raided crops but that 3) after building an electric fence the Rhinos are not as bad a problem and that people generally feel safe collecting forest products and grazing their livestock in the forest. We also briefly visited '20,000 lake' within the Barandibar forest. Apparently, it is a great site for bird watching but I was not impressed by it's aesthetic beauty or anything. After that we went to visit Devnagar community forest that was further down along Barandibar forest and we also visited a subcommunity of Belsher. The subcommunity was new because the Rapti several years before had flooded so much that it engulfed their old homes. The community appeared very poor and we witnessed people making fishing nets. Also, two girls were infatuated with Jenna's skin and kept touching her arm. So I took a couple pictures of all of them. Finally, we went to a village called Bisendranagar(sp?). Their we spoke with an old man. Ram asked him how he felt about tigers living in the nearby forests and said that he did not have any opinion. Somehow, I did not really believe that.

The third day with Ram was the most interesting. He had planned for us to meet with a person that was attacked by a tiger. Unfortunately, in the early morning, Jenna got very feint because of the heat and we took her back to a room attached the restaurant that we were going to eat at later in the day. The room was part of a guesthouse used in the past I believe where researchers would stay. Ram and I went to the village with the attackee and found his house but then there was some strange commotion. A man walked out right past Ram and stood in the street for a couple seconds not really looking at anything or anyone. He was also having a hard time standing. He then broke out into Nepali song. No one really seemed to pay him much attention as if he were the local alcoholic. Ram came up to me and we started walking away from the house. Ram said that the attackee was that immensely drunk man. It was 10:30 in the morning. Ram said that we would go to the Buffer zone office nearby ask some people in there some questions and then return to speak with the attackee's family about the incident. We returned and attackee had had his clothes changed and he was beckoning us into his little covered patio. He told us that he was a game scout for the Park for some time. He went out one day with 3 other game scouts to do their rounds. The tiger attacked one man two others ran away and the man we were currently spoke to stood his ground. Then was clawed on his back and shoulders. The tiger then left. He told us it had cubs. That makes some sense. This is where the story goes south. He then said that as he was waiting there bleeding for an hour and a half he saw Durgha the goddess of power appear from her hiding place in the jungle bushes. She bestowed power from the tiger onto him. He was picked up and taken to the hospital. He was a bitter man. He said that the Park promised him some compensation but that they never made good on their promise. He said that if he wanted to he could go into the jungle and kill tigers just with his 'power'. Not physical strength but with his power. When asked if he thought there were more tigers now than before he said that he thought their were less. He said because of his power and his discontent that tigers were dying in the forest. Keep in mind that this whole time is still clearly inebriated and is slurring, talking loud, and talking very close to Ram's face. He was a sad sight to see. After this meeting we got lunch and Jenna felt well enough to continue on with us.

Ram got news from the Buffer zone office that there was another man in the vicinity who had been attacked by a tiger. We met him. He was accompanied by several of his friends. I have noticed that in the middle of the day lots of people just hang out in shaded areas. He was sober and completely normal. We asked about the event. He said that a tiger came into the farm fields and that a group of men tried to shoo him away. The tiger got frightened and clawed his forearm. The tiger then disappeared in the field. Then a park ranger came and shot into the air to scare the tiger away but it did not work. Finally, they had to shoot the tiger because it was just too close to the village and did not want to leave. That was sad for me.