Well, this will be my last entry before leaving to India for about 8 days. I am traveling to Gangotri. About 18Km from Gangotri up in the mountains (foothills of Himalayas) is the mouth of the Ganges river which feeds most of the Indian subcontinent. The Ganges originates from a glacier and I believe (but don't quote me) is the largest snow/ice fed river in the world. Naturally, it is one of the holiest spots for hindus and has a rich origin myth that I will describe in more detail after I come back. It is also one of the four pilgrimage sites for devout hindus. I believe there is a famous temple built in Gangotri in the mid 18th century to celebrate the river as well. I chose to go here after talking to my friend Luke. He spent a year (?) or more traveling throughout India and learning about the culture. He recommended going to Gangotri and I didn't have to deliberate very hard. The point that sold me was that I would need to hike through the mountains for a couple days to reach the site where the river originates. I think this will be very exciting. I just spoke with Bivash Pandav, the big cat specialist from WWF-Nepal, and he is from that area. He said that the hike is gorgeous and that you can see lots of critters. In fact there are actually tigers in the area. Woo-hoo! I think he means nearby not exactly where I will be. Unfortunately, it takes an all night train ride and all day bus ride to get to Gangotri. But hopefully I will get a chance to see some of the Indian country side.
I am writing this from Kathmandu again. I few days ago I came up from Chitwan because there was a possibility that I would be able to have that mystical meeting the Director General of the DNPWC to discuss my tiger camera proposal. Invariably, I was not able to have that meeting. In the meantime, I have been working on a proposal to fund the survey portion of my research. I went shopping yesterday for a few things. Got something for my friend, my mom (sorry mom can't tell you), and myself. I got a great small painting of the goddess of wisdom which I thought was fitting (hehe). I am staying in a different hotel called Yak and Yeti. It is nicer that Hotel Himalaya and much more central. However, like before, I get bored in a hotel even after doing work. I want to be doing field work and not so much computer work. I can do that anywhere. As I mentioned before, however, I had a very productive meeting with Bivash. He does lots of good work on tigers and has very good connections with people in Nepal. He gave me several very good suggestions which significantly improve my proposal and he also agreed to provide technical support for the project. Additionally, he said that if I continue having difficulties with getting permission that he would try throwing his weight around. The nice thing is that I have a couple people, including Bivash, who are willing to throw their weight around if I can't get permission this time around. The frustrating thing is that I will have to wait until after the Dasain festival (during which time I am in India) to keep pursuing it. It is foremost on my mind and it is hard for me to be productive in other aspects of my research because I keep hoping that we have a meeting soon.
I am picking Alex (SDSU doctoral student) today from the airport and then we are driving back down to Chitwan. He is conducting some interesting research on plant decay/growth rates and resource use by local people. He intends to collect this data in order to parameterize an Agent Based Model (too much to describe here, you can look it up if you are interested) that he is developing for the study site. I am looking forward to having some company in Chitwan. It can get pretty lonely there. After dinner the cooks lock up the guest house (!) and then leave the premises making me the only person there excluding a couple guards. Of course, the power goes off, internet goes down, AC turns off, lights go off in various combinations at various times leaving me with nothing to do and no one to talk to. I am not looking forward to the drive down to Chitwan though. The drive from Chitwan to Kathmandu several days ago was horrific. It was the first day when everybody goes home for the Dasain festival. Think about traveling by plane during Dec. 20-24th in the U.S. Like that, but on a mountain road. I am pretty sure I developed black lung while sitting in the traffic for hours on the way up. I am afraid that it will be the same on the way back. Yay! Then the next day I travel from Chitwan to the border of India to catch the train. Hopefully, that will be more eventful. The real work will take place when I get back. I will only have slightly more than 2 months to do a lot research and I have not been making as much progress as I hoped but I am not necessarily behind schedule. I just need to pick it up.
For clarification, I am leaving to India on the 25th and will be traveling by train to Dehradun and then I am taking a bus from there to Gangotri on the 26th. On the 27th, 28th, 29th, and 30th I will be hiking around. Then on the 1st I take a bus back to Dehradun and on the night of the 2nd I am coming back to the border area of NEpal and take a taxi from there to Chitwan on the 3rd. I think that I will be incommunicado unless I find the internet somewhere. Expect to hear from me sometime around the 3rd or 4th.
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Warm welcome in Chitwan
I was picked up from the Hotel in Kathmandu by Bamdev, who is my friend and the cook at the ISER guesthouse. It was not such a bad drive down to Chitwan. There was some congestion and traffic jams and the road condition was pretty atrocious at times but all in all it went smoothly. We were driving a tiny tiny little car. Probably only had a two-stroke engine in it. We came upon this part of the road where cars were having to share one lane because there was some construction on the other side. Our driver let one big truck drive by from the opposing direction and then our driver proceeded to zoom by when another big truck tried to push through the bottle-necked road past us immediately following the previous truck. We were at an impasse. The truck would not back up and I thought for sure that our driver would have to back up and let the giant truck by. Instead our driver deliberately zoomed right up to the very front of the truck and just held down the horn giving the other driver a very stern look. It was pretty hilarious. Cars started stopping behind us and laying on the horn. The truck eventually had to relent and backed up just a smidgen for our little car to go by. As we were passing they exchanged some 'not too pleasant' words.
I arrived in Chitwan late afternoon. It is significantly hotter in Chitwan than it was in Kathmandu. Uncomfortably hot. So having the AC working is a must...especially for the foreigner with no tolerance to heat. Invariably there was a problem with the electricity in the evening when no one was around. I had to call someone over and they got most things working by the end of the night.
Today, I went out with two assistants from ISER to speak with members of community forests in the area about the potential for collaboration on the tiger research. Both community forests were very positive about working together on the project. At the first community forest we had an unexpected guest. A rhino! It just casually walked nearby eating the grass. It did so for quite some time. Check out the pictures to see how close it got to us. Within just a few feet! One of the community forest members assuaged any fear I may have had by saying that this particular rhino is an old resident and that it does this quite regularly. The best part was when the rhino got very close it paused from eating for a moment and huffed softly as a warning to everybody. This instantly broke the calm and everybody stood up quickly and nearly bolted away. In a couple of the pictures with me in it you can see the people to my side bunched up near the back of the enclosure. We also couldn't leave when we had wanted to because the rhino had sauntered over towards our motorcycles and continued to eat grass for a while.
I arrived in Chitwan late afternoon. It is significantly hotter in Chitwan than it was in Kathmandu. Uncomfortably hot. So having the AC working is a must...especially for the foreigner with no tolerance to heat. Invariably there was a problem with the electricity in the evening when no one was around. I had to call someone over and they got most things working by the end of the night.
Today, I went out with two assistants from ISER to speak with members of community forests in the area about the potential for collaboration on the tiger research. Both community forests were very positive about working together on the project. At the first community forest we had an unexpected guest. A rhino! It just casually walked nearby eating the grass. It did so for quite some time. Check out the pictures to see how close it got to us. Within just a few feet! One of the community forest members assuaged any fear I may have had by saying that this particular rhino is an old resident and that it does this quite regularly. The best part was when the rhino got very close it paused from eating for a moment and huffed softly as a warning to everybody. This instantly broke the calm and everybody stood up quickly and nearly bolted away. In a couple of the pictures with me in it you can see the people to my side bunched up near the back of the enclosure. We also couldn't leave when we had wanted to because the rhino had sauntered over towards our motorcycles and continued to eat grass for a while.
Monday, September 14, 2009
Wow! It has been a year and four months since my last post. Quite some time. A lot has happened since then but this blog is dedicated primarily to my time and experiences in Nepal during my research and travels. So at the expense of chronological completeness I will discuss what has happened to me during the last few days that I have been back in Nepal. This is the first time I have been back to Nepal since my last time with my girlfriend, Jenna, in the summer of 2008. I miss her companionship.
To all those who have traveled overseas you can agree that it is a tiring and disorienting experience. I traveled 7 hours to Amsterdam where I had a several hour lay-over. The Amsterdam airport is nice, clean, spiffy, and all around not too bad a place to hang out for a few. The next leg was to Bahrain, Bahrain. That is a sovereign island nation in the Persian Gulf directly east of Saudi Arabia and north of Qatar. The airport was not anywhere near as large and comfortable as the Amsterdam airport. However, it was immensely better than the Delhi airport. I was thankful for that. Jenna and I had to spend 12 or so hours in the Delhi airport the last time we traveled to Nepal. It was not fun. Refer to previous posts where I'm sure I describe the experience in more detail. However, I did manage to find a tiny Chilis Restaurant in the Bahrain airport?? Ha. It stuck out like a sore thumb and I was drawn to it like a fly. I stayed there for a couple hours eating salad because they did not have any other vegetarian fare and used the free internet. Perhaps, there is hope for the Bahrain airport! Then while getting on the plane to Kathmandu they told me my seat was changed. Lo and behold I was sitting in the first class. Not sure why but...awesome! I finally got to Kathmandu I think a million hours after leaving Detroit. At least my brain felt that way because I was traveling over a couple nights and my sleep patterns got all messed up. My friend and the program manager from the Institute for Social and Environmental Research (the place I will stay at in Chitwan and a collaborator on the research) organized to have a hotel taxi come pick me ('Neil Karter') up. My transit to Hotel Himalaya was smooth. I arrived to the Hotel about 9AM. I felt awake and sent some emails and tried getting things in order. My major objective for the first few days that I was in Kathmandu was to meet with several folks from wildlife agencies that will hopefully be interested in collaborating with me on a tiger camera trapping project. This is because their expertise and logistical support is vital for the project. Also, it is necessary to have local collaborators to receive permission for this kind of research from the Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation (DNPWC) in Nepal. The truth is that dealing with certain elements of the government structure in Nepal can be maddening. I suppose this isn't just a unique quality specific to Nepal. One thing I learned from last year was that I need to devote a great deal of time building relationships with lots of people and institutions before I can actually officially submit an application to conduct my research. As someone just expressed to me it is like nothing happens, more nothing, more nothing, and then all of a sudden within a 24 hour period all the decisions are made, papers signed, and you are on your way.
Unfortunately, I have been utterly unsuccessful in organizing meetings with people from these wildlife agencies until today (14th). Several people I wanted to meet are not even in Nepal at this time. Arggghh. I was supposed to meet somebody yesterday. I arrived full of excitement to finally start doing something only to find that he was not in the office. I called him and he said that he was called out on a last-minute meeting that he absolutely had to attend. He was deeply sorry and we re-scheduled to meet for today. Needless to say I was a little miffed. I thought that I would try to get some work done in the hotel if I was not able to meet with these people. But they are doing large-scale renovations. In midday the sound from the saws, drills, hammers, etc. start to chatter my teeth. So my productively has been nearly zero. Not to mention that jet lag can be a nasty beast. I was doing fine on my first day of arrival until 4PM arrived. I just remember a wave of exhaustion rolling over me and next thing I knew I was awake at 3AM. The same thing happened the next day. I think that I am just about re-calibrated though. I was able to get to bed around 10PM last night. Albeit with some red-eyed stubbornness.
Today I finally had a fruitful discussion with two prominent wildlife researchers. I am hopeful about the proposal and am planning on meeting the Director General of the DNPWC along with several other folks on the 20th. The DG is the guy who will grant permission so this is a big deal. I want to have everything lined up, t's crossed and i's dotted. In the meantime, I am planning to travel down to Chitwan tomorrow morning. I hope to meet with several tiger researchers down there and to begin discussing collaboration on the camera trapping research from the community forest user-groups. The community forest user groups are groups of local people who are granted the authority to manage nearby forests according to their priorities and needs. My hope is to have the forest guards from these groups assist me in selecting sites with known tiger activity to place camera traps. This is the most efficient way to do it. The forest guards are intimately familiar with the nearby forests and the doings of the resident animals including tigers.
What are camera traps? They are cameras designed to take pictures of an animal as they cross the path of the camera which is posted on a tree or post. In the case of tigers they have been used for at least 2 decades. If you set up two cameras on opposite sides of a trail then you can obtain a picture from both sides of an animal. This is particularly useful for tigers because we can use the stripe patterns of both flanks to accurately identify individual tigers. In other words, I would be able to say that a picture of a tiger at one trap is the same tiger as that caught at another based on the unique stripe pattern. The methods behind camera trapping have not changed much but the theory and analytical techniques have developed significantly such that camera trapping is often used in scientific studies of animals that are elusive and rare. Most importantly, camera trapping is non-invasive. This means you don't have to sedate an animal which can be dangerous and is no doubt a taxing experience for the wild animal. Of course the trade-off is that camera trapping data is no where near as fine, detailed, and informative as, say, collaring a tiger with a GPS collar which records its position on the globe every 5 minutes or so using a satellite orbiting the earth. The camera traps are constrained to the locations you set them and may or may not bear fruit.
Currently, I am sitting in my hotel room with earphones on to drown out the construction noise. The most magnificent thing is that I am also watching the Detroit Tigers game on TV!!! I was skipping through the channels which are 90% percent indian and came across an ESPN affiliate. It just happens to be airing the tiger's game. How cool is that! Periodically check out pictures at
http://picasaweb.google.com/nhcarter07
If you want to see pictures from our (Jenna and I) trip to Nepal in 2008 go to
http://picasaweb.google.com/jenna.a.jones1
I have posted just a few from this Nepal trip so far. I will post many more later. As I was walking around outside the hotel I saw an elephant with a couple of guys loading tree branches on its back. Jenna and I saw several elephants down in the rural areas near Chitwan National Parks but we had never seen an elephant walking around the capital city of Kathmandu. It was fun. I love elephants. They are just so unique and intelligent.
Till next time. I hope all are well.
To all those who have traveled overseas you can agree that it is a tiring and disorienting experience. I traveled 7 hours to Amsterdam where I had a several hour lay-over. The Amsterdam airport is nice, clean, spiffy, and all around not too bad a place to hang out for a few. The next leg was to Bahrain, Bahrain. That is a sovereign island nation in the Persian Gulf directly east of Saudi Arabia and north of Qatar. The airport was not anywhere near as large and comfortable as the Amsterdam airport. However, it was immensely better than the Delhi airport. I was thankful for that. Jenna and I had to spend 12 or so hours in the Delhi airport the last time we traveled to Nepal. It was not fun. Refer to previous posts where I'm sure I describe the experience in more detail. However, I did manage to find a tiny Chilis Restaurant in the Bahrain airport?? Ha. It stuck out like a sore thumb and I was drawn to it like a fly. I stayed there for a couple hours eating salad because they did not have any other vegetarian fare and used the free internet. Perhaps, there is hope for the Bahrain airport! Then while getting on the plane to Kathmandu they told me my seat was changed. Lo and behold I was sitting in the first class. Not sure why but...awesome! I finally got to Kathmandu I think a million hours after leaving Detroit. At least my brain felt that way because I was traveling over a couple nights and my sleep patterns got all messed up. My friend and the program manager from the Institute for Social and Environmental Research (the place I will stay at in Chitwan and a collaborator on the research) organized to have a hotel taxi come pick me ('Neil Karter') up. My transit to Hotel Himalaya was smooth. I arrived to the Hotel about 9AM. I felt awake and sent some emails and tried getting things in order. My major objective for the first few days that I was in Kathmandu was to meet with several folks from wildlife agencies that will hopefully be interested in collaborating with me on a tiger camera trapping project. This is because their expertise and logistical support is vital for the project. Also, it is necessary to have local collaborators to receive permission for this kind of research from the Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation (DNPWC) in Nepal. The truth is that dealing with certain elements of the government structure in Nepal can be maddening. I suppose this isn't just a unique quality specific to Nepal. One thing I learned from last year was that I need to devote a great deal of time building relationships with lots of people and institutions before I can actually officially submit an application to conduct my research. As someone just expressed to me it is like nothing happens, more nothing, more nothing, and then all of a sudden within a 24 hour period all the decisions are made, papers signed, and you are on your way.
Unfortunately, I have been utterly unsuccessful in organizing meetings with people from these wildlife agencies until today (14th). Several people I wanted to meet are not even in Nepal at this time. Arggghh. I was supposed to meet somebody yesterday. I arrived full of excitement to finally start doing something only to find that he was not in the office. I called him and he said that he was called out on a last-minute meeting that he absolutely had to attend. He was deeply sorry and we re-scheduled to meet for today. Needless to say I was a little miffed. I thought that I would try to get some work done in the hotel if I was not able to meet with these people. But they are doing large-scale renovations. In midday the sound from the saws, drills, hammers, etc. start to chatter my teeth. So my productively has been nearly zero. Not to mention that jet lag can be a nasty beast. I was doing fine on my first day of arrival until 4PM arrived. I just remember a wave of exhaustion rolling over me and next thing I knew I was awake at 3AM. The same thing happened the next day. I think that I am just about re-calibrated though. I was able to get to bed around 10PM last night. Albeit with some red-eyed stubbornness.
Today I finally had a fruitful discussion with two prominent wildlife researchers. I am hopeful about the proposal and am planning on meeting the Director General of the DNPWC along with several other folks on the 20th. The DG is the guy who will grant permission so this is a big deal. I want to have everything lined up, t's crossed and i's dotted. In the meantime, I am planning to travel down to Chitwan tomorrow morning. I hope to meet with several tiger researchers down there and to begin discussing collaboration on the camera trapping research from the community forest user-groups. The community forest user groups are groups of local people who are granted the authority to manage nearby forests according to their priorities and needs. My hope is to have the forest guards from these groups assist me in selecting sites with known tiger activity to place camera traps. This is the most efficient way to do it. The forest guards are intimately familiar with the nearby forests and the doings of the resident animals including tigers.
What are camera traps? They are cameras designed to take pictures of an animal as they cross the path of the camera which is posted on a tree or post. In the case of tigers they have been used for at least 2 decades. If you set up two cameras on opposite sides of a trail then you can obtain a picture from both sides of an animal. This is particularly useful for tigers because we can use the stripe patterns of both flanks to accurately identify individual tigers. In other words, I would be able to say that a picture of a tiger at one trap is the same tiger as that caught at another based on the unique stripe pattern. The methods behind camera trapping have not changed much but the theory and analytical techniques have developed significantly such that camera trapping is often used in scientific studies of animals that are elusive and rare. Most importantly, camera trapping is non-invasive. This means you don't have to sedate an animal which can be dangerous and is no doubt a taxing experience for the wild animal. Of course the trade-off is that camera trapping data is no where near as fine, detailed, and informative as, say, collaring a tiger with a GPS collar which records its position on the globe every 5 minutes or so using a satellite orbiting the earth. The camera traps are constrained to the locations you set them and may or may not bear fruit.
Currently, I am sitting in my hotel room with earphones on to drown out the construction noise. The most magnificent thing is that I am also watching the Detroit Tigers game on TV!!! I was skipping through the channels which are 90% percent indian and came across an ESPN affiliate. It just happens to be airing the tiger's game. How cool is that! Periodically check out pictures at
http://picasaweb.google.com/nhcarter07
If you want to see pictures from our (Jenna and I) trip to Nepal in 2008 go to
http://picasaweb.google.com/jenna.a.jones1
I have posted just a few from this Nepal trip so far. I will post many more later. As I was walking around outside the hotel I saw an elephant with a couple of guys loading tree branches on its back. Jenna and I saw several elephants down in the rural areas near Chitwan National Parks but we had never seen an elephant walking around the capital city of Kathmandu. It was fun. I love elephants. They are just so unique and intelligent.
Till next time. I hope all are well.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
