Namaste, friends! Welcome to Part 3 of the “Nepal: Coexisting with Giants” series. I’m your host, Brooke Mitchell-Norman, conservation biologist and globetrotter.
In today’s episode, I’m taking you with me to a very special place: Chitwan National Park in southeast Nepal. This area is world-renowned for its immense Asian Greater-One Horned Rhino population, in addition to a vast diversity of birds, mammals, reptiles, and endangered species like tigers and the gharial crocodile.
As I’m sure you can imagine, living with such charismatic wildlife can both a blessing and a curse. While tourists love to visit the area and spend millions of rupees each year experiencing everything nature has to offer, the local community has to manage all of the issues that arise when animals leave the jungle and enter their village.
Luckily for nature and wildlife, they have conservationists on their side. Many people in the area love Chiwan’s wildlife and have dedicated their lives to saving both the park and their fellow community members. Today, you are going to meet some of these incredible people.
While I highly recommend listening to the episode from start to finish, I also want you to choose your own adventure, just like when we were kids. We hit many topics in today’s show and you’re more than welcome to hop around and check out the parts that interest you. We kick it off with a bird conservationist that openly shares what’s happening with birds in Chitwan. Next, we meet an expert wildlife researcher and a wildlife veterinarian that share the science behind what’s going on with human-wildlife conflict in Nepal, especially tigers and elephants. Following this, we meet the President of the Baghmara Community Forest and learn why their forest is one of the most famous in Nepal. After that, we meet the President of the Community-Based Anti-Poaching Unit and hear why poaching is happening in the area and how they’re combating it. Lastly, we meet the secretary of the Wildlife Victim Fund, a nonprofit dedicated to helping families that have been affected by wildlife conflict. Check out this episode’s description to see when each section starts and hop around accordingly.
Don’t forget to subscribe to the show wherever you’re listening so that you never miss a future episode. Also, please let me know if you’re digging these conservation travel series by hitting me up on Instagram at Rewildology or emailing me at hello@rewildology.com.
Here are my conversations in Chitwan:
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