United States
£ GBP
Language: English
From the foreword:
"Chitwan National Park lies in the heart of the Terai, Nepal, a belt of marshy grasslands, savannas, and forests located south of the outer foothills of the Himalaya. Historically, Chitwan was all but uninhabited, malaria-carrying mosquitoes initially keeping people away, and more recently, it being off limits as it was the hunting preserve of the Nepalese monarchy. The most recent kings of Nepal formally set aside this region for national parks. Hemanta Mishra arrived in Chitwan as a young wildlife biologist in 1967, sent by the Department of Forests, to protect it from poaching and subsistence farming and lived here for almost 30 years.
During his long tenure there as a wildlife biologist, he built the park notably to save the Indian Rhino and the Royal Bengal Tiger, and later transplanted 37 rhinos west to the Bardia National Park. Hemanta’s work did not end with large mammal biology. He
recorded, as you will see in this book, the variety and the diversity of people, plants, and wildlife in Chitwan. In this handbook for Chitwan National Park, not only does the reader have a primer about the animals, which one will find in the park (and generally the other lowland Nepalese parks), but one also has a record of innovative wildlife management and an early example of what comes from understanding wildlife ecology and conservation linked to human needs. Hemanta and the many park officials he mentored duing his three decades in Chitwan and in national park and wildlife conservation worked with local communities to reduce conflict between wildlife and humans.
Hemanta pioneered working with community leaders to reduce hurnan incursions into the protected preserves. At Chitwan, Hemanta initiated what is now a worldwide practice of engaging neighboring communities to conserve wilderness, wild nature, and the integrity of the parks by improving the livelihood of surrounding people and their local economy.
Chitwan remains a hugely successful example, decades later, of a wildlife refuge that displays all the working parts of Nepal‘s natural world. It is the most visited national park in Nepal. In Chitwan, and here in this hook, you will see rhinos, elephants, pythons, and perhaps a stalking tiger, bears, boars, myriad birds, and the rare Gharial Crocodiles that make Chitwan unique and an extraordinary place to visit."
