Tiger's Destiny
by
Anthony Marr
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Part 2b |
What must be saved at all cost |
Kanha Tiger Reserve |
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Kanha National Park is within 6 hours by road of Bandhavgarh National Park, both in Madhya Pradesh, India's "Tiger State". Unlike Bandhavgarh, Kanha has a Core Area and a Buffer Zone. In the Buffer Zone, which surrounds the Core Area, are 178 villages, about 20 of which being transplanted from the Core Area when the park was first created. Both the human and cattle populations in the Buffer zone are about 100,000. |
Both the Core Area and the Buffer Zone of Kanha National Park are about 1,000 sq. km. in size. By the formula of about one tiger per 10 sq. km., the tiger population estimate is about 100. Kanha has a rich ecosystem. Kanha's vegetation is extra diverse because of the various biomes related to Kanha's altitude variations. No matter what part of the year one visits the park, there are always some plants in bloom. |
Other than thick vegetation in certain Kanha biomes, there are others with wide open meadows and watering holes. The chital , the main prey species of tiger, leopard and wild dog, has an estimated population of 10,000. |
Kanha is the physical setting of Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book. Kipling lived here for years to write it. At the Kisli Gate of Kanha, there is a tourist lodge called Kipling Camp still. |
The prominent British conservationist Belinda Wright also live here to make her documentary Land of the Tiger and research and expose poaching at a time when it was denied. |
Termite mounds in ex-paddy-field turned meadow. |
Victorian biologists called an insect society a "Super-Organism" |
The fabulous Flame of the Forest tree not only burns brightly in the park, but lines highways for miles at a stretch. |
The spectacular and critically endangered Barasinga deer was the species that Kanha was originally created to protect, when there was one single population in the world with only some 35 individuals. Today, that population has increased to about 350. But were the Kanha tigers wiped out, the park would be gone, together with the Barasinga. |
One of the 150 or so park guards each living in an insolated mud hut inside the park. He is the tiger's front line protector. But unlike his North American counterpart, he has no 4WD, nor firearms for arresting poachers or even self-defense, nor radio to ask for help if needed. All he has is a pencil and a notebook, at best a rickety one-speed bicycle or walkie-talkie. He can observe, record and report, but cannot intervene. He needs our help to help him help the tiger. |
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