Assam: Nepal team’s exposure trip to Kaziranga, Manas landscapes

Guwahati: A team of protected area managers and community leaders from Nepal recently visited Kaziranga and Manas Landscape from February 4 to February 9 as part of an exposure trip to experience best practices related to the protected area management (species and habitat), community-livelihood work and human-wildlife conflict mitigation in and around the renowned wildlife protection areas.

This exposure trip to Kaziranga and Manas was supported by Zoological Society of London-Nepal in assistance from Aaranyak which facilitated the team’s trips with local logistic arrangements besides enabling them to have interactions with park managers and communities in Kaziranga and Manas landscapes.

During their visit to Kaziranga landscape on February 5 and February 6, the team from Nepal had an interaction with Aaranyak team followed by an interactive session with senior forest officials of Kaziranga National Park and Tiger Reserve  at the conventional centre there.

Dr. Sonali Ghosh, Field Director of Kaziranga Tiger Reserve, briefed the team about the protected area of Kaziranga, the landscape and the protected area management activities. Two documentaries on Kaziranga National Park were screened during the session to enlighten the visitors further about the Kaziranga landscape and its resources. 

A village walk-cum-trekking was arranged for the visitors in the Kaziranga-Karbi Anglong Landscape by a team of Aaranyak. During the trek, Dr. Firoz Ahmed, Dr. Jayanta Kr. Sarma and Dr. Jayanta Kr. Roy briefed the team about the landscape, the Karbi indigenous community and their culture and tradition as well as the role of community in the conservation efforts.

The team enjoyed the Karbi ethnic food during the trek and interacted with the local community there. The team also visited the PIRBI store, an indigenous community-owned business venture, which markets naturally grown produce from forest fringe villages, handmade items by indigenous forest dependent communities of Kohora river basin, Kaziranga, in the Karbi hills of Assam. The visitors team undertook two jeep safaris in Kaziranga National Park and Tiger Reserve to have the feel of  rich biodiversity of the National Park.

During their visit to Manas landscape during February 7 to February 9, the team from Nepal attended an interactive session in Manas Conservation and Outreach Centre (MCOC) of Aaranyak in Bhuyanpara with senior forest officials, stated a press release.

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