One of the first conscious communications I received from the elephants as a collective in 2018 is the importance of restoring migratory corridors worldwide – On the land, in the sea, and in the air.
I’ve shared this message through the years with friends and colleagues while collecting data about migration conflict with humans. The African Elephant News and Asian Elephant News has a vast collection of articles on the subject.
The elephants have inspired a United Nations Common Cluster Group to write a children’s adventure trilogy on the subject of migration corridors along with introducing children to the United Nations Sustainability Goals.
In January of this year the elephants reached out encouraging me to lead an expedition of sorts, a trek in an original migration corridor from Chitwan National Park to Bardiya National Park in Nepal – Teaching animal communication to humans we encounter along the way, while photo documenting this journey.
Eager to participate, I formulated questions for the elephants on retracing the original migration route. The elephants shared some information about the project while promising the plan will start to formulate when I’m physically in Nepal. The elephants asked if I would be open to exploring this subject beyond Bardiya National Park.
Although I don’t know all of the details regarding this documentary, I trust the elephants and their process. What I do know is this journey is not all about me – This journey is about bringing humans together to achieve something great together.
“There are many lessons for everyone involved, this won’t only be about the migration corridors – This will open many doors of learning.” Elephant Collective, January 2021
Photo Credit – Mother Rhino with Baby, Chitwan National Park – Adobe Stock Photos
मैले २०१८ मा सामूहिक रूपमा हात्तीहरूबाट प्राप्त गरेको पहिलो सचेत सञ्चारहरू मध्ये एउटा भनेको संसारभरका प्रवासी कोरिडोरहरू पुनर्स्थापना गर्ने महत्त्व हो – जमिनमा, समुद्रमा र हावामा।
मैले यो सन्देश वर्षौंदेखि मेरा साथीहरू र सहकर्मीहरूसँग साझा गरेको छु र मानिसहरूसँग बसाइँ सराइ द्वन्द्वको बारेमा डाटा सङ्कलन गर्दैछु। अफ्रिकी हात्ती र एशियाली हात्तीहरुको समाचारमा यस विषयमा लेखहरूको विशाल संग्रह छ।
हात्तीहरूले संयुक्त राष्ट्र संघको साझा क्लस्टर समूहलाई आप्रवासन कोरिडोरको विषयमा बालबालिकाको साहसिक त्रयी लेख्न र बच्चाहरूलाई संयुक्त राष्ट्र संघको दिगोपन लक्ष्यहरू परिचय गराउन प्रेरित गरेका छन्।
यस वर्षको जनवरीमा हात्तीहरूले मलाई चितवन राष्ट्रिय निकुञ्जबाट नेपालको बर्दिया राष्ट्रिय निकुञ्जसम्मको मूल बसाइसराइमा भएको करिडोरमा पदयात्राको नेतृत्व गर्न – बाटोमा हामीले भेट्ने मानिसहरूलाई पशु सञ्चार सिकाउँदै, फोटो दस्तावेजीकरण गर्दा यो यात्रा सुचारु गर्ने प्रोत्साहन गरे।
सहभागी हुन उत्सुक, मैले हात्तीहरूको लागि मूल माइग्रेसन रूट रिट्रेसिङमा प्रश्नहरू तयार गरेको छु । म भौतिक रुपमा नेपाल आएपछि योजना बन्न थाल्ने वाचा गर्दै हात्तीले आयोजनाको केही जानकारी बाँडे । हात्तीले बर्दिया राष्ट्रिय निकुञ्जभन्दा बाहिर यो विषयको खोजी गर्न तयार छु कि भनेर पनि सोधे ।
यद्यपि मलाई यस वृत्तचित्रको बारेमा सबै विवरणहरू थाहा नभए पनि, म हात्तीहरू र तिनीहरूको प्रक्रियामा विश्वास गर्छु। मलाई के थाहा छ यो यात्रा मेरो बारेमा होइन – यो यात्रा मानवलाई एकसाथ ठूलो कुरा हासिल गर्न सँगै ल्याउने बारे हो।
“त्यहाँ संलग्न सबैका लागि धेरै पाठहरू छन्, यो केवल प्रवास कोरिडोरको बारेमा मात्र होइन – यसले सिक्ने धेरै ढोकाहरू खोल्नेछ।” एलिफन्ट कलेक्टिभ, जनवरी २०२१
तस्बिर क्रेडिट – आमा गैडा र छावा, चितवन राष्ट्रिय निकुञ्ज – एडोब स्टक फोटोहरू
සාමූහිකව ගත් කල වසර 2018 දී අලි ඇතුන්ගෙන් මා හට ලැබුනු පළමු බුද්ධිමත් සංනිවේදනයේදී ඔවුන් සදහන් කලේ නම් ලොව පුරා ගොඩබිමේ,මහ සාගරයේ සහ ගුවනේ සංක්‍රමණික මංකඩවල් නැවත නගා සිටුවීමේ අවශ්‍යතාවයක් පවතින බවයි –
මම මේ පණිවිඩය වසර ගණනාවක් තිස්සේ මාගේ මිතුරන් හට, සමකාලීණයන් හට බෙදා හැරියේ මිනිසුන් සමග ඇතිවන සංක්‍රමණික ගැටුම් වල දත්තද එක් රැස් කරගන්නා අතර තුරයි.අප්‍රිකානු අලි පුවත් සහ ආසියානු අලි පුවත් මෙම මාතෘකාව සම්භන්දයෙන් එකතු වන ලිපි විශාල සංඛ්‍යාවක් ඇත.
අලි ඇතුන්, එක්සත් ජාතීන්ගේ පොදු පොකුරු කණ්ඩායම සංක්‍රමණික මංකඩ යන තේමාව යටතේ ළමා වික්‍රමාන්විත පොත් ත්‍රිත්වයක් ලිවීමට උනන්දු කර එක්සත් ජාතීන්ගේ තිරසාර ඉලක්ක වෙත ඔවුන්ව හදුන්වා දීමට උපදෙස් දී ඇත.
මෙම වසරේ ජනවාරි මාසයේදී අලි ඇතුන් මා වෙත පැමින මා දිරිමත් කලේ නේපාලයේ චිත්වාන් ජාතික උද්‍යානයේ සිට බාර්දියා ජාතික උද්‍යානය දක්වා ඇති ස්වාභාවික සංක්‍රමණික මංකඩ තරණය සදහා නායකත්වය ගෙන කටයුතු කරන ලෙස යි – මෙම ගමනේ චායාරූප ලේඛනගත කරන අතරේදී මිනිසුන් හට සත්ව සංනිවේදනය ඉගැන්වීමටද ඔවුන් ඉල්ලීමක් කලා.
මුල් සංක්‍රමණික මාවත් නැවත සොයාගැනීමට අලි ඇතුන් වෙනුවෙන් මා ප්‍රශ්ණ මාලාවක් සකස් කලේ එයට සහභාගීවීමට මා තුල පැවති ඉමහත් කැමැත්ත නිසාමයි. අලි ඇතුන් මෙම ව්‍යාපෘතිය සම්භන්දයෙන් සමහර තොරතුරු මා සමග බෙදාගත් අතර මා නේපාලය ට පැමිණි විට මෙම ව්‍යාපෘතිය ක්‍රමානුකූලව වනු ඇති බවට පොරොන්දු විය.මෙම විෂය බාර්දියා ජාතික උද්‍යානය ඉක්මවා යමින් ගවේෂණ කටයුතු වල නිරත වන ලෙසද මාගෙන් ඉල්ලා සිටින ලදී.
මේ වාර්ථාව පිළිබද සියළුම තොරතුරු මා නොදන්නා නමුත් අලි ඇතුන් සහ ඔවුන්ගේ ක්‍රියාවලිය ගැන විශ්වාසය තබමි.මා දන්නා එකම කාරණාව නම් මේ ගමන හුදෙක් මා පිළිබදව නොවේ – මෙම ගමන මිනිසුන් එක් රැස් කොට යම් විශිෂ්ට දෙයක් ගොඩ නැගීම ඒකායන බලාපොරොත්තුවයි.
“මෙයට සම්භන්ද සියළු දෙනාට පාඩම් බොහෝමයක් ඉගෙන ගැනීමට ඇත,මෙය සංක්‍රමණ මංකඩ ගැන විතරක්ම නොවිය යුතුයි – මෙයින් ඉගෙනගැනීමේ දොරටු බොහෝමයක් විවර වේවි” අලි ඇත් සාමූහිකත්වය, ජනවාරි 2021
ඡායාරූප දායකත්වය – රයිනො මව සමග පැටවා, චිත්වාන් ජාතික උද්‍යානය
Photo: Photographer Bimita Bhandari and I going over the documentary storyboard.
Shortly after publishing the blog, Migration Corridor Expedition, we were delighted to receive enough donations to purchase two gimbals, sound equipment, travel funds to film in three locations, and a scouting trip to Bardiya to meet forest officer Ashok Kumar Ram. The elephants have shared with us in Elephant Hour to connect with Ashok Ram.
My time in Nepal was coming to an end for 2022. After calling to confirm Ashok was in Bardiya I hired a driver to take me to his office at Bardiya National Park.
On the way to Bardiya, my driver, chaperone and I were detained by the Nepalese military.
Total drive time to Bardiya was fifteen hours.
After a lunch break we experienced a four hour stretch without a bathroom in sight. I had to pee. We couldn’t find a toilet. The chaperone asked if I was willing to relieve myself in the bush. I was fine pulling over to pee outside as I was feeling nauseous holding in my urine. Hiking since a wee one, pun intended – I am accustomed to going to the toilet in the wilderness.
At this point we were on a main highway driving through Banke National Park. We found a wide spot on the highway with a public bus stop on the left. No one was around. The area on both sides of the road was cleared of brush for several hundred feet before the jungle canopy appeared. I quickly hopped out of the car and squatted behind the bus stop amongst trash which included empty liquor bottles.
Fifteen minutes after the three minute toilet break we encountered a military checkpoint. Our car had been waved through a few checkpoints along our route. This time we were required to pull over.
After stopping the car a soldier walked up to our drivers window aggressively taking the car keys out of the ignition. The driver and chaperone immediately got out of the car to discuss the situation. Several soldiers walked up to join the conversation. My lack of understanding Nepali had me curious what was being said with all of the fast talk and hand waving going on.
Hot and sweaty without the air conditioning, being locked with the windows up in the car I stared into the eyes of the soldiers wondering what we did to warrant this situation. The soldier who had taken the car keys out of the ignition looked at me with contempt.
After twenty minutes the chaperone opened my door to tell me he was told it is illegal to stop to go to the toilet in the bush and that no stopping was allowed on the road traveling through the national park. I learned we were waiting for a high ranking soldier who was called to the situation. The chaperone left to go stand by the group of soldiers, leaving my door open so I had fresh air.
In the twenty minutes it took for the lead soldier to arrive I wondered if I had enough cash on me if I was forced to pay money to the soldiers. Would I be taken to jungle jail? Along the highway there were posted billboards about wildlife but there were no signs stating it was illegal to stop on the highway, there were no public rest stops, and I saw plenty of men going to the toilet along the highway. How did these soldiers know we stopped on the highway?
When the lead soldier arrived there was more fast talking and hand waving before the lead soldier walked up to the car to talk to me. “Do you know why we have detained you”? The soldier spoke perfect English.
I shared with the soldier that my chaperone told me we were in trouble for peeing along the side of the road. The soldier repeated that yes, it is illegal for me to pee in the jungle. I replied that I hadn’t peed in the jungle, I peed behind a bus stop.
I could see an expression of puzzlement overtake his face, he paused, then replied that the bus stop was for locals. The soldier then told me he was angry with my driver and chaperone for not pulling over when they were told to. I shared that I didn’t see anyone ask us to pull over until now and that my driver and chaperone were good men who wouldn’t do anything to risk my safety. The soldier agreed to let us move forward with a warning. I was not fined. The car keys were returned to us.
Once we were back on the road my chaperone told me the soldiers had planned on fining me. He did his best to explain our situation to the soldiers of not finding rest stops, no signs along the highway stating it was illegal to stop and of all the chaperones work on conservation projects with the Nepalese government. My chaperone also shared with the soldiers they were driving me to visit forest officer Ashok Kumar Ram.
Please consider donating to our Migration Corridor Expedition Project. DONATE HERE
*Nepalese and Sinhala Translations Coming Soon
Animal and Nature Connect 