My New Girlfriend

My New Girlfriend
After a very long and bumpy bus journey leaving the Himalayas behind, I arrived at Thakurdwara on the boundary of the beautiful Bardia ...
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My New Girlfriend
After a very long and bumpy bus journey leaving the Himalayas behind, I arrived at Thakurdwara on the boundary of the beautiful Bardia National Park which resides in the southern lowlands of Nepal close to the Indian border. The Tharu people are the main ethnic group in this area, mainly growing wheat and rice, living in timber framed houses with mud walls and thatched roofs. The Tharu are still using traditional farming practices which go back thousands of years. The bullock pulls the wooden plough with it's iron iron blade which seems to turn the soil effortlessly. The farmer guides the plough and steers the bullocks up and down the field. This is skilled back breaking work and you need to have a good relationship with your ox.
Being surrounded by pristine jungle which throws up more deadly problems with tiger and leopard attacks on livestock and people, elephants who love to eat the rice crop coming into conflict with the villagers often leading to negative results for the elephant and the farmer. Climate change is affecting farming here with unpracticable weather like the flash floods effecting this area for the last few years. It seems that the people who have the lowest impact on the earth suffer the most from climate change. The 21st century is snapping at the heels of the traditional farming way of life, the Ox and plough is slowly being replaced by the mechanical tractor and electricity is in a large proportion of the houses now. As much I love to see this low impact natural way of tribal living and romanticise of much less complicated way of living than in the west, I realise access to healthcare, education and infrastructure will help the Tharu and create much needed jobs in the area.
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