In Nepal, a remarkable story is unfolding. One of Asia's poorest countries has brought rhinos and tigers back from the brink of extinction, almost doubling their populations in just 15 years. We cannot afford to lose a chance to save the rhino, and every number counts for those endangered species. The Nepalese army is working with NGOs and forest communities to fight poaching. If they fire, then we can open the fire.
But as wildlife numbers rise, human-animal conflict is growing. And activists allege indigenous people are being driven out of their homes. 101 East travels to Nepal's jungles to investigate how the country has become a global conservation leader.
It's dawn in Chitwan National Park. This is home to the vast majority of Nepal's one-horned rhinos and Bengal tigers. Authorities have received a tip-off that there are poachers deep inside the park and are preparing for a patrol on elephant back. We have been invited to accompany them on this sensitive mission.
We are fighting for our rights. We will fight for our rights and we will be able to solve the problem of robbing. Colonel Sashikumar Karki from the Nepalese Army is a veteran fighter against poachers. The incident happened in the area of Tomarthala.
Because of the rain, the trees have grown. It is difficult to patrol the area. So we have a patrol plan for you. More than 1,000 soldiers are stationed inside Chitwan.
And their primary task is to stop poachers. Look where now the patrol is heading. It's very much inaccessible to all the foot patrols, but we're using this elephant back patrol as a tool. Elephants provide us to operate especially 24-7. All weather, all season, day and night, rain, whatever it is, obviously act as a deterrent to the bad guys.
The bad guys. The bad guys are poachers who have killed hundreds of rhinos over the years and smuggled their horns to countries like China and Vietnam for use in traditional medicine. During Nepal's civil war between 1996 and 2006, rhino numbers fell by one third.
But now the army's presence and some of the world's strictest anti-poaching laws have helped turn the tide. How come the army is involved in conservation and patrol activities in Nepal? The National Defence Force has been a special entity of national interest. Until it was established, all the members of the National Defence Force were in the same position as the National Defence Force. But today there are none to be found.
They make one final sweep using a drone. No poachers, but they do see a lot of rhinos. A 2021 census found the number of rhinos in Nepal had risen to 752, making it the world's second largest one-horned rhino population after India. And they're not the only native animal making a comeback. A more recent survey of tigers found that their population had almost tripled.
Nepal is now a world leader in conservation. But it wasn't always this way. This land was once used as a royal hunting reserve.
Visitors like Britain's Queen Elizabeth II were treated to rhino and tiger hunts by Nepal's kings. But there was more hunting to come. The next prey was a rhino. By the 1960s, there were fewer than 100 rhinos left in Nepal. To save the animal from extinction, Chitwan was founded in 1973. And two years later, specially trained soldiers started patrolling the park.
Right, so this is the conservation school? This is the conservation school. This is the Nepal Army's only conservation school.
We have eight different kinds of education. We have the rules and regulations act, drone technology. The soldiers here today are in the final leg of their training. After weeks of theory, it's time for a critical drill on how to capture and interrogate poachers in the park. Anti-poaching is a critical operation.
Only highly trained soldiers are used in this. We have trained in body training, and we have trained in nature conservation. We have trained in firemen and other things.
In many parts of the world, heavily armed poachers have overwhelmed conservation forces. In Nepal, however, not only are the soldiers well equipped, but they also have the right to engage poachers and to use lethal force if necessary. necessary.
It's a delicate balance for these recruits. While the right to use force seems to be effective against poachers, there are concerns about the increasing militarization of Nepal's natural reserves. Critics say this fortress model of conservation has led to human rights violations, especially against indigenous communities living around the park. There are people who talk about positive things and people who talk about negative things. In the last year, there were 40-60 people who were posing, but not one or two of them have been able to do it.
Why? This is the result of the tiger count. We have seen the results of the rhinoceros. It's an issue park officials like assistant warden Sarojmani Podel deal with regularly.
What's happening right now? Yeah, rhino is eating paddy. He's lying in the paddy field. Okay, so we're going to go chase that away. In the village area.
Okay. And follow my speaker. Okay, this way.
If you don't chase the rhino in the time in the proper time and they will be fired to us that why you are sending this rhino in our village they will ask no sorry we are I'm not sending. Self. Rhino is going to self.
Rhinos often stray from the national park into surrounding settlements looking for food. A farmer can lose a few months work in just a few hours. damage that can cripple a family. Where is the rhino? Rhino is, I think, there.
So over there, beyond the fields over there, yeah? Yeah. And elephant.
So you've got your team of elephants ready? Podell and his staff will use elephants to escort the rhino back into the national park. Operations like these are fraught with risk. Both rhinos and people are unpredictable.
Hey, The Rhino is a young male and doesn't like being told where to go. Experienced park staff try to block all escape routes. The challenge for Paudel and his team is to maneuver the animal back into the reserve without injuring him or the villagers while also preventing further damage to the crops.
But despite their best efforts, the rhino enters another farmer's fields, sparking panic. The family is angry, watching the damage to their crops and refuse to listen to the officials pleas to stay away from the animal. If the rhino charges, their lives are at risk. Eventually the rhino is shepherded back to the road. darkness falls back towards the forest.
For Podell and his team the crisis was averted in the nick of time. Dealing with Nepal's growing population of tigers is even more challenging. So we are going into this community forest, Kumro's Baparjun community forest. Scientists... like Dr. Baburam Lamichane are at the forefront of mitigating human-tiger conflict.
So there was some problem with tigers in recent time in this forest. So we are putting cameras to check which tigers are coming, whether there is some problematic tiger in this area or not. Great, so let's see how this works.
Sure. As their population has grown, tigers have killed more than a hundred people in Nepal over the past decade. This area is not very far from the forest settlement.
It is around 300 meters to 500 meters, I think, or something like that. So this area we have seen frequent tiger movement. Not all tigers are causing conflict, but there are specific tigers which have their own problem, or they are old individuals who are pushed out from their territory. So these are causing conflict. So if we put these camera traps here and then identify these tigers before they do any harm, and then we can remove these tigers from this risky zone, and then we can reduce the chances of conflict.
Is that quite an extreme and difficult step for you, capturing the tigers? Yeah, it is quite difficult. First thing to decide which tiger to capture itself is difficult. When we decide this tiger to capture, then it's also a big job, because after identifying that... We need to locate where this tiger is.
If we can find the tiger, then we can just go and use this traditional method of encircling it with the wire. white cloth and generally tigers don't cross that white cloth. Then we use elephants to push the tigers and then use this darting, the sedation, the drogs from the elephant's back.
Every time it's a risk. So of course it's scary. We are dealing with a tiger which is dangerous. It's not only the normal tiger, it's sometimes man-eating tigers. which attack people multiple times.
It's scary, but it's also... We take our safety measures well. Nepal's policy of capturing problem tigers and keeping them in captivity is a major strain on resources and not a long-term plan. solution. It costs $50,000 a year to maintain a single tiger.
Money the cash-trap government simply can't afford. A more cost-effective and sustainable strategy is to educate the community. that live around the tigers on how to minimize conflict. Community groups such as this one are key to Nepal's conservation model, maintaining almost a third of the country's forests.
At this time, the forest is being attacked. There are 4-5 incidents here. You can see them. We are going to change our behavior.
We are going to control the forest that is causing problems. If the forest is seen from a distance, we have to move back slowly. If we move forward, we can attack from behind. We have to move forward.
But human casualties from encounters with Nepal's tigers and rhinos keep rising. In a nearby village, I meet Kundan Rama, a farmer who frequently goes to the forest to get fodder for his goats. The water was pouring down. It was raining. The water was pouring down and the cow was here.
I was sitting here and the cow's leg was pressed down like this. I was walking back and forth. I was saved by the help of the people who helped me.
How can you lift this hand? This hand can't be lifted like this. This hand goes like this.
This hand has bones inside. Can you do anything to earn money now? I am the only one in the house who has to earn money for my wife and children.
If I can't come, it will be a little painful. It will be painful. The park administration paid for Kundan's treatment, but he's still waiting to receive a disability benefit from the government.
Even so, he has nothing but respect for the forest's animals. The problem is that the cows are getting bigger and bigger. That is a good thing.
But amongst indigenous groups, there is growing resentment at the price they say they're paying for Nepal's conservation model. When Chitwan was established, tens of thousands of indigenous people were evicted from their homes and moved to areas outside the reserve. These communities receive little tourism revenue and are routinely fined or arrested for venturing into the park to fish and to collect grass. Near Chitwan, I go to a meeting organized by human rights lawyer Shankar Limbu.
Members of the Kumal and Bote indigenous groups complain that in addition to their land, they're now also losing their traditional livelihoods. My culture, my home, your customs, my son's customs, they are not going to be taken away. They are not going to be taken away. This person has no right to have any rights. Jai Mangal Kumal is a local community leader.
Shankar Limbu says he has extensively documented abuse against indigenous communities by park authorities and the army. My organization is the Nepalese Human Rights Association. What do they say about Kathmandu? They say it's a very good organization.
They have made a report saying they have solved all the problems. But we don't know if the problem has been solved or not. That's why we are here to understand your work.
After killing that fish... What are the current difficulties you face while running your business? The way we live is the same.
When I was going to kill a fish, my husband said, Mom, please let us go and kill a fish. A key element of Shankar Limbu's work with these communities is educating them about their rights. Army has come to you. While you are killing fish, you have a license.
How did you get caught? What do you say? Before you turn this into a law, turn it into a law of the National Assembly and its definition is 5. How many numbers? 5. Can you understand my hand?
Can you understand my hand? 5. How many numbers do we have? 10. In 10 numbers, you have to take permission to kill fish. You have to join your hands. This is your right.
Limu believes the army has no place within Nepal's national parks. When the national park was established, They used army. And the army killed number of people at that time.
And they also raped the women. So the national park is, in the context of indigenous peoples, what they say is a colonization. Because they lost their land.
Even they don't have a right to live here. And they don't have a right to life here. The Nepalese army denies being responsible for abuses against indigenous people, telling 101 East the allegations are baseless and that all personnel, if found guilty, are treated as per the law. Last year, a Nepalese court sentenced a sergeant to 25 years in prison for killing a tribal man. The army states it is trying to improve its relationship with communities bordering the park, focusing on outreach and education.
Hello, namaste. Meanwhile, the fight to save the country's wildlife continues. Authorities say every animal counts. In which condition did you rescue her? They were found alone in the jungle without its mother.
Since the mother did not show up, we decided to rescue them because we could not leave them alone for a long time because they might die of dehydration or the deprivation of food or they might be killed by predators also. And we have been counting these rhinos every five years and every number counts for those endangered species. So, We cannot afford to lose a chance to save the rhino. A few hours later, the team gets an urgent call about a trapped rhino deep inside Chitwan.
It's a big one. I don't know how I got trapped. I had to push the door.
What happens when you push? I had to push the door. That's how I got trapped.
That's what you call a dhati? Yes. The team sets out on elephant back to rescue the trapped animal.
34 wild rhinos died in Chitwan last year due to natural causes, with many drowning in flash floods. So this is one of the most common reasons for rhino death in Chitwan National Park. So luckily this one has been chased.
And ultimately we can successfully get through that run. To reach the Rhino, the elephants must cross a river in heavy post-ponsuene flow. Luckily for us, they know how to swim.
Just as we are about to reach the rhino, the presence of the elephants spur it into action. And it pulls itself out of the swamp. There's three elephants here, and there's about one, two, three, four, five others in that direction. And all of these have been deployed to save just one animal. Our expedition makes clear the amount of effort that goes into protecting Nepal's vulnerable species.
Once almost poached to extinction, today this rhino is a clear symbol of the country's conservation success. Significant challenges remain. especially for indigenous groups struggling with human-wildlife conflict and loss of livelihood. But as the world tries to reverse historic biodiversity loss, this small Asian nation, with its thriving animal populations and community forests, is a powerful example that progress is possible.