BACKGROUND
The crash in India's tiger population to only a couple of thousand has been attributed largely to hunting by tribal & nomadic communities including the Pardhis. Once valued assistants to India's royals on 'shikaar', the Pardhis were driven to the fringes of society when hunting was made illegal. Socially unaccepted and a nomadic lifestyle shoved them towards international poaching networks. Often, associated as potential criminals, the next generation youth were offered little opportunity to study or work differently, leaving them to follow in the footsteps of their parents and survive by depending on the forests, resorting to poaching and doing other odd jobs. This socio-environmental challenge manifested in Panna Tiger Reserve, when the national park had no tigers left.
IMPLEMENTATION
IHCL collaborated with the Last Wilderness Foundation and the Panna Forest Department to pilot an inclusive tourism model. The programme was designed to enable alternate livelihood opportunities for the Pardhi community, who possess a treasure trove of traditional knowledge and skills such as recognising animals by their pug marks, prey & predator calls, bird calls, birding, knowledge of flora and its use as medicine. All these skills were channelised by naturalists at the Taj Safaris to train the Pardhi youth as nature tour guides.
THE HOLISTIC TRAINING AND LIVELIHOOD PROGRAM SAW THE IHCL TEAM:
Collaborating with the community and the required stakeholders
Mapping required project components for an interesting tourist trail incorporation
Identifying and roping in resources from within the organisation
Conceptualising community training embedded in their natural strengths
Executing a two-week training programme
Taj Safaris conducted training in two batches and trained 15 youth. Two of them have now been placed in Taj Safaris as Naturalists. Additionally, 15 women from the Pardhi community have been trained to shape their culinary skills.
A grant of INR 8,20,000 received through Tata Mumbai Marathon - United Way, two years ago was invested in strengthening the community's communication skills, co-creating and embedding additional rural experiences to enrich the nature & cultural trail, and creating awareness & promotional materials.
IMPACT
In addition to successful shift towards tiger conservation, a unique tourist experience called 'Walk with the Pardhis' was developed at the Panna Tiger Reserve. Tourists today have an opportunity to immerse themselves in local culture and enjoy an authentic engagement through the lens of a native and not just a naturalist. The program includes an 'experiential natural & cultural heritage walk' outside the regular safari track and an interactive workshop involving carving out the Pardhi teetar whistle (traditionally used to trap birds) as a unique take-away souvenir.
With around 40 tigers in the reserve today, the collaboration of scientific expertise, professional marketing acumen and the natural talent of the community in understanding the jungle, has created a viable alternate means of livelihoods for the Pardhis. This is the first generation of Pardhi youth who are living a life of dignity, earning a stable income and are now contributing to the tourism economy.
Pardhi youth, who are trained and appointed as naturalists at the Taj Safaris, are an inspiration to the community.