It’s a Zoo Out There
Nepali Times ईspecial 16 - 22 January 2026 #1294
Nepal is one of the most biodiverse places on the planet. And what is even more remarkable is that we live cheek-to-jowl with wildlife without eating each other up. (Mostly.)
Members of our erstwhile animal kingdom are now protected citizens of the Federal Democratic Republic and enjoy living standards and social welfare safeguards that would be enviable to wildlife in any other country – and is in fact enviable even to humans living in Nepal.
So much so that Asiatic One-horned Rhinoceri regularly foray out of Chitwan National Park to visit the ATMs in Sauraha. Royal Bengal Tigeresses are more reclusive, but the Ministry of Wild Life and Animal Husbandry is working to get them to take a stroll past Chitwan’s hotels every evening in order to boost the tourism sector.
This is just as well because Nepal’s patron deity is Lord Pashupatinath, and the country is a model for how wildlife and humans have learnt to coexist. As it is, more and more tourists are entering the Park on safaris, while ever more tigers, rhinos and elephants are exploring the towns outside.
No to forget the aquatic realm, the country has just established its first ever Fish Sanctuary in the Karnali River (I am not making this part up). This is to protect the fish on which indigenous people depend on for food, and this automatically also saves endangered mammals like the Freshwater Dolphins and Otters, as well as reptiles like the fish-eating Gharial Crocodile. Shristi Karki reports after a field visit to Kailali (Karnali Aquatic Reserve, page 6-7).
I did not know before reading Sonia Awale’s piece (Indigenous People Pay the Price for Poaching, page 10-11) that the world’s most trafficked mammal is the pangolin – and Nepal is both the source as well as transit point for the scaly anteaters that are valued in China for their supposed medicinal and cosmetic properties. The trafficking ring-leaders in Nepal and abroad are never caught, and it is usually indigenous people who get caught after being hired to poach wildlife.
If you got the feeling that the whole country is turning into a zoo, you would be right -- especially after the Nepali Congress convention last week. Nepal’s oldest and biggest party has just split by binary fission, and Shristi Karki analyses what this could mean for the election just seven weeks away (Grand Split in Nepal’s Grand Old Party, page 4). Also bookmark nepalitimes.com for updates on this developing story.
Many of the GenZ activists who have been pushing to reform Nepal’s politics were inspired by Ujwal Thapa who founded the Bibeksheel Party in the 2017 election. Thapa was a precursor to the GenZ movement, and the country feels the loss of his untimely death from Covid-related complications in 2021. Sophia L Pande reviews a new documentary about the man, दिमाग घोच्ने मान्छे (The Man Who Shook Our Minds, page 9).
And on page 1 Suman Nepali interviews eight GenZers who will be first-time voters in March. All are unanimous in their rejection of the gerontocracy that has ruled Nepal for the past 30 years, and say they will vote for change. Also watch their video interviews on the Nepali Times YouTube Channel, and please subscribe (Which Way, GenZ Voters?).
Friday, 16 January was also National Earthquake Safety Day commemorating the Great Earthquake of 1934. In her Editorial, Sonia Awale underlines the urgent need to retrofit schools, hospitals and public buildings and for municipalities to enforce stricter building codes in preparation for the Big One. It is not a question of ‘if’ but ‘when’. (Shaken, But Not Stirred, page 2)
The latest two episodes of our series Diaspora Diaries can be found on page 10-11, Father’s Migration, Son’s Education is about Shiv Narayan Majhi of Sarlahi who toiled in Qatar for 17 years to pay for the education of his son Pavan Dev, and made it possible for him to get an MBBS scholarship.
The second piece carries a series of interviews with parents of migrant workers to show how much they value the sacrifices their sons are making so that their lives can be easier (Our Migrant Sons, page 10-11).
Later, alligator
Kunda Dixit