In the grounds of a palace that the jungle had reclaimed from past kings a tigress walked among the ruins of a temple, the new queen. The awe in Allan Blanchard's voice as he described the scene transported every member of the breakfast club of St Mary's and St Michael's to Ranthambhore National Park in India.
He described the hunting habits of the tigers, most specifically the cunning of the aptly named Genghis, who used to wait till an incautious deer had been grabbed by a large crocodile, then rush in to steal the prey. He also explained how mature tigers forced the young to go further afield to seek their prey, which is where the danger to the very survival of the species lies. They are bound to come up against the borders of human habitation and farms where cattle become a very tempting target. That is why only 1,300 of these magnificent beasts survive in the wild, and why we may soon lose forever the wonder of seeing tigers in their natural habitat
Allan was quite candid about the problems of having large predators living in proximity to farming families desperately trying to protect their cattle as they lived close to the edge of starvation, particularly when a poor monsoon denies the more than a single crop in a year. It is futile to attempt to protect the tiger without also considering how to protect the human living in the same neighbourhood. He made his audience imagine the indignation of farmers treated as intruders in their own land if they ventures in to the Park to gather wood, and the need to persuade them of the benefits which visitors, attracted to the wild life, could bring to their families.
In setting up a company, from his home in Calderbridge, to provide the wild life trails for adventurous tourists, Allan has also set up the Tiger Trail Foundation, which is used exclusively to provide resources and support for tribal villages around Ranthambhore National Park. 10% of the profits of the company go directly to the fund which has provided a mobile computer education centre with a bank of four wireless computer laptops and a power generator. It has also encouraged children to grow and protect trees specially selected for their compatibility with the hot, dry climate of the area, and rewarded them for their efforts with gifts of 50 rupees and after one year with a new school uniform.
It is quite possible for our local community to make a positive contribution to the work that Allan has started by finding out more the lives of villagers living close to the natural habitat of tigers and supporting them. The small community of Haile and Wilton has already made a very substantial contribution.