Mizoram Forest
Mizoram Forest , One morning in September 2019, the 240 residents of the small and charming Merlin village in Mizoram’s Chamfai district were in for a surprise. Amit Kumar Bal, a 26-year-old researcher had landed in his village from Cuttack in Odisha. Merlin is located on the edge of the Merlin National Park (MNP).
Merlin people enjoy an uncomplicated life with limited outside interference. Many of the villagers did not travel to the state capital Aizawl, 245 km away. Even seeing someone from outside the state was not normal.
“The residents of Merlin were very happy to see me and welcomed me warmly. However, when they learned that I would be living in their village for the next few years, they were a bit surprised. They told me that I “It would have been difficult to live long in the absence of urban amenities,” recalls Ball. Three years later, Ball has become an integral part of Merlin. Ball visits Merlin to study the small carnivores. , but now, they are also spreading awareness about conservation.
The MNP, located very close to the Chin Hills of Myanmar, covers an area of about 200 square kilometers. The forest here is so thick and dense that it is compared to the Amazon because even on a sunny day only one percent of the sun’s rays can penetrate the Mizoram Forest .
Due to the thickness of the forest, one patch of MNP has also got a unique name – “Land of No Return”. MNP falls in Champai District but is managed by the office of the Divisional Forest Officer (DFO), Khazul District.
Ball has had an eventful three years at Merlin so far, where, in addition to his research and awareness programs, he has also participated in agriculture with local residents. It is a three-hour drive from Champai city to Merlin and another three kilometers, one reaches the main entrance of the MNP. Wapar, Tualpui, Rabang, North Khabang and Ngor are other fringe villages around the MNP.
To study carnivores in MNP, Ball set 18 camera traps at eight locations within the forest. “I can’t go to the forest very often during the monsoon because there are snakes and leeches. So, camera traps help me keep an eye on animals. During my trips inside the forest, I have seen many species of animals. Like clouded leopards, yellow-throated martens, crab-eating mongooses, Assamese macaques, barking deer, wild boars and more,” he enthuses.
Communicating with the natives was initially a problem for Ball as they mostly spoke Mizo. However, to overcome this problem, he learned Mizo in six months with the help of a dictionary.
Bal also tried his hand at farming and grew rice and ginger during the COVID-19 pandemic, during which he stayed in the village for over a year.
Describing life in Merlin, Ball says, “The people here are very simple people. Most of them do agriculture, while a few operate taxis. Merlin has two schools – a primary and a middle school. There are some shops that sell groceries like lentils, eggs and butter. But to get other facilities like pharmacy or ATM, one has to go to Champhai town. I also go to Chumfai once in two months for my essential work. If I order something online, it is delivered to one of my contacts in Chumfai, from whom I collect the item later.”
As many children here drop out after a certain point, Ball is encouraging them to pursue further education and creating awareness among parents.
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