The Last Sanctuary

I looked out of the small window of the PIA flight, catching my breath at the sight of the snowcapped peaks that we had been flying over for miles before reaching Skardu airport. Even in July the white vista was endless, stretching in every direction as far as I could see. In the middle, a dusty brown bowl, the brief relief of a green spring having long ago passed.

The Karakoram mountain range is hard black granite and rock: has sparse vegetation and is very austere in character. Before coming here I imagined the lush alpine landscape of my childhood memories, of Nathia Gali family holidays. As we began the precarious drive from Skardu up through the high, stark mountain passes of the Karakoram range I soon realized that this was very different.

Just on the outskirts of Skardu the road skirts Satpara Lake, created when the valley was dammed. It sits like a shining turquoise jewel among beige dusty hills, its crystal clear waters still and icy. It is a truly breathtaking sight. Then the road narrows and starts to twist and squirm. As we ascended higher it stopped being a road at all. The dusty track that was left beneath the jeep fell away sharply just outside my door, and all along the way we could see evidence of recent landslides that had come careering down the cliffs above us…a jaw dropping ride if ever there was one.

I was headed to the Deosai Plateau….known as the ‘Land of the Giants’, the name conjuring up visions of some sort of mystical land, where the Walkabout Films team had already set up camp. The Plateau is the second highest in the world and awash with amazing wildlife. We were here to shoot a film on the endangered Himalayan Brown Bear as part of our series on the National Parks of Pakistan. The project had been generously funded by USAID and most particularly the Ambassador’s Fund thanks to the personal support of the current Ambassador, Richard Olsen.



The dirt track leads into the Deosai Plateau by way of the surrounding hills, so the first view you get is of the whole plateau spread out below you. It is undulating and very green, with a narrow river snaking through the bottom of it. The average altitude is 4100 metres above sea level and most of the year the Plateau is completely inaccessible: the mountain-passes on all sides being frozen, as is the Plateau itself. There is a small window between late June and early October when the snow melts and the land turns into a hospitable summer pasture, but even then the nights can be bitterly cold. Although I was there in July, the nights were well below freezing.

Our camp was on the edge of the river with hills rising on the opposite side. There are no trees at this altitude and the land is rocky, its vegetation low-growing and sparse. Most of the team was down with altitude sickness for the first two or three days but soon adjusted and set out with the park rangers to find the Bears. There are thought to have been over 10,000 of these bears at one time in northern Pakistan and Kashmir, but today the species is one of the most threatened in South Asia. In 1993 there were found to be only 19 Bears left here, and The Himalayan Wildlife Foundation stepped in to set up a research and conservation programme. The Deosai National Park was set up to protect and foster the population and today there are believed to be around 45 bears in the Deosai. The Park is the only place that can claim a stable population, and preserving it is vitally important for the survival of the bears in the whole region.

The Deosai National Park was set up to protect and foster the population of these endangered bears

A few days after our arrival one of our team awoke around 2 am, disturbed by noises in the camp. Stepping out into the freezing cold night with a torch, he found himself just a few meters away from a large brown bear that had found its way into the camp, overturning our garbage cans while rooting around for food. They stared each other in the face both equally shocked. The Bear regained her senses first and made a run for it before the alarm could be raised. The next morning the fencing around the camp had to be extended well into the river, to prevent the Bears from skirting around it again. However a large golden marmot still found its way in and was discovered making itself comfortable in the producer’s tent. With large front teeth it makes for a formidable foe when cornered and a reluctant few ‘volunteers’ were given the unenviable task of capturing it under a blanket and releasing it unharmed.

 

They stared each other in the face both equally shocked

But there is much more in the Deosai than just Bears. It is a sanctuary for the Tibetan wolf, Himalayan ibex and the Tibetan Red Fox as well as over 200 types of birds. The majestic Golden Eagle, Griffon Vulture, Laggar Falcon, Peregrine Falcon, Kestrel, Sparrowhawk and beautiful Snowcock can all be seen here. Its summer pastures are strewn with swathes of wildflowers, a shock of color among the green hills. Sheosar Lake also sits within the Plateau, at an elevation of 4,142 metres. Its waters dark and still, it is one of the highest lakes in the world and a popular picnic spot for visitors coming up from the local areas. Unfortunately as a result, its environs are littered with all the non-biodegradable litter that mars the rest of the country.

I was horrorstruck by the rivers of garbage cascading like waterfalls down the sides of the hills

Sadly, it seems to be the pattern that as our more remote areas of wilderness become accessible they are being degraded more quickly than is imaginable. On my visits to Ayubia the previous year what I had been most struck by was not the beauty of the little bit of forest that was left, but by the horror of the rivers of garbage cascading like waterfalls down the sides of the hills. In Deosai there are nowhere near as many visitors thanks to the altitude and relative difficulty of access, but the menace of garbage is already visible. People choose to come to these pristine areas of wilderness to enjoy their beauty and then leave behind a trail of disposable diapers, plastic drinks bottles and plastic bags, destroying them for all future generations.

The Park is also under pressure from the huge numbers of livestock brought here to graze in the summer, both by local herders and nomadic ones. Gujjars journey annually from the plains of Punjab to the Deosai with their goats, cattle and horses and their numbers have increased drastically in recent years. Where once the few livestock were kept out of the core zone of the Park preferred by the Bears, now the large herds compete for pasture with the wild animals.

A reluctant few 'volunteers' were given the unenviable task of capturing the bear under a blanket and releasing it unharmed

In the five spur valleys below the Deosai Plateau life has hardly changed in the last 100 years. Due to the once long disputed status of Gilgit-Baltistan, development funds were particularly hard to come by. The slopes around the villages are completely bare of trees and shrubs. The only fuel for cooking and heating year-round is the cow dung that the women of the village spend all day collecting and drying. The entire summer is spent in this pursuit, a backbreaking chore. Meanwhile the men eke out a living, relying almost solely on their livestock. During the summer they take them daily to graze inside the national park where their traditional grazing rights have been upheld. They also have to cut enough grass and shrub to dry and use throughout the long winter.

As the population of these villages has increased, so has the livestock and now the extent of degradation of the slow growing edible plants threatens the habitat and the Bears’ future. While the local people may have no current alternative, this expansion in grazing is ultimately also going to make the land unlivable for their own future generations. Once the edible fodder is gone, its gone forever…the non-edible vegetation is taking over all the over-grazed areas.

Its summer pastures are strewn with swathes of wildflowers, a shock of color among the green hills

One important way forward is to integrate local communities into conservation efforts. Park rangers and staff drawn from local communities take home a better understanding of the conservation issues and how degrading the environment will ultimately make life for the villagers untenable. An awareness program is also vital. As part of Walkabout Films’ commitment to the conservation of Pakistan’s wild places, it uses the magical medium of film to explain to the villagers just what their impact is on the park and how they can make it a positive one. We send screening teams out into the villages, by jeep and on foot to show the movies in local schools and community centres (and even homes, if that’s all the village has), and discuss the issues with the local people. As to the long-term alternatives, that is a situation that needs to be addressed by the provincial government and NGO donor organisations. A programme of sustainable development that works to preserve biodiversity is the ultimate solution.

It uses the magical medium of film to explain to the villagers just what their impact is on the park

We were lucky enough to film bears with cubs and many different types of birds and wildlife in Deosai. In a few years time, I’m not sure there will be anything left apart from roads and people and pollution even in this remote wilderness, unless we all come together to change what is happening.

Walkabout Films’ documentaries are free to view at www.thegivebackproject.org

Our media partner, PTV also screens them regularly in English, Urdu and local languages.

Look out for ‘Leopards Amongst Us’, set in Ayubia National Park, and ‘Deosai – The Last Sanctuary’, set in Deosai National Park.

All educational establishments are invited to affiliate with The Give Back Project, via the website, completely free of charge, and thereby gain access to all the free educational resources offered there.