Jennifer Buxton

JENNIFER BUXTON HRMS, HS

...explains how TigerTigerBurningBright.com came to be.

After visiting India and seeing tigers in the wild for the first time in 2004, I found myself overwelmed by the threats facing these beautiful animals: threats such as habitat destruction and poaching, even within the National Parks where they should be safe. I wanted to find a way to help them, and wondered how a regular unconnected tourist could possibly make a difference to whether these big cats continue to survive in the wild.

There are many excellent initiatives going on to help the tiger, and where I can I will point would-be doners to those organizations and projects that in my opinion are making a real difference. For my part, the proceeds from the wildlife prints I sell in the UK and India will go to help support the following initiatives in co-operation with Shyamendra Singh (Vinny) and his wife Bhavna of Ken River Lodge near Panna, and Vivek and Rekha Sharma near Bandhavgarh:

• Education
  It's imperative that the local villagers living around the national parks see some benefit from the tigers and other animals that they're sharing their lives with, otherwise the parks will forever be under threat from deforestation, poisoning and poaching.
  
  We intend to tackle this in a number of different ways:
  • Supporting village schools, such as the one in Madla - see the Education link in the top menu.
  • Visitor education - helping tourists understand how they can help preserve the tigers they've come so far to see.
  • We will set up a program to help villagers with better materials, training and support to produce craft items which can be sold to tourists in the forest lodges.
  • Many local people have never been in the park, so in 2006 we arranged for the top class from the Madla Village School to visit the park. By great good fortune in November the class saw the first tiger to be encountered there for many days: the children experienced the excitement that tourists feel on encountering a tiger in it's natural surroundings. We hope to repeat this every year.

• Environment protection
  To survive, tigers need large continuous tracts of undisturbed jungle and scrubland in which to roam. Many national parks have been created in India to meet this requirement, however their fringes and buffer-zones are under constant pressure as villagers traditionally gather living and dead firewood each day for cooking. To help relieve this pressure, Global Tiger Patrol has an innovative project to install Bio-gas stoves in villages, that use fermented dung from livestock as a centralized fuel source, which means that women no longer need to scavenge firewood each day. We support Global Tiger Patrol with some financial contributions on an ongoing basis.
• Compensating farmers for lost livestock
  Every so often a tiger will kill a cow in the park buffer-zones, and this can represent a significant financial loss to a local villager. The government used to compensate them for these loses, but only half the value of the cow was paid, and this scheme has now been stopped altogther. In Bandavgarh there is a privately funded scheme to which we contribute, and we intend to expand this through a process of visiter education and direct financial support, both there and in Panna.

...without the jungle there will be no tiger, and without the tiger there will be no jungle.

The Madla School Project

Panna was a different experience as already the poachers were having an effect and their tigers were disappearing. We concentrated on deer and antelope and enjoyed the elephants and were lucky enough to meet up with an 8 year old tigress that we saw from an elephant several days running. After we left she vanished and was never seen again.

We passed through Madla village to and from Ken River lodge each day and saw a busy place but with many signs of poverty. Shyamendra Singh (Vinni) and his wife, Bhavna Kumari employed young men and women from the village to work in the lodge and were training young men to work as guides to visitors in the Park. I resolved to try to sell prints of my paintings and to return to Panna to give something back to those who had given me a great experience.

In February 2005, we returned, this time to Panna first and I brought £300 from the sale of prints and from giving talks to local groups in the evenings. I talked to Vinni and we discussed where the money would be most useful. The local primary school had very poor classrooms but land was available so we decided to start to build a new school. I left some prints at Panna and in Bandhavgarh and when I returned alone in November 2005 with more funds, the walls of the school were up and work was started on the roof. The work was ably supervised by Bhavna Kumari and we discussed what to do next.

Finishing three classrooms enabled the children to move in the following spring and plans were made for a pump and a toilet block which were built in 2006. The classrooms have high ceilings with circulating fans, good size windows and covered floors. Other visitors to the Lodge were inspired to contribute to the costs or to help with the work. A group of American students painted the walls.

In 2007 I sponsored two teachers (Marett and Simon) from England to spend most of October in the School and the children learned some English and did excellent mural projects. Bhavna gave them free board and lodging in Ken River Lodge. We hope to repeat that in 2008 and also to extend our ventures into some of the villages around the edge of the park with educational videos to promote better understanding of the conservation issues of the park environment.

There are very few tigers visiting Panna now but the leopards are increasing and the visitors are finding that the sightings and sounds of these beautiful cats add drama and excitement to the calm enjoyment of the teak forests of the park. Another lodge is opening by the Hanouti Gate and it is hoped more benefits will accrue to the local people and inspire them to protect the park rather than exploit it.

Jennifer Buxton Windy Ash Barn Ulverston Cumbria LA12 7PB England Email: jen@windyashbarn.com Web: www.tigertigerburningbright.com

A Month at Madla School (by Marett Troostwyk & Simon Hanson)

We live on the edge of the beautiful Lake District national park in Cumbria and are interested in preserving our natural environment. We have spent many years involved in community projects in the UK, working creatively and therapeutically with adults, children and young people. Our love affair with India has spanned more than ten years and we have travelled extensively throughout her diverse, fascinating and challenging lands. So we were delighted to be involved in the project and to be sponsored by Jennifer Buxton, to work with the children at Madla School in rural Madhya Pradesh.

Our main aims were:- To raise the children's awareness of their own local community and how it impacts on the natural environment and ecosystems. To introduce the children to different ways of learning. To engage with and create positive relationships within the local community. To sustain and build on existing local initiatives. To forge links between the Madla village school and Holme school in the UK. To have fun with the children.

We spent a month working with the staff and children at Madla Village School. The school has four teachers and educates a hundred girls and boys from the ages of 5 to 11 yrs. We worked with each class developing a creative art project, relating to aspects of their immediate natural surroundings, with a focus on their village, national park, forest, trees and river. To support this we visited local places of interest and taught English language through group-work and interactive games. We also arranged for an environmentalist to visit the school and give a talk (in Hindi) on how the village and its activities interacted with the local ecosystems. The children, typically educated formally, responded well to working with us experientially and enjoyed the challenge of working together as a group. We also provided some much needed resources, including art materials, paper, books, maps, a huge felt alphabet, flash cards and games.

An early morning trip into Panna Tiger Reserve and Information Centre, followed by an interactive session with a naturalist from Ken River Lodge and a quiz, proved to be both rewarding and educational for a group of older children. Another group visited a local pottery, where they had the opportunity to watch the potter in action and make pots or objects of their choice. Many of the children made animals from local clay mixed with cow dung; these were later fired, painted and displayed in the school. We were joined by inquisitive villagers and children who don't go to school; they sat, watched and sang tribal songs relating to the lack of rainfall in the area and its catastrophic effect upon crop growing.

The project proved to be successful, we were certainly able to achieve most of our objectives and it was enjoyed by everyone. We were accepted and supported by the local community, who offered their services as interpreters, guides and drivers and often invited us into their homes to drink 'chai' and meet their families. The children were a joy to work with; they showed great enthusiasm and initiative and engaged well in experiental learning, as well as grasping some basic English language. We were delighted when both parents and teachers became involved in the group-work and mural painting. We were able to introduce the children to Holme School in Cumbria, by showing each class photographs of the school, the children at work and some examples of artwork and poetry produced by their English counterparts, as part of the "Save the Tiger" project, started by Jennifer. We will be visiting Holme School in the UK early in 2008 to share our experiences with the pupils there, along with the many photographs we took during our trip.

For us, the project has been an immensely enriching experience, we've started the process of raising awareness amongst the children, but there is still much to be done. We would like to return to India and continue to develop the relationship between Madla and Holme Schools, broaden our activities in Madla Village, and to include those children (and their parents) who do not attend school for (often) economical reasons, via a series of community workshops. We would also like to say a BIG special thank you to those who supported and co-funded the project; to Jennifer Buxton for her energy, enthusiasm and dedication to the project, to Vinnie and Bhavna at Ken River Lodge for hosting us and their massive support, to the lodge naturalists and especially to the LOCAL PEOPLE & THEIR CHILDREN, for welcoming us into their lives.

Prints - India

Young Tiger in Bandhavgarh

Crossing the Road, Bandhavgarh

Wild Elephants at Dawn, Corbett Tiger Reserve, April 2006

Sher Khan, 2005

	Young Tiger in Bandhavgarh Price: £20.00 (A3), £10.00 (A4), £5.00 (A5) On our second day in the Park, the elephants found three young tigers resting at dawn by their kill . Visitors were permitted to ride on the elephants to view the tigers. By the time it was our turn , the tigers were on the move and our elephant set off quite fast brushing aside young sal trees to clear a way through the forest. Suddenly we saw one of the tigers lying on the leaf covered ground on our left. He rose to his feet and set off at a fast pace and we followed, watching the sunlight shaft through the foliage to cast patterns of gold across his coat .Another tiger, one of his sisters joined him from the right and we caught up with them as they joined the third tiger who was already drinking from a shallow pool of water. For what seemed like an eternity we feasted our eyes on the young tigers, enjoying the privelege of sharing a small incident in their lives and feeling the excitement of such a close encounter.
	Crossing the Road, Bandhavgarh Price: £10.00 (A4), £5.00 (A5) On the fourth day in Bandhavgarh the three young tigers were found by the elephants again but there were so many people waiting for rides that we decided to tour the Park instead. Luckily for us the tigers followed and overtook us and we watched them crossing the road ahead of us from the crest of a small incline. They were 22 months old and Vivek told us that they had left their mother the week before. These were their first days faring for themselves and they were staying together and sharing their kills. Young tigers do not grow their big canine teeth intil they are 16 to 18 months old and then the mother teaches them how to catch and kill their prey which takes many weeks of training and practice.
	Wild Elephants at Dawn, Corbett Tiger Reserve, April 2006 Price: £20.00 (A3), £10.00 (A4), £5.00 (A5) It was our last day at Corbett Tiger Reserve and the shafts of early sun lit the light mist near the river as we drove along the track towards the river crossing . On the other side of the river a small group of elephants meandered gently and contentedly into the shallow water and across to our side . We stopped to watch and felt honoured to see some of the last protected wild elephants in Northern India living naturally in one of the last remnants of the once vast areas of jungle of the sub-continent.
	Sher Khan, 2005 Price: £10.00 (A4), £5.00 (A5) Back home after our February visit, on a particularly windy evening, I sat at the kitchen table playing with some newly acquired coloured pencils. I had a photo of Sundar's profile so used that to experiment with the rich colours and gradually the blades of grass, his tawny coat and the black stripes emerged. It was a long process to build up the layers of beautiful shades and the evening passed away as I worked the pencils across the paper. Although the markings are accurate on his cheek, they are not perfect on his forehead, so I named this tiger Sher Khan.

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	The Tiger in Panna, February 2005 Price: £10.00 (A4), £5.00 (A5) We were with a larger group at Panna and had chosen to stay a few days after the main party had left for Bandhavgarh. Vinnie had told us the previous year that you need four days to see a tiger at Panna, as had been the case with our tigress in 2004. As the others drove away, news came in that nilgai had been killed by a tiger on the Plateau where villagers had been cutting grass in the afternoon. Next morning the old Madla tiger was found on the kill and when we reached the scene, visitors had already seen him drinking from a pool nearby pool . We climbed aboard an elephant , this time with the help of an aluminium ladder and watched the tiger as he strolled through the treesto a patch of dry teak leaves lit by the morning sun . We watched and took photographs, wondering at his composure and total disregard of our presence . He was a big mature tiger, thickset and richly coloured, slightly showing his age. Vishal Singh, from Royal Expeditions and Rosalind Hadley from Discovery Iniatives were with Vic and me on the elephant on that memorable day -- you never forget companions with whom you have shared a Tiger!
	Elephant Camp at Panna Price: £10.00 (A4), £5.00 (A5) In 2004 the Elephant Camp was down by the crocodile infested river with shallow water for the young elephants to play in and for the working adults to be scrubbed and washed after midday. When they returned to dry land it was time for lunch . Their large food containers were filled with a porage mix and they were given large chappatties about 2 foot in diameter and 4inches thick. The young elephant in the foreground of this water colour painting had been leading the little one in the background into trouble by enticing him out of the water earlier and racing up the jungle path. Everyone in the camp stopped work to chase them and bring them back to safety as it was down that path that the large tigress had been resting in the undergrowth earlier in the day.
	Leaping Tiger, Bandhavgarh, November 2005 Price: £20.00 (A3), £10.00 (A4), £5.00 (A5) For two days , the Chakradhara female and her one year old cubs had been up on the hill-top feeding on a chital stag. As we drove along a rocky track beside the dry river bed of a nullah, Vivek heard a monkey call in alarm high above us . Vivek turned the truck on a sixpence and hastened back along the road . We met no-one . Racing towards a sharp bend we turned the corner and came to an abrupt halt . A tiger was on the left bank and we startled him; he leapt high and seemed to fly across the road like a flame of light and disappeared. We were silenced by the wonder of the brief encounter which has stayed in our minds ever since.
	Tigress in a Cave - Panna Price: £20.00 (A3), £10.00 (A4), £5.00 (A5) News of a tigress with a sambar kill reached the elephant park where we were watching the young elephants playing in the river . Soon we were riding on an elephant along the river bank and then branched off along an overgrown path into the thick jungle . As we rounded a bend we surprised the tigress drinking from a stream which crossed the path. She turned to snarl at us before disappearing under a bush to eat her meal . Two days later we saw her again. She was replete and satisfied, resting in the shelter of a cave from the midday sun, tolerant of the visitors watching her rest . She was a mature eight year old tigress who, alas, had lost her cubs earlier in the year.
	Tiger in Wild Animal Park, Dalton in Furness, Cumbria Price: £5.00 (A5) Seven miles from where we live, two Siberian tigers live in the Wild Animal Park . The male is usually pacing round his territory as B2 does in India. The female tigress, called Nina, does her own thing, bathing in the pool on hot days or lying on her high resting platform as she is in this pastel drawing. Having learned more about tigers habits in the wild I realise that the tigers born in captivity are living out their lives in a very similar way to their wild relations who are also restricted in their movements by the boundaries of their fiercely guarded territories. Many zoos have good sized enclosures for their tigers though leopards seem to be less fortunate and have less room in which to live.

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	Tigress at the waterhole Price: £20.00 (A3), £10.00 (A4), £5.00 (A5) Here I must pay tribute to our guide and friend Vivek Sharma . Without his knowledge and experience we might not have seen a tiger in the wild at all. I was travelled alone to India in November and sat beside Vivek on morning and evening drives all week . Other visitors joined us for a day or two in succession and gained from Vivek's understanding of the tigers behaviour and of my good luck as day after day we had the most spectacular sightings.
	Tiger in the Grass, England, June 2004 Price: £20.00 (A3), £10.00 (A4), £5.00 (A5) We returned from India , my head was full of tigers which filled my dreams as well as my waking hours. Meeting a friend in Town , in reply to her question of what I was working on , I replied 'Painting Tigers'. By some lucky coincidence , Maggie , a Poetess was writing about the grass which enfolds the tiger so we decided to do something together . From this chance meeting , came this tiger from inside my head rising from the enveloping blades of grasses in the late afternoon sunlight. Tall whisps rose in front of him and I painted more grass onto sheets of clear plastic so that I could print him nearly hidden from view with the light in his left eye sparkling and alive.
	Sundar the Beautiful (B2) Price: £20.00 (A3), £10.00 (A4), £5.00 (A5) Sundar is the undisputed Lord of the tourist region of Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve . He seems to enjoy walking past jeeps full of visitors when crossing roads , displaying a tolerance for the intrusions into his privacy as if he is above such trivial disturbances.He frequently patrols his territory, visiting his wives on the way, occasionally sharing a meal with them by removing a sizable chunk from a kill. Grandson of a famous tiger called Charger, who is buried in the Park, he has a good reputation of his own . He protects his tigresses and his cubs from the dangers of attack by strange male tigers looking to take over his home ground. We did not see B2 until our second visit a year later wthen we saw him three times in a week. The first time he was flat out in front of a cave, full of food and contentment. The next day he was out visiting a tigress and her four young cubs and we watched him walk alongside the jeeps and cross the road in front of us, looking in our direction as he stalked majestically away . Two days later we surprised him resting in the cool water of a slow running river.
	The Tree Pie and the Tigress, Bandhavgarh, April 2006 Price: £10.00 (A4), £5.00 (A5) We had visited the Jhujura water-hole the day before and watched chital deer drinking in the afternoon sunlight and an Indian Tree Pie had flown into the branches of an over-hanging tree. When we watched the 10 month old tigress cub come down to the water to drink, I had the idea of introducing the bird as if he was looking down on the cub. The tawny colour of the feathers on the bird's back echoed the glow of the tigress's coat. The cub was the daughter of the Jhujura Tigress, one of her first litter of two, the other being a male cub. We saw him earlier in the day sitting in a clearing in the trees, staring at us as we gazed back at him. He is my model for my cartoon of me painting a tiger in front of a pot-plant of trailing green growth, a symbol of the vanishing forest. The tigress took her name from the territory she had taken over when she was old enough, at four years, to have cubs. She was one of the tigers we had seen from our first elephant in February 2004.
	Homeward Bound Price: £20.00 (A3), £10.00 (A4), £5.00 (A5) In Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve elephants go out before dawn to find the tigers and to follow them so that tourists can be brought later in the morning to where the tigers are resting in the jungles. It can be a long morning for the elephants and their mahouts. One day we passed an elephant returning to the elephant camp for a well earned rest, food and a bathe and scrub in the river . At that time of day the avenue of sal trees was illuminated by the sunlight and I was struck by the silhouette of the mahout on his elephant against the golden light so I took a photograph looking back at them to remind me of the moment . Water colour seemed the best medium to use for this painting.

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B2 in the Chakradhara Meadow, November 2005

The Queen of the Forest. Bandhavgarh Nov. 2006

	Panna November 2006 Price: £20.00 (A3), £10.00 (A4), £5.00 (A5) The day before, the children from the school had seen a new tiger, a large male resting in the bushes. On the saturday, another newcomer was located by the Mahouts and their elephants. We were on the second elephant to go to see him. He was walking slowly in light grass keeping a wary eye on two mahouts who were gently herding him towards us. He was a large light coloured male . On seeing us he lay down in an open patch of long golden grass and patiently waited before deciding what to do. he was of imposing stature, with a square mature face, with unusually short whiskers.
	B2 in the Chakradhara Meadow, November 2005 Price: £20.00 (A3), £10.00 (A4), £5.00 (A5) Vivek and I were returning to Jungle Lodge just before dusk after a superb sighting of the Jhurjura female crossing the road to quench her thirst in a stream. As we approached the meadow we were told by one of the Bedi brothers in his truck that B2 had been seen walking through the grass ahead. We were in time to observe his stately stroll through the sunlit reeds, raising his head to gaze ahead. At 9 years old, in his prime he was a perfect example of a yet unchallenged king of his territory, patrolling the borders and visiting his three wives.
	The Queen of the Forest. Bandhavgarh Nov. 2006 Price: £20.00 (A3), £10.00 (A4), £5.00 (A5) On returning to the Reserve in 2006 we found the four cubs of the chakradhara tigress were approaching adulthood and learning from their mother how to hunt for themselves. The smallest female was often seen by herself, One beautiful morning, she was sen moving through the meadow and when she settled down at the fringe of the forest ,we went to see her from the back of my favourite elephant. She was looking very regal and did not seem bothered at being watched by so many visitors.