Long term resident of Nepal, Jim Edwards, passed away on Monday. Originally from Jersey in the U.K. Jim came to Nepal in the early 1960's as a big game hunter but metamorphosed soon afterwards into a leading conservationist. He set up a company, Tiger Mountain, that inter alia managed exclusive holidays in Chitwan National Park ("Tiger Tops") and at Bardiya National Park where guests could indulge in tiger spotting from the safety of the back of an elephant. He'd a great sense of fun and introduced Nepal - and the World - to the sport of elephant polo which is now also played in Sri Lanka and Thailand.
Jim was very supportive to the work of The Esther Benjamins Trust through Tiger Mountain and has channelled support and sponorship to us, while allowing our refuge children to enjoy an occasional free holiday at his centres. This very distinguished and charming man will be missed by the British community in Nepal within which he was such an enormous presence. And as I read in the papers of how the endangered Asian one horn rhino population has been almost eradicated from Bardiya National Park through poaching, I can only reflect upon the scale of the loss of Jim to the conservation scene. His full obituary can be read here.
Outside my window I have just heard the first cuckoo of Spring announce its arrival.
