November 26th- Time to Say good-bye to the Land of Amur Tiger

Well, it was sad to leave beautiful Vladivostok city. 

Even the summit was finished but our path toward the Tiger Conservation is never ended. 

!!! Let's Save the Tiger together !!!

November 25th- Visiting the Ocean International Children Camp.

           It was fascinating to visit the OKEAH or the  Ocean International Children Camp. Just by observing the venue, I could tell how enthusiastic the children are like when they come to this amazing camp in summer time. They would go back home with precious experience, full of knowledge and memorial time with friends from all around the world.

Closure of YTS

       At the end, the summit was closed officially. The youth delegates summarized their action plans which they will take upon their returns. Then, it was the diploma handing sessions. WWF Russia gave us some pretty souvenirs. We also gave some nice souvenirs from our countries to our hard-working WWF officials and organizers. Without them, this summit wouldn’t be successful. Millions thanks to these generous people. 

          

                                                 ( Diploma handing session )

                                                  

        At 2pm, it was our farewell lunch time which brought a big impression to all delegates. It seemed to be a special collection of the Russian food and they were amazing. Everybody appreciated it very much.Then, we had some cool performances and said good-bye to two of our Russian cute delegates. Most of the delegates played guitar and sang which was awesome. It was such a wonderful day ever.:)

I felt like time really flied. It seemed like we just got here but one day to go and then we would be home. 

                                                  ( Delicious Farewell Lunch )

      

TV-Bridge conference with the International Tiger Forum in St. Petersburg

            Today was the big day for us. Every moment was focused on the TV-bridge conference to the heads of government at the International Tiger forum in St. Petersburg. After two day of preparation, we were ready to go for this honorable event. It was really impressive to see all delegates dressed up in  the national costumes. Everybody was so excited, especially our six speakers. Some of the WWF officials didn’t even sit at all. They were. They had put a lot of effort to organize this. They even stood behind the cameras trying to encourage us to smile. They are so admirable. 

          Delegates with National Costumes

 Before the TV-bridge started, we were listening to a few speeches from the Prime ministers of three tiger range countries but unfortunately the Lao PM would talk after our tv-bridge. It’s alright, I was very happy that he was at the International Tiger forum and support the tiger conservation.

          Finally, it was time for us to start. It was started with the video of what we had been doing during the summit. Then, our beautiful MC began to speak, following with the speeches from 6 delegates who are from India, Laos, China, UK, Nepal and Russia . Everything went perfectly well  and we got very positive compliments. This was a really significant moment for all of us, we are very proud to participate in this Youth Tiger Summit and obtained a chance to let our voice heard. 

                                                        TV-Bridge Conference

          

Youth Tiger Outreach Project November 22nd

After two days of field trips, it was time for us to discuss our youth action plans. Each country presented the outreach project. Then we discussed and gave suggestions. After that, we had to come up with the international youth tiger action plan for the tiger conservation. So, we came up with

• -          Tiger Ambassadors public awareness movement.
• -          International Tiger Day celebration.
• -          Youth Tiger Network for work coordination

In addition, all delegates will conduct other activities such as providing educational information at schools or universities, online activities, competition or volunteer work related to tiger conservation.

In the evening, we went to rehearse the TV-bridge conference. Everybody wanted this honor conference to appear the best to the tiger range countries Prime Ministers and other high ranking participants.We  rehearsed very hard and we  got back to the hotel at 2am.

Model Hunting Reserve “ Orlinoe”

Today, my group visited the Model hunting reserve “ Orlinoe ” which took about 2 hours to get there. This reserve covers an area of 10,000 ha. It was fascinating to learn about how the reserve staffs and WWF-Russia collaborate to create the biological complex in increasing the number of wild ungulates which are main prey for tiger. The Orlinoe director, Sergey Volbly, was describing how the system works.

                                ( Feeding station for wild boars )

                                  ( Grains and minerals are covered by dry grass )

                                          ( Feeding stations for ungulates )

He showed us the feeding station for wild boars and deer species. This feeding station is really important for the ungulates when there is heavy snow in winter time and they can’t find enough food. So they will come to the man-made food source which contains nutrition, grains and covered by local grass. There is also mineral ground to provide necessary mineral substances for animals during winter time. How do they do this? They first start finding the wet soil area either under the tree or nearby the river bank. The reserve staffs dig out the soil and put a sac of salt for example in the soil. This is because the area is wet so it will become salty after the salt is put in. Animals attend this mineral ground in winter time because they really need this during this period. These two methods are very successful as they can see the ungulate number is increasing. They also help animals to concentrate in the same area which is to prevent them from being poached and also encourage the animals not to migrate far away. So tigers will still have abundant prey and increase its population.

                                                ( Mineral ground )

He also talked about hunting system that hunters need to apply for hunting license first and then the permission will be given to the rangers who will accompany the hunters. This is to prevent illegal or over hunting. Hunting is really under their control as the maximum number of animals that can be hunt is not more than 100 annually.

                                            ( Resting time for delegates )

After a tasty lunch, the model hunting staffs took us to a place that there is an evidence of a prey eaten by Amur tiger. It was 6km for a round trip and it was pretty hilly. During the trip, he explained how the camera traps work and showed us some sample pictures from the cameras. Everybody was so curious and excited to see where that story about Amur tiger took place. When we got to the place, we saw the feather, skin and legs of the wild boar. The staffs also pointed out the tiger scratch on the tree while it was attacking the wild boar. Poor boar!!!

                                           ( Amur tiger scratch on a tree )

                             (  left boar skin and legs, eaten by Amur tiger )

Today was the last day of our field trips and I think I have absorbed many new and significant information plus unforgettable experiences on Amur tiger and leopard conservation program in the Russian Far East. This will be a valuable guide for me to start thinking how to begin and accomplish the Indochinese tiger conservation in Laos.

The land of Leopard and Amur Tiger

It was 7:10 am that I woke up, looking out of the windows seemed like 5am. My brain told myself to get up but my mind desired for more sleep. The mind was not the winner. So, I got in the dining hall at 7:45 for the early breakfast. After finishing all delicious meals, delegates were divided to two groups to visit two different places.

 My group was the combination of delegates from China, Indonesia, Nepal, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Laos and our kind Russia. We were heading to the “Kedrovaya Pad” state nature reserve, land of two magnificent natural creatures, leopard and Amur tiger. It took about two hours to get to the WWF visitors’ centre- The Leopard Land. Starting with the map introduction of where we are at. Again, we were split into two small groups which we all had to watch a 10-minute-video and walk along the ecological trial but at different time. 

Just looking at the forest, I couldn’t find this kind of typical forest structure in my home country. On the ecological trial, there are many new things to learn from. One of the reserve staffs was guiding us to this exciting trial. He pointed out each typical and vulnerable plant, explained its importance and why it’s threatened.

It was very interesting to learn about Korean pine or cedar that it’s in the Federal Red list and prohibited for logging. This type of tree provides nuts which are important food source for the ungulates, leopard and Amur tiger prey species. Unfortunately, it takes up to 60 or 70 years to grow and be able to produce nuts. In the past, people chopped down this tree just for furnished purposes and the Korean pine was almost disappeared. Today, local people and the reserve staffs have restored some parts of the Korean pine trees. He told us to look at a group of this tree which is about 50 years old and they are not big or tall at all. I wish the Korean pine would recovery itself and fulfill the missing part of the ecosystem.

Checking out the leopard trial about 200 meters from road, I could imagine how human disturbances affect their lives. Andrey Fereferov, the WWF Programme Coordinator, told us a sorrowful story of losing a valuable female Amur tiger in the car accident. It’s really needed to have corridors for the leopard and Amur tiger to cross to the other side of the road safely. So, he talked about a really great project that they are planning to construct a 500-meter-tunnel for vehicles to travel in so leopard or Amur tigers can move from place to place without any disturbances. Before returning to the hotel, we got to the rangers to check out the monitoring trial for scientists or reserve staffs conducting surveys and collecting data. Nowhere else I would like to be at that moment.

From today stories, I really admire these people who dedicate time and knowledge to save the two charismatic creatures and I will definitely bring this valuable experiences home.