It’s mid-afternoon in the small, but mighty Himalayan country of Nepal, and actor Nicholas Hoult gets a wet kiss from an orphaned, baby rhino. Nepal’s National Trust for Nature Conservation found the stray, who is now in their care. Hoult recently traveled to Chitwan National Park in Nepal to learn about Nepal’s and WWF’s conservation efforts to protect little “Mayure” and the other greater one-horned rhinos that are threatened by poaching and habitat loss, among other dangers.
While in Nepal, Hoult met with community members of Amaltari, the buffer zone of Chitwan National Park, to learn about their lives and their relationship with the wildlife surrounding them. Ecotourism in the area provides great conservation incentives to the Amaltari community, who maintain a voluntary anti-poaching unit in which members undertake regular patrols of their community forest to keep a check on poaching and illegal wildlife crime.
With the support of WWF Nepal’s maiden Sustainable Communities Initiative, the Amaltari community is focused on the key pillars of sustainability and conservation – self-sufficient livelihoods, alternate energy, health and education – which has delivered scalable impact for the local people and their natural environment.
The robust efforts to protect rhinos and support the local Nepali communities and government are paying off: Earlier this year, we celebrated a fourth 365 day period of zero poaching in Nepal. This exceptional success is due to high-level political will, an impressive Nepali army committed to tracking poachers and the active involvement of conservation communities. More than 645 one-horned rhinos now live in Nepal.
As part of his work with WWF, Hoult and his two childhood friends, Carlos Adams and Nick Atkins, will team up for a rigorous rickshaw run adventure in India in early 2017 to raise funds for rhino conservation along with supporting Teenage Cancer Trust.
Nicholas Hoult is warmly greeted by the Amaltari community in Nepal.
Nicholas Hoult and his friend Carlos Adams feed 3-week-old Mayure, an orphaned one-horned rhino who was found alone after being attacked by a crocodile in Chitwan, Nepal.
Nicholas Hoult and WWF Nepal Field Program Director, Shiv Raj Bhatta, look out onto a greater one-horned rhino grazing in the wetlands of Chitwan, Nepal.
Nicholas Hoult and his friend Carlos Adams accompany the WWF team on a safari to track rhinos in Chitwan, Nepal.
Nicholas Hoult learns to knit from Amaltari community members in Nepal.
Nicholas Hoult gazes upon a greater one-horned rhino grazing in the wetlands of Chitwan, Nepal.