Tharu Tribal Village Life

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Our guide’s wife and two daughters in their festive garb

On our last morning, after another glorious dinner and breakfast, we head off with 2 naturalists for the Tharu tribal settlements.  We were warmly welcomed and our local guide took us to his home where his wife and 2 daughters had dressed up for us in their tribal costumes reserved for special occasions.   We were shown the hard mud used for construction of their low thatched-roof homes, inside of which were graceful cylindrical storage facilities ifor their grains in their loft areas and little else.  Food is the most precious commodity here.

A graciious local woman in front of her kitchen hut which is always a little separate from the main house.
We passed by this woman grinding grain to make a porridge for her chickens.

There is significant flooding here in the rainy season so they must be prepared to quickly move to their loft area and may need to patch their walls at any time.  Consequently,  every family seems to have a partly-finished more durable brick structure which we were told, they add to as money allows.  The village now has scattered half-finished brick buildings next to the traditional mud and thatch homes.

Bill says the village was very peaceful contrasted to the chaos of the small towns in the area. Our naturalist, who hires people from this village to work at the Jaagir Manor, sees the women as hard-working and the men as lazy and not willing to take on the traditional labors of village life. We were told that men can have 2 wives — but that the women can have 2 husbands as well. As all farmers, these people’s lives are very much dominated by the weather – as we in the U.S. are also realizing with climate change causing significant fire and water issues.

The water pump and washing facilities at a more upscale traditional hoe.

We are an anomaly in this area as we have not seen a single other white tourist since we arrived.  The jeeps in the park are filled with Indian families and some serious photographers with very long range zoom lenses.   It is not yet a tourist destination which makes it especially interesting and unique.

Preparing food

We sadly leave Jaagir Lodge but plan to come back.  I am already thinking of a tour next March, when it is a little warmer, including Jaagir Manor as I would love to share it with some of you.   Now we are off to Lucknow!

Small town we pass on way back to Lucknow. It is hard to tell whether this is 1965 or 2025.