"Myanmar (Burma)" - by Adrianne George
 
February 29th, 2004

I was Queen of the Jungle

The Myanmar (Burmese) jungle in Alaungdaw Kathapa Park is a vast densely vegetated paradise where tigers, domesticated elephants, Monks and park rangers live together facing the threat of subsistence poachers.  During the rainy season the trek from the Park to the jungle becomes passable only by elephant due to the high waters.  Alaungdaw Kathapa Park is home to one of the oldest temples in the region.  I was there during a festival where pilgrims came by foot from miles away to bring alms to U Ki Mara, a monk who has lived in the jungle for years. 

While in the Park and jungle I had my own elephant to carry me along the long expeditions during the day.  Park rangers leading the expedition used machetes to clear the low hanging vegetation that surrounded us.  The head ranger had studied at Syracuse and spoke impeccable English and regaled me of his memories freezing in the snow as a graduate student smoking cigarettes, as he could not smoke in the house where he lived.

100F temperatures were the norm in the jungle and the day before the festival with the Park full of pilgrims we trekked to U Ki Mara’s lodging for tea.  Our caravan of elephants parked at the elephant platform where we dismounted and descended the stairs to ground level.  A mass of people were gathering around me, calling out ‘Madonna’ and asking to take pictures with me and touch my hair.  As closed a society as Myanmar is, the sight of a black woman triggered emotional responses. The crowd continued to grow as we made our way to U Ki Mara and surrounded the mesh fence outside of his dwelling and watched us intently during our entire visit. 

U Ki Mara was a gentle, old monk.  Thin and crossed legged he sat on the floor, draped in orange cloth.  A young man served us tea and cookies and through a translator the monk told us about the time the tiger came up to his door.  It had been years before and the monk was deep in meditation.  The monk opened his eyes, only to see a tiger crossing his threshold.  Their eyes met and the tiger stood still and for a few seconds they looked at each other.  The tiger then retreated and U Ki Mara returned to his meditation.  This story has made him a legend in the jungle and it is his reputation and status as monk that has made him an invaluable link in the effort to stop subsistence and commercial poaching in Alaungdaw Kathapa Park.

U Ki Mara gave me two pieces of jade and told me to make a ring that would bring me luck.  I kept the dark jade and made a ring and gave the light jade to my mother.  I sat in awe at the feet of this gentle man for over an hour while the masses of pilgrims watched me like television.

When we left I felt like Moses as the people parted before me like the Red Sea as I walked back to the elephant platform.  But along the way I was touched and hugged and photographed and overwhelmed.  For that day I was Queen of the jungle.  I think I could have even had a mystical experience with a tiger, had I seen one.  Click below for more information about the Park.