Tibetans prosper by respecting nature

Instead of relying on poaching and slaughter, residents help themselves by helping animals thrive

In many parts of Africa, animals such as the rhino and elephant are slaughtered for their precious ivory and horn. Monkeys and leopards are hunted for their beautiful skins. Many other animals also die, en masse, for the sake of money.

If humans need money to survive, why do it by killing these creatures? Isn't it possible to earn a living without butchery? Is there a way to make money by caring for animals? An old man from China's Tibet autonomous region may have the answer to this last question.

Duo Bujia, 67, used to be a forest ranger in Gong Bu Jiang Da, a rural area in Tibet famous for its dense forest and beautiful mountains. The forests are a source of income for local people who provide hospitality services for visitors.

The forest is home to a type of monkey called macaque, which have fair fur and red faces. Though these monkeys are harmless there is a conflict with humans, in that they steal and eat crops from farms.

Farmers in Gong Bu Jiang Da stopped farming because the monkeys were eating their crops. If it were my country, Ethiopia, or elsewhere in Africa, the farmers would have built wooden watchtowers and used catapults or arrows to repel the monkeys or even kill them.

But killing or attacking animals is prohibited in Buddhism, so the local people did not react in a violent way. Due to their beliefs, the Tibetans left the monkeys alone. They left the whole area for the benefit of the monkeys.

But this left both sides with a dilemma. The farmers needed another way to earn a living as they did not farm anymore and the macaques did not have anything to eat because there were no more crops.

Duo Bujie started to befriend the monkeys. When he started taking care of them 16 years ago there were 30 of them. At the time he used to recognize each and every one of them and feed them out of his meager income.

Now the number of macaques has increased 100 times to reach 3,000. The government subsidizes the cost of the food and the only source of revenue is the entrance fee collected from visitors. But it is a good indicator of the potential of tourism in the locality.

Macaques are not unique to Tibet. But what makes them special is that Duo Bujia and people from his area have developed a special relationship with them and everybody can "dine" with them. Feeding macaques is an enjoyable experience.

It can be a little frightening to feed monkeys, especially for someone who has never been so close to them. They might think the macaques will bite them or scratch as they go to pick up food from your hand. Though the monkeys rush and jostle for food they are careful with humans.

Tibet has other wildlife, especially yaks, that people have great respect for. Yak meat and yak dairy products are typical foods in China. But there is a difference between poaching animals - where someone kills them only to make money - and rearing them in a way that does not bring about their extinction. The yak is another example of how Tibetans tend to an animal's needs, even their reproductive ones.

In addition to visiting the capital I also traveled 400 kilometers to the city of Linzhi. As the government improves the area's infrastructure, people are increasingly turning to tourism for their livelihoods.

A modern highway that connects Lhasa with Linzhi is nearing completion and will cut the travel time from seven hours to just three.

Linzhi is a small city of 200,000 residents but it is growing. It is the kind of place where, once you arrive, you wish you could stay for longer. It has the power to bewitch everyone, particularly those who come from very busy and crowded megacities such as Beijing.

Linzhi, surrounded by forest-covered mountains, is peaceful and clean with lots of fresh air. For anyone who is tired of factories and car noises, as well as smog, it doesn't take more than half an hour to realize what you've been missing.

I come from a metropolitan area, Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia. Like many Chinese cities it is busy and congested. Until I visited Linzhi I didn't know the sound of silence and nature as it is meant to be. Though there are many rural towns in my country, I didn't know they were suitable for a stable and peaceful life. I didn't know how to appreciate their beauty. The urban jungle had spoiled my attitude and, on arriving in Linzhi, I knew I had missed out on a lot. There are no advertising hoardings, no traffic lights, no traffic jams. One can enjoy a stay in the family hotels of Linzhi and the surrounding villages. Family hotels are a government initiative to generate additional income and alleviate poverty. The government encourages family hotels by exempting them from tax and providing staff training.

The hotels are part of the normal residences of people in the city. Usually, Tibetans build houses in large courtyards. The houses are traditional in their design and architecture.

Traditional Tibetan paintings decorate the interior of the houses. Though the villages are found in a typical rural area, they fulfill some of the vital needs for someone coming from an urban area. There is no need to worry about being cut off from the rest of the world as these hotels provide Wifi.

In Tao Zhao village, in Linzhi, there are 98 households and 402 residents. Fifteen households run a family hotel. Men usually work outdoors, so managing the businesses is the responsibility of women. Ciren Yang, a resident of the village, is a mother of two. Her husband is a village guard.

Lamu, a resident of Zhaxigang village is also a mother of two and has an extended family of nine. Her hotel has 37 bedrooms and was constructed in 2008, with an outlay of some 200,000 yuan ($32,220). The hotel charges a customer 60 yuan a day for bed and breakfast, so her gross revenue could be in the region of 400,000 yuan a year at 50 percent occupancy.

While the Tibetans keep the hospitality industry afloat, the macaques continue to help with sales and marketing activities by attracting more visitors every time. Along with the fresh air and peaceful environment, the macaques are integral to the attraction. People and animals work together for mutual benefit. Unlike my fellow Africans who end up killing the goose that lays the golden eggs, the Tibetans are better at working with nature than against it.

The author is publications editor with the Government Communications Affairs Office of Ethiopia. He is on a 10-month exchange program hosted by China Africa Press Center. The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.

(China Daily Africa Weekly 08/07/2015 page28)