Tibetan 'wild man' scales new heights

Heightened senses

Sa Karma hit the road that summer without telling his friends and family. Three days later, he climbed the highest mountain near the village, a peak no one had previously scaled.

Standing on the sandstone peak at an elevation of over 5,800 meters, he saw three naturally formed lakes of clear turquoise, as well as a panoramic view of the source area of the Lancang River.

His eyes welled with tears, whether it was because of the biting wind or the stunning beauty that lay before him.

Since that day, Sa Karma has lived his life as a wanderer. He has turned his back on society and human relationships, accompanied only by his camera gear and 50-kilogram backpack, and he spends more than 300 days a year in the mountains.

But his romantic notions of life in the wild have not always been matched by the harsh reality. He was often surrounded by animals, especially at night, which kept him awake.

Over time, Sa Karma was able to recognize and imitate the different roars of snow leopards and howls of wolves. He was even able to elicit a response from the predators at times. "I'm not afraid of them now, because they know that I'm not an intruder," he said.

One winter, at an altitude of 6,000 meters above sea level, Sa Karma warmed himself with Tibetan dancing, out of fear his camera would be frozen solid.

He said he cherishes every beautiful thing he has seen. Over the past nine years, he has recorded 507 kinds of wild plants, 18 species of wild animals, including lynx and snow leopards, as well as 16 types of birds in his hometown.