"It was a big loss," Tashi Dondrub said. "To encourage people to better protect wild animals, we funded an insurance program to compensate losses. People can invest three yuan for each yak and get up to 1,500 yuan for a yak that is attacked," said Tashi Dondrub.

From January to August, those who suffered as a result of 154 yak attacks received compensation. In addition to compensation, locals benefit from the operation of national park in other ways.

Halfway to Shanshui station the previous day, we came cross a herdsman, Dongsheng, 28. In camouflage uniform, wearing a red hat and a red armband, he sang a song in Tibetan about his beautiful homeland.

Coming from a poor family of five, he patrols - on motorcycle or in his car - four mountains looking out for the theft of plants or wild animals, picking up garbage and reporting on yak attacks. The job entails looking after the ecosystem of the mountains in his charge.

Dongsheng, one of the 468 patrollers in Angsai town, all from poor families, is paid 1,800 yuan ($271; 233 euros; ￡206) a month from national park funding. Patrollers on similar duty in the Yellow River and Yangtze River source regions are paid similarly.

Saying goodbye to Dongsheng, we continued to drive and pulled up alongside a white tent, beside which were more than 60 black and white yaks, grazing quietly at dusk. They were with a nomadic family of four that migrates to different grasslands in different seasons. The daughter and mother were at home.

The father, Yonta, is a patroller and one of the 42 herdsmen who place camera traps to record animal activity. The family is one of 15 official reception families in the town for people who want to experience life here and observe animals and plants in the region.

"The service starts at the airport," said the patroller's wife, Namsai Voimo, 46. "We pick up customers from there and take them to the places that wild animals frequent. We charge 1,500 yuan a day for a car and guide service, and 200 yuan each for board and lodging a day.

"In April, we had four British people here who wanted to take photos of snow leopards, but one got severe altitude sickness, so they stayed for only two days and left."

When we finally reached our destination, the new tire suffered the same fate as the first one, and we spent some time waiting for another spare to be delivered from the town, 100 km away. The only animals we saw were marmots and stray dogs.

I climbed up a hill slowly to discover a fabulous view: On the right, a swift current of yellow water, carrying soil washed down by rainfall, ran through the grand mountains. On the left, the naturally formed Buddha statue at the top of the holy mountain sat in a clear blue sky facing another mountain shrouded by thick, dark cloud. Before long, the sun shone through so that one side of the mountain appeared bright and warm, and the other dark and cold.

Because of the altitude and the cold, I got hungry very easily, so I went down the hill to eat a bowl of Tibetan noodles in a warm, white tent. Beside it were two rows of smaller tents in many different colors.

The owner, a middle-aged mother of an 8-year-old girl, said it was the end of the tourist season here. In July and August, the place was crowded with jolly visitors from outside, she said. The girl shyly handed me two pieces of candy. A musician, Sonam Dargye, played a Tibetan song on the mandolin for us.

Outside, it was nightfall, and our return journey in the darkness on a dangerous road would take many hours, during which we might well pass hunting leopards hiding beside the road. Before I rushed back to the car, the owner said: "Come next year. We will take you to a wonderful place to see the animals."

Yet locals, who venerate nature, are not exactly keen on having a tourist influx, even if it benefits them financially, because they believe it will disturb the lives of the wild animals, Tashi Dondrub said.

"They oppose the idea, saying the animals they used to see along the roads will not show up anymore."

Under development plans, 2 percent of Three River Source National Park will be preserved for wildlife, and these areas will be off-limits to the public.

yangyang@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily European Weekly 11/03/2017 page1)