Tenzing Bodosa's tea plantation in Assam welcomes elephants

Описание: Tenzing Bodosa's compassion and sensitivity towards wildlife brought him recognition when the Wildlife Friendly Enterprise Network (WFEN) and the University of Montana, US, adjudged his two plantations the world’s first “elephant-friendly” tea gardens. The WFEN is a global body that helps business enterprises in preserving wildlife corridors, which are crucial for the survival of animals like elephants.

And last month, a US company even branded a black tea variety after Tenzing. What Tenzing has done is simple. He has left his plantations unfenced, allowing elephant herds to travel through it.

He does not mind if pachyderm movement destroys some plants. Though pachyderms don’t eat the bitter tea leaves, the sheer girth of the elephants invariably damages standing tea bushes.

Tenzing grew up among wildlife in his village, which is close to the border with Bhutan and lies along a natural path taken by elephant herds. It is an area rich in other animals and birds, and his plantations are home to magnificent hornbills and peacocks, which roost in the big trees.

Tenzing Bodosa was just 10 years old when 7 members in his family were killed in a militant attack. He and his mother were not at home when the attack happened. Since then, he has worked as a sweeper in a private school in Guwahati, before going to Shillong, Bangalore and then Malaysia (to earn a living).

Tenzing learnt to drive, repair machinery, use the internet and speak English. These skills helped when he returned home in 2006. When his mother asked him to return, he also found his calling in life—to create an eco-system beneficial to both human beings and wildlife, especially elephants, around his village, some 130 km from state capital Guwahati. He started with a tea garden on a small plot of ancestral land. Now he has two spread over 52 acres.

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