Dead silence, broken by rustling trees and birds fanning out of the dense woods. Eight seconds later, silence reigns again. Before long, a bloodstained big cat emerges from its snowy camouflage with a lifeless goat in its mouth.
This was Lu Qing’s first sighting of a snow leopard.
Lu travelled more than 2,000km from Shanghai to Angsai, in China’s western Qinghai province, in a quest to spot snow leopards in the country’s first national park.
“I feel like my heart skipped a beat when I saw that snow leopard,” Lu recalled of the encounter in Sanjiangyuan National Park in 2020. “That one moment made all the travelling worth it.”
For China’s wildlife enthusiasts like Lu, stringent Covid restrictions meant long-planned trips to Masai Mara or the Serengeti were virtually unattainable. Many have instead turned their attention Angsai, nestled in the Tibetan plateau's "Valley of Big Cats".
The vast area of uninhabited land is home to many endangered species, including snow leopards, leopards, brown bears and lynx.
On the Chinese internet, a quick search of “Angsai Valley of Big Cats” would return abundant posts of visitors trekking into the valley and making joyful encounters with the creature. “Everyone who is passionate about wildlife and conservation should come visit this place,” one user wrote on Xiaohongshu, a popular lifestyle social media platform in China.
Snow leopards are the flagship species in Qinghai’s wildlife conservation effort, creating a knock-on tourism boom after the creation of China’s first National Park, Sanjiangyuan, in 2015.
Shanshui Conservation Centre, an NGO focusing on conservation of wildlife and their habitats in the area, is working with local families to organise safari tours.
Since the project was given the OK from an environmental perspective in 2019, a total of 22 families have signed up to allow visitors to stay with the locals and experience the rare chance of sighting snow leopards.
It's a big responsibility. Angsai and Shanshui have introduced strict rules to protect the area. For instance, every visitor has to obtain permission from the authorities to enter the park and only 12 can be present in the valley at any given time. Guides are also required to carry infrared rangefinders to make sure visitors stay at least 200 metres from the big cats so as to not disturb them.
“We make sure the animals are not disturbed by our presence — we are the guests in their territories and we should respect that,” said Gama Suonan, a local host who now also works as a guide.
Each year, the families are randomly assigned a number and host visitors by numerical order to “ensure fairness”, according to Shanshui. Tourists pay 400 Chinese yuan ($58) a night for accommodation and 1,000 yuan for a vehicle and guide for a day.
All the proceeds stay in the community, with 55 per cent going directly to the host families and 45 per cent used for wildlife conservation and building infrastructure in the village, such as hospitals and electricity grids.
“It was an amazing experience staying with my host in Angsai because they know the area well to take us to places where snow leopards often make appearances,” Lu said.
Apart from the programme of hosting visitors, Shanshui has also tried other methods to engage with the local community to advance the conservation effort.
The organisation set up 80 camera traps near the 1,750 square km village and trained 80 local yak herders to operate and maintain them. In 2017, Shanshui said these camera traps took more than 200,000 photos, providing important statistics on the conservation effort.
Avoiding human-wildlife conflict is also at the centre of the conservation plan. In Sanjiangyuan National Park, wolves, brown bears and snow leopards have repetitively ventured into villages and hunted domestic poultry, local villagers say.
“In the past, some people would kill these animals because they kept killing our domesticated animals,” Suonan said. “But now, with the compensation, people are less angry about these encounters, and it’s been helpful.”
Suonan is referring to the “snow leopard insurance fund” established in 2016. Donations and government support funnelled 220,000 CNY ($32,000) to the fund in 2017, for example, providing compensation for 222 incidents where wildlife caused monetary damage.
With the joint effort of local governments, NGOs and local villagers, the fragile ecosystem on the Tibetan Plateau, hit particularly hard by climate change, is undergoing a gradual return of these mighty mammals. According to Shanshui Conservation Centre, 85 snow leopards have been spotted in the Angsai region, creating more incentive for the visitors.
“I hope this programme can be sustainable and we can have more visitors come to admire the beauty of our nature,” Suonan said.
Padmaavat
Director: Sanjay Leela Bhansali
Starring: Ranveer Singh, Deepika Padukone, Shahid Kapoor, Jim Sarbh
3.5/5
The specs
Engine: 4.0-litre V8 twin-turbocharged and three electric motors
Power: Combined output 920hp
Torque: 730Nm at 4,000-7,000rpm
Transmission: 8-speed dual-clutch automatic
Fuel consumption: 11.2L/100km
On sale: Now, deliveries expected later in 2025
Price: expected to start at Dh1,432,000
The%20specs
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EPowertrain%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ESingle%20electric%20motor%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPower%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E201hp%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ETorque%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E310Nm%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ETransmission%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ESingle-speed%20auto%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBattery%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E53kWh%20lithium-ion%20battery%20pack%20(GS%20base%20model)%3B%2070kWh%20battery%20pack%20(GF)%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ETouring%20range%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E350km%20(GS)%3B%20480km%20(GF)%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPrice%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EFrom%20Dh129%2C900%20(GS)%3B%20Dh149%2C000%20(GF)%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EOn%20sale%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Now%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
The specs: Aston Martin DB11 V8 vs Ferrari GTC4Lusso T
Price, base: Dh840,000; Dh120,000
Engine: 4.0L V8 twin-turbo; 3.9L V8 turbo
Transmission: Eight-speed automatic; seven-speed automatic
Power: 509hp @ 6,000rpm; 601hp @ 7,500rpm
Torque: 695Nm @ 2,000rpm; 760Nm @ 3,000rpm
Fuel economy, combined: 9.9L / 100km; 11.6L / 100km
Our Time Has Come
Alyssa Ayres, Oxford University Press
more from Janine di Giovanni
Squid Game season two
Director: Hwang Dong-hyuk
Stars: Lee Jung-jae, Wi Ha-joon and Lee Byung-hun
Rating: 4.5/5
UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
Important questions to consider
1. Where on the plane does my pet travel?
There are different types of travel available for pets:
- Manifest cargo
- Excess luggage in the hold
- Excess luggage in the cabin
Each option is safe. The feasibility of each option is based on the size and breed of your pet, the airline they are traveling on and country they are travelling to.
2. What is the difference between my pet traveling as manifest cargo or as excess luggage?
If traveling as manifest cargo, your pet is traveling in the front hold of the plane and can travel with or without you being on the same plane. The cost of your pets travel is based on volumetric weight, in other words, the size of their travel crate.
If traveling as excess luggage, your pet will be in the rear hold of the plane and must be traveling under the ticket of a human passenger. The cost of your pets travel is based on the actual (combined) weight of your pet in their crate.
3. What happens when my pet arrives in the country they are traveling to?
As soon as the flight arrives, your pet will be taken from the plane straight to the airport terminal.
If your pet is traveling as excess luggage, they will taken to the oversized luggage area in the arrival hall. Once you clear passport control, you will be able to collect them at the same time as your normal luggage. As you exit the airport via the ‘something to declare’ customs channel you will be asked to present your pets travel paperwork to the customs official and / or the vet on duty.
If your pet is traveling as manifest cargo, they will be taken to the Animal Reception Centre. There, their documentation will be reviewed by the staff of the ARC to ensure all is in order. At the same time, relevant customs formalities will be completed by staff based at the arriving airport.
4. How long does the travel paperwork and other travel preparations take?
This depends entirely on the location that your pet is traveling to. Your pet relocation compnay will provide you with an accurate timeline of how long the relevant preparations will take and at what point in the process the various steps must be taken.
In some cases they can get your pet ‘travel ready’ in a few days. In others it can be up to six months or more.
5. What vaccinations does my pet need to travel?
Regardless of where your pet is traveling, they will need certain vaccinations. The exact vaccinations they need are entirely dependent on the location they are traveling to. The one vaccination that is mandatory for every country your pet may travel to is a rabies vaccination.
Other vaccinations may also be necessary. These will be advised to you as relevant. In every situation, it is essential to keep your vaccinations current and to not miss a due date, even by one day. To do so could severely hinder your pets travel plans.
Source: Pawsome Pets UAE
What the law says
Micro-retirement is not a recognised concept or employment status under Federal Decree Law No. 33 of 2021 on the Regulation of Labour Relations (as amended) (UAE Labour Law). As such, it reflects a voluntary work-life balance practice, rather than a recognised legal employment category, according to Dilini Loku, senior associate for law firm Gateley Middle East.
“Some companies may offer formal sabbatical policies or career break programmes; however, beyond such arrangements, there is no automatic right or statutory entitlement to extended breaks,” she explains.
“Any leave taken beyond statutory entitlements, such as annual leave, is typically regarded as unpaid leave in accordance with Article 33 of the UAE Labour Law. While employees may legally take unpaid leave, such requests are subject to the employer’s discretion and require approval.”
If an employee resigns to pursue micro-retirement, the employment contract is terminated, and the employer is under no legal obligation to rehire the employee in the future unless specific contractual agreements are in place (such as return-to-work arrangements), which are generally uncommon, Ms Loku adds.
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INDIA'S%20TOP%20INFLUENCERS
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Some of Darwish's last words
"They see their tomorrows slipping out of their reach. And though it seems to them that everything outside this reality is heaven, yet they do not want to go to that heaven. They stay, because they are afflicted with hope." - Mahmoud Darwish, to attendees of the Palestine Festival of Literature, 2008
His life in brief: Born in a village near Galilee, he lived in exile for most of his life and started writing poetry after high school. He was arrested several times by Israel for what were deemed to be inciteful poems. Most of his work focused on the love and yearning for his homeland, and he was regarded the Palestinian poet of resistance. Over the course of his life, he published more than 30 poetry collections and books of prose, with his work translated into more than 20 languages. Many of his poems were set to music by Arab composers, most significantly Marcel Khalife. Darwish died on August 9, 2008 after undergoing heart surgery in the United States. He was later buried in Ramallah where a shrine was erected in his honour.
Labour dispute
The insured employee may still file an ILOE claim even if a labour dispute is ongoing post termination, but the insurer may suspend or reject payment, until the courts resolve the dispute, especially if the reason for termination is contested. The outcome of the labour court proceedings can directly affect eligibility.
- Abdullah Ishnaneh, Partner, BSA Law
The five pillars of Islam
1. Fasting
2. Prayer
3. Hajj
4. Shahada
5. Zakat
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
KILLING OF QASSEM SULEIMANI
Mica
Director: Ismael Ferroukhi
Stars: Zakaria Inan, Sabrina Ouazani
3 stars
