Photo by Rachael BruggerWater buffalo grazing in a field near the Kampot River in Kampot , Cambodia .
Traveling through the provinces of Cambodia on an older rickety charter bus , I was glue to the window . Cambodia is an agrarian economy ; you pretend 10 minutes outside the upper-case letter metropolis of Phnom Penh and are in the stroke of the “ countryside . ”
In the showery time of year , when crops begin their increase , interminable waves of green rice paddies stretch as far as the eye can see , with 20 - ft palms disperse throughout the field of force serving as the horizon ’s only interruption . cows freely take the air the streets , often with a small child following behind to ruck . And water buffalo jab their headland and horns out of deep clay puddle .
I loved find out the pee Bison bison escaping the tropical high temperature with a dip in a puddle . It added an unexpected softness to the monumental beast . Contrary to what their pointy horns and gigantic snouts entail , Cambodian water buffalo are gentle beast and a staple to Cambodian farmers , particularly for people living and sour in the deluge champaign , where Bos taurus are less useful .
picture by Rachael BruggerIn Cambodia ’s flood knit stitch , water buffalo are more useful on farms because cattle dislike water .
water system buffalo are often regarded as a precious hereditary pattern . In rural expanse , where the average income is less than $ 500 per year , farmers must own a water Bison bison or a moo-cow in ordering to earn a animation . Often people will own two weewee Bison bison — owning more indicates that the family is well off .
During his preschool years , Kimsoeun Seat ascertain over his grandparents ’ water buffalo in the easterly state of Kompong Cham . He recalls the animals being easy and tireless and most of all easy to take care of , considering he was doing it at such a new eld .
However , in a area steeped in tradition , the livelihood of Cambodian water buffalo include more than just hard study . During the land ’s fete of the dead , in which the Cambodian Buddhists pay homage to their stagnant antecedent , people charter their piddle buffalo in races , among other games .
“ Everyone beautify their water buffalo with colored fabric waft , ” Seat says . The H2O buffalo races add a electric arc of fun to a rather sober vacation .
As an foreigner in a foreign country , I was take by the way water buffalo are a part of society . They eat , sleep and crop alongside their man opposite number . They are not cast off in a field with the other livestock . The relationship between body of water American bison and man in Cambodia is inbuilt to continue their farming way of life .
