The Splendour of Tibet

The game we played was simple but really an exercise in the development of travel plans that 'may never happen.' "So, Harold where would you really like to travel to if you had the money, time and opportunity?"

I had an answer already well developed because of some strange yearning for adventure and to see parts of the world that really seemed like the impossible dream. "I would like to take a trip down the Amazon from one of its sources all the way to the ocean. Of course that would mean first hiking across Peru's mountains starting at Cusco and having a boat outfitted at Mache de Dios and then down to the Amazon to Porto Velho, Manaus, Santarem and Macapa and finally to the ocean itself. This would probably take a small fortune to outfit the expedition and really young and strong companions, one of whom would have to be a medical doctor who could treat emergencies as well as know about tropical medicine, another a botanist/biologist, you know like Darwin, and a really fantastic photographer and me. The trip would take at least a year."

"Sounds like a great idea. I only have one problem. What would you contribute to the group?" She smiled with a challenge written all over her face. "This sounds sort of like a Survivor movie in which there are two guys and two women who have to develop a team approach."

"I would take notes, record stuff and later write a book about it, plus, of course talking Spanish and organizing stuff. You know, like getting the boat and motor and guides." I smiled happily.

"Where in the world would you find four people who could afford to take off a year from their jobs, people who were cut out for hardship, mosquitoes, fever, loneliness and filth, you know like..." she paused, "like Livingston or Schweitzer?"

"Let me finish my second choice before you tear apart my expedition. My second dream has always been to hike, ride, drive, swim, fly over and even write a book about Tibet, you know the vast Tibetan plateau and take pictures of a Tibetan Wild Ass and a Takin.."

"So who would you take along on this trip? It sounds a bit more challenging and a lot more fun since you added ride and drive and fly over." She smiled broadly, waiting me to ask her what skills she would add to the expedition. "Mosquitoes and black water fever would not be a problem."

We were four internationalist graduate students, all sitting around a table in an eating joint in East Lansing near MSU, sharing food and wine, and the evening took off. The year was 1967.

Each of us after completing our doctoral program ended up at desks, at least initially. Mary R. who spoke fluent Spanish got a job with the State Department in D.C. Tom G. who had worked for six years in the American International School in Delhi got an administrative job with Peace Corps, Robert M. got a job with IIR in Washington and I ended up developing a new teacher education program in northern Michigan at the end of the world in a place called Sault Ste. Marie which was buried in 120 inches of snow during the first year I worked there.

But, I got to go to across the Tibetan Plateau after all at the tender age, where dreams usually remain dreams, at 77! One of the authors of a wonderful book, Dr. Robert L. Fleming Jnr. sent me a copy of Across the Tibetan Plateau; Ecosystems, Wildlife and Conservation, published by Norton in 2007. (His famous father taught me biology sixty years ago.)

After three days of reading I finished my 'journey to Tibet', and it was a wonderful trip. This book takes you across the roof of the world and with well chosen words, carefully documented scientific data, introduces you to an area of the world that very few will ever see.

I began my journey by trying to introduce myself to the authors and those that contributed to this magnificent volume. As I frequently do, I started at the back of the book and reviewed the 'acknowledgments' and 'A Word of Special Recognition'. Then I went through the Index, and finally turned to the front of the volume and was pleasantly surprised to read a 'Foreword' by Jimmy Carter, from Plains Georgia. The 'Contents' gave me an excellent overview of the journey I would take for the next couple of days. The marvel of all of this armchair travel is imbedded in the words written by the author/s. "Two decades of field time were invested. Thousands of kilometers were traveled to every prefecture in the Tibet Autonomous Region." Having traveled in many countries myself, and as a youngster in Nepal in 1950, those words are mind boggling. Here I thought a one year trip down the Amazon would be an accomplishment. But those who gathered the information for this magnificent volume, the photographs which sparkle from its pages, the calm and understandable prose dealing with scientific information, are to be highly praised for this magnum opus. Two decades of field time! Imagine what that meant. The organizers or coordinator of this book, Daniel Taylor and Traci Hickson are to be complimented on putting the data, the photos and the prose together in a way that allows the reader to travel and experience Tibet.

It was news to me that..."In fifteen years Tibet has moved from a situation where wild animals and forests were protected in only 1 percent of its land area to becoming one of the world's leaders in conservation thinking and implementation." And..."Tibet had more than 40 percent of its land are under conservation..." and..."At the core of Tibetan beliefs is the enlightened idea of a balanced, harmonious use of the environment, a tradition that gives Tibet tremendous scope and leverage to implement conservation."

It was obvious to me as I took my journey through Tibet for the last couple of days, that the writers and planners of this important volume had developed 'optimal relationships' with each other and their Tibetan hosts, both the people who lived in remote areas as well as leaders in the government. Translation needed? Optimal relationships refer to becoming friends. Any volume that leaves one feeling new friendship toward another people, new admiration for their country, such as this book, is in itself a cultural ambassador. Dr. Robert Fleming Jnr. is a professor of equity and empowerment. This book and the Herculean labor taken to write and produce, bespeak friendship, equity and empowerment for the people of the Tibetan Plateau and awe for its natural wonders.