“I’ve been looking after the buffalos scattered across South Lantau for 15 years. Every day, I drive my car to different spots to visit the buffalos. Each herd knows exactly where to find me at a specific time, it’s like clockwork! I’ll feed them bags of hay, apples, oranges and pomelos. The buffalo community is very hierarchical. There’s always a ‘king buffalo’ in charge of an area and only females roam across different territories. If a male does so, then we are in for a fight! After I feed them, I’ll spend time with each of them to tend to any cuts or injuries. I’ll apply ointment on their wounds to prevent them from getting infected, and then I’ll sometimes give them a big cuddle! Buffalos are intelligent creatures - like this one here, Bruce. When Bruce was young, his tail was infected with worms, and he was looked after by a local doctor and a lovely German lady. So now Bruce understands German, English and Cantonese!

「我喺南大嶼山呢度照顧水牛有15年了。每日我會揸㗎車去唔同地方探佢哋。每一群牛都知道幾時要喺邊度等我，準過鬧鐘㗎﹗我有一包二包嘅草、蘋果、橙同埋碌柚俾佢哋食。水牛嘅族群係有分階級嘅。一個地方只可以有一個牛王喺度，只有牛乸可以行去唔同嘅地方。如果有牛公咁做呢，佢哋就會打交㗎喇！我餵完佢哋之後，會檢查吓佢哋有冇𠝹親，有冇傷口要處理，我會同佢哋搽啲藥膏，以防傷口再受感染。有時我會攬吓佢哋！水牛係有靈性嘅動物，好似呢隻Bruce咁，佢細個嗰陣俾蟲咬到條牛尾，有個本地獸醫同埋德國女士好好心照顧佢，所以佢而家識聽德文、英文同廣東話㗎！」

“I’m originally from Cheung Chau but moved to Lantau with my husband after we got married. He built us a house here which I still live in now. In 2007, an injured buffalo wandered to my house with a broken leg and I decided to look after him until he was healed. I named him Ngau Ngau and he is still with me to this day. I started to notice many more buffalos that were injured or dying around the area. So I took more of them under my wing, and gave each one a name. The locals are not fans of buffalos. A lot of people hit them with barbeque forks and farmers try to poison them to prevent them from eating crops and flowers. People also think that they’re dangerous to humans. But buffalos rarely hurt people for no reason. Usually they are either doing so in self-defence, or have misjudged the distance between them and the person. Buffalos can’t see clearly up close and don’t have good spatial awareness, so that can sometimes lead to accidents - especially when they are startled by noise. I’m not afraid of them at all! They are very gentle creatures and are often misunderstood.”

“The story of why there are buffalos in this area goes something like this. A butcher brought a couple of buffaloes from Kam Tin and was planning to butcher them for meat. But nobody was interested in eating buffalo meat…so he just let them loose! Looking after buffalos is not my full time job. I also work as a real estate agent around the Chi Ma Wan area, which means that I have quite a flexible schedule. A lot of people have expressed their interest in helping, but they are usually too scared to touch the buffalos or lack the patience to commit long term. I’m 70 years old and I am determined to continue doing this. When I was younger I was quite a soft, timid and passive girl. But I am a much stronger woman now, sometimes I can be like a dragon lady! The buffalos know that I care about them and am there to protect them - that’s why they’re always there waiting for me!”

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「我原本係長洲人，結婚之後就跟我老公搬咗嚟大嶼山。佢起咗間屋，到而家我都仲住緊喺度。2007年，有一隻受傷嘅水牛嚟咗我間屋出面，佢隻腳受咗傷，我見到佢咁，就決定照顧佢到佢好返為止。我叫佢做『牛牛』，到而家佢都仲同我一齊。我嗰時開始留意到呢度附近有好多受傷嘅水牛。所以我照顧嘅牛就愈來愈多，每隻我都同佢哋改個名。呢度嘅本地人唔係好鍾意啲牛。好多人會用燒烤叉打佢哋，農夫會放啲毒藥整死佢哋，費事佢哋食農作物同埋花。啲人亦都覺得佢哋對人有攻擊性。但其實水牛好少會無啦啦襲擊人，佢哋通常係覺得受到威脅，想保護自己，或者係錯判咗自己同嗰個人嘅距離。水牛睇唔清楚好近嘅嘢，冇咩空間感，所以有時會出意外，尤其是當佢哋俾啲聲響嚇親嗰陣。我一啲都唔驚佢哋 ！佢哋係好溫和嘅動物，好多時都係俾人誤會咗。」

「點解呢度會有水牛呢？其實係有段故嘅。有一個屠夫喺錦田嗰邊帶咗幾隻水牛過嚟，諗住劏咗佢哋嚟食。點知呢度冇人對水牛肉有興趣⋯⋯所以佢就放生佢哋﹗照顧水牛唔係我嘅全職工作嚟㗎，我仲有喺芝麻灣呢度做地產經紀，工作時間就比較彈性啦。好多人都話有興趣幫手睇牛，但係佢哋通常太驚同啲牛接觸，或者冇耐性持續咁做。我今年70歲，一定會繼續做。我後生嗰陣其實係好柔弱、好細膽、好被動嘅女仔，不過我而家堅強咗好多喇，有時我仲可以好惡添！啲水牛知道我關心佢哋，係嚟保護佢哋，所以佢哋會喺度等我嚟囉！」