As wildlife 'activists' clash over ideology in the sad conservation politics of the country, far away in the cold desert of Ladakh, a village has decided to give away its premium grazing lands to save the endangered and magnificent Argali wild sheep, currently under grave threat because of rapid habitat loss. Standing 110 to 120 cm at shoulder level, the Tibetan Argali or the Great Tibetan Sheep is the world's largest wild sheep and has been mentioned in accounts of the Silk Route and Marco Polo's travels. This rare Argali sub-species, found in Ladakh and the high mountains of Asia, has almost always been hunted down for the trophy value of its enormous corkscrew-like horns which can reach 190 cm or 6.3 ft in a male when measured along the spiral. Females also bear horns, though these are much smaller, rarely exceeding 30 cm (1 ft). Now the Argalis are a vulnerable species (IUCN, 2000) and all sub-species are in either the endangered or critically endangered category. Hunters in the erstwhile Soviet states are believed to be openly hawking the horns online. But locals are not hunting down the sheep anymore; rather they are selling it as a show animal, as another local attraction for the tourist economy that is anchored on home-stays and a "slice of culture" experience. First spotted in the Hemis and Rumbak regions of Ladakh in the 1980s, where three animals had strayed down from higher reaches, their numbers grew rapidly. But now the number has fallen sharply and there are around only 20 at the Hemis National Park, the home of the enigmatic snow leopard. While the young sheep fall prey to the leopards, the adult Argalis have been dwindling because of competition from domestic livestock while grazing in limited pastures. Says Rinchen Wangchuk, who spearheads the Snow Leopard Conservation Programme and the Argali campaign, "When we started the programme in 2000, villagers responded by asking us why we had chosen to name our organisation after a despised animal (because the snow leopard attacks their livestock). Then I decided to address their day-to-day problems first. The villagers around Rumbak were largely pastoralists, heavily dependent on livestock which had no alternative grazing area. So we started popularising home-stays whereby every household could set aside one or two rooms for accommodating tourists, treat them to their culture and food. It isn't that they had to go out of their way to do anything extra or change their lifestyle, they just had to take in house guests. And with rising incomes from hosting tourists, their dependence on livestock gradually reduced and they saw the potential for promoting the Great Tibetan Argali as a tourism asset for the village." Wanchuk believes the Himalayan home-stays among Ladakhi communities is a real eco-tourism model, where the word "eco" is not just about economics but real "conservation linkages with threatened species". Today the Rumbak village, comprising nine families, and three families from Yurutse and Shingo have volunteered to give up some of their land and create a 16-sq-mile pasture or grazing reserve for the Argali sheep below the Gandala pass. The numbers don't tell the whole story, considering that Rumbak villagers have agreed to free land that could have fed a 400-plus livestock, the number usually swelling up to 900 in summer. The Argali has now become their mascot, much like their monasteries and goncha robes. Well-known wildlife scientist and among the first ones to work on snow leopards in this region, Raghu Chundawat praises the initiative. "I have counted up to 25 Argalis in this excellent habitat during my recent field work. This model of eco-tourism has changed the face of Rumbak which at one time had about two or three houses. The men would migrate for work while the women were left with the rather physically challenging task of raising livestock and grazing them. So thinking of the wild Argali was a luxury. Now it is a necessity because tourists will inevitably be drawn to a home that has a living relic of the Silk Route. The money has meant more houses in Rumbak," he says. Foreign tourists are happy with the clean beds, toilets, solar lights and traditional Ladakhi food and customs at a cool Rs 700 a day. "This was my true Himalayan and Ladakhi experience... the home-stays are a real deal," says Swedish tourist Aron Hejdstron. The Himalayan home-stay programme focuses on poorer families from prime snow leopard habitats in Hemis National Park, Sham, Zanskar and Spiti, spread over 96 households in 21 villages. The Rumbak model has now been successfully adapted even in the bleak stretches of Ladakh, where there aren't any villages. About 70 women have got together to run seven "parachute cafes" or tented accommodation along trekking routes in Hemis, adopting eco-friendly devices like parabolic solar heaters. No plastic water bottle is allowed as one gets safe, solar-boiled water. In Ladakh and Zanskar, 90 families have benefited indirectly from raising pack horses, setting up solar baths and working as nature guides. With increased earnings, some locals have planted over 250 willow trees in Kharlung Valley to green barren tracts and reduce the grazing pressure in existing meadows. Meanwhile, the Snow Leopard Conservancy India Trust has been shortlisted as one of the best geo-tourism initiatives in the world. For any comments, queries or feedback, kindly mail us at pioneerletters@yahoo.co.in