Featured in O.cult Magazine
As featured in O.cult Magazine · September 2026
Six years, one filmmaker and the devotion of HK's Mother of Buffalo
Photographs by Loes van Iperen
Excerpt · Words by Loes van Iperen for O.cult Magazine
Every buffalo in Hong Kong has a name. "Sang Jai! Ah Mui! Amy!" Out in the field, ears twitch. A couple of buffalo amble over. The woman calling them is Jean Leung. Better known as the "Mother of Buffalo", seventy-something Jean drives around Lantau with a trunk full of hay, oranges and an array of Western and Chinese medicines. She has been taking care of the island's feral herds for nearly two decades. At the moment, that means 76 buffalo across three different locations, plus a handful that live on their own.
For years, Jean made her rounds mostly alone. Then, six years ago, she noticed "a crazy man" lying in a field, trying to take a picture. "I yelled at him," she recalls. "I said, 'One more step and you will die'. If a dog goes inside that field, the crazy buffalo will kill it."
Luis Tapia has heard this story a few times, although he has no memory of it. "I'm not always very aware of what I'm doing when I'm photographing or filming," says the filmmaker, who was born in Mexico and raised in Texas. What he does remember is being intrigued by the mysterious woman he kept spotting around Lantau, completely at ease among the buffalo, who seemed just as comfortable with her.
Their proper introduction came when Luis was returning from a jog and almost literally ran into her. He asked if he could film her work. That was six years ago and he is still filming. His documentary, titled Mother of Buffalo, is now in post-production.
"I hope she sees it's true. The truth is beautiful."Luis Tapia
Read the full feature on O.cult Magazine, or support the film and the buffalo.
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