In a village at Thua Thien – Hue Province, Phu Vang District, about 35 kilometers from Hue, the kings of the road are not just man-made machine cars but also four-legged work of nature, buffaloes.

At Ha Uc Village, almost every house has a buffalo and a two-wheeled cart. This is because the animals are used as livelihood of a big part of the population there, for getting sand from the seashore to construction sites of homes and tombs. It is not a surprise then that the place is known as “buffalo cart village.”

Through time, Vietnam has undergone an obvious development in many aspects, such as technology, infrastructure, etc. But despite this urbanization, Ha Uc retained its tradition of utilizing animals not only for transportation and other purposes but actually treating it as part of the family. Despite improvements in local infrastructure for one, buffaloes are still preferred as the choice of mode of transportation among the villagers. In fact, even an animal's health condition is a topic of conversation in the community, especially among men.

The so-called “buffalo days” started in the 1990s at An Bang, a neighboring village of Ha Uc, when the community began receiving big amounts in foreign remittances. This sudden surplus of money resulted in the local residents building bigger and better homes and even tomb construction. Ha Uc jumped into the new opportunity by being the sand supplier, and the buffalo cart was the only possible means of transportation given the sandy conditions of the area. But An Bang residents themselves, especially those among the lower sector of society, took advantage of the sudden flourishing business in their place and joined in the bandwagon, so to speak. As such, there are at present around 200 buffalo carts in the comune. Starting investment for a buffalo is about VND25 million for a strong one, which already includes a cart and can last between 5-7 years. An average buffalo can carry up to 700 kilograms of sand.

Running a buffalo cart business is not as easy as it looks. Each trip could take up to almost three hours to and fro, a total distance of eight kilometers each time. Able-bodied men make up to about four trips a day. At present, there is the lack of paddy fields for the animals to stay in. The local climate is also unsuitable for cultivation. The buffaloes cannot be brought out from 9 a.m. up to the late afternoon because the asphalted roads or white sandy terrain would be too hot for them. Even humans can't stand the heat, especially in the summer. So buffalo carting starts from as early as 3 a.m. to 9 a.m. in the morning and 4 p.m. to as late as 11 p.m. in the evening. Moreover, there are the occasional but imminent dangers of being stepped upon or worse, being kickbutted by the buffalo, even leading to death. There are already a number of cases of both accidents.

But despite the problems and dangers running a buffalo cart business, Ha Uc villagers still perefer it to working in the paddy fields because according to them, it has a more stable income than the latter. Each buffalo trip earns them around VND60,000 (less than $3). Women and children make money from the business by selling grass to the buffalo owners for the animals to eat. Even old people can earn by accompanying younger, strong adults during the trip and they get half of the payment.

So when you're in Ha Uc Village, expect to hear more Tac (stop) Ri (slow down) sounds as buffaloes conquer the road not only for money-making purposes, but as part of the family and community as well.