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Dexter-Rinder sind kleine und robuste Rinder, welche sich perfekt für die Haltung im steilen Gelände eignen. Dexter cattle are small and robust, which makes them perfect for this steep terrain.

Da kein anderer Weg als die Seilbahn auf Brändlen führt, werden jeweils sogar die Kühe mit der Bahn transportiert. As the cable car is the only way to reach Brändlen, some- times the cows are trans- ported by Buiräbähnli too!

Schmitters Alphütte, die Chrüzhütte, im Abendlicht. Chrüzhütte, the Schmitter family’s Alpine hut, at sunset

Engelberg’s Buiräbähnli Safari is a sustainable tourism concept that whisks guests away to an idyllic world of traditional Alpine cattle farming and rustic mountain huts. At Brändlen and the Chrüzhütte they receive a warmwel- come. Last year, tourists f rom India a lone accounted for 70,000 overnight stays in Engelberg. Strange as it may seem, the Titlis is famous in India f rom numerous Bollywood f ilms – where it is known as the “mountain of love”. Those guests represents a great boost to

at the Bränd len farm,” says Ueli Schmit ter. A lthough that means plenty of f un for Ueli ’s second daughter L inda, who rides down to the va lley on her snowboard during the winter, it presents a major cha llenge for the farm. That is one reason why Ueli works to preser ve the Buiräbähn li, as president of the Nidwa lden ca- ble car association. The Nidwa lden and Uri re- gion has more Buiräbähn li cable cars than any- where else in Switzerland, but the subsidies they receive are by no means secure. “We f re- quently come up against opposition,” says Ueli. This sociable farmer to selec t a par ticu larly diminutive breed: Dex- ter cat tle, which originate f rom Ireland, are on ly around a metre high. Now, Ueli is presi- dent of the Swiss Dex ter society and promotes the breed in Switzerland a long with v ice- president Wisi Zgraggen, known for his farm- ing book Bauern leben. The stor y of successf u l Dex ter breeding in the Engelberg Va lley began 20 years ago with just a handf u l of the ver y f irst Dex ters in Switzerland. Now there are 1,200. Ueli is proud of the fac t that farmers f rom abroad come here to buy his Dex ter cat tle. Another stop on the Buiräbähn li Sa- fari is the Chrüzhüt te, reached by crossing the Ha ldigrat. This charming A lpine hut is a lso run by the Schmit ter family. “We lived up here until the children star ted school,” says Ueri ’s wife Isabelle, who has a brood of f ive. These days, the family lives here during the summer holidays and occasion- a lly at other times, too. “We’ ll probably spend our twilight years here,” says Ueli. with a roguish glint in his eye has lots of innovative ideas, especia lly when it comes to cat tle. Faced with the prob- lem of how to get a cow into a tiny Buiräbähn li, he decided

the region’s tourist industr y, but that ’s no reason to rest on our laurels. Engelberg’s new Buiräbähn li Safari is a sustainable tourism con- cept that gives our guests authentic insight into life

The Buiräbähnli Safari gives guests authentic insight into the lives of mountain farmers.

in the mountains and a llows loca l farm- ers to prof it f rom tourism too. Ueli Schmit- ter, who farms Bränd len and is the host at Chrüzhüt te mountain hut, is one of those farmers. He thinks the Buiräbähn li Safari has great potentia l, as he sees the region’s beauty as its most impor tant resource. The Buiräbähn li Safari is a three-day hike that involves the use of loca l farmers’ sma ll private cable cars – ca lled Buiräbähn li. Each hike star ts and ends in Engelberg and is designed to give wa lkers a taste of life in the A lps, with overnight stays on a farm, rambles across pastures with grazing Swiss cows, conversations with mountain dwell- ers, and – of course – journeys by Buiräbähn li. This kind of low-impac t tourism a llows these mini-cable cars, whose upkeep is expensive, to be preser ved. The Buiräbähn li are essen- tia l for the sur v iva l of mountain farms, as is demonstrated by the example of Bränd len. “There is no road leading up to our home

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