A Chinese park ranger in Tanzania shares the drama of the animal kingdom in his new book. Photo provided to China Daily.

Looking for the next Mo Yan

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His most dangerous encounter happened earlier this year, when an irritated elephant stormed out of the bushes, hit the bumper of Chen's jeep and pushed the car back several meters.

"The elephant could throw the jeep upside down if it wanted," Chen recalls. He turned off the engine quickly, and after a while the elephant calmed down and finally let him drive away.

Contrary to common belief, Chen says, lions usually won't attack humans. Years of tracking lions on the East African plains has made Chen an expert on big cats.

"Among all the animals, I love lions the most," says Chen. "Leopards come second."

It's the first book in China that comprehensively introduces the nature resources of Tanzania.

"Chen's story touches me very much. I have never found a young person like him loyal to his wildlife dream since childhood," Jakaya Kikwete, the president of Tanzania, wrote in the preface. "I hope more Chinese people would know Chen's story and come to Tanzania in the near future. As the saying goes, seeing is believing."

Chen writes under this pen name "Green Hills of Africa", which is also the title of Ernest Hemingway's travelogues about the continent.

"Nature works in its own way. That is something we need to respect," Chen says. "Sometimes I wish I could just appreciate it from afar."