No country for old men

Two weeks ago, I lead a EB5 tour for nature enthusiasts who were eager to fly high: they wanted to see a snow leopard in the wild.

Snow leopards are one of the most mysterious species on planet earth, and are often referred to by locals as the mountain ghost. In the wild, 4000-7000 snow leopards are estimated to remain. Exact numbers are unknown because they are extremely secretive, and live in some of the harshest environments known.

In the past, seeing a snow leopard in the wild was considered only for those who could spend many months in the right area. But times have changed. Devoted conservation projects (Snow leopard conservancy, Panthera) all over its distribution range (mainly Russia, China, India) have yielded a lot of new info regarding snow leopard distribution and their ecology.

It also became clear that the Himalayas in Ladakh (India) contain some of the highest densities on earth. In Hemis National Park (4400km²) some 40 leopards are thought to reside.

Using the skill of local trackers, it has as such become possible to see a leopard when spending several days in this habitat. This means flying in at 3500m and subsequently hike high up in the Himalayas: in summer the cats are found at 5000-6000m but in winter they follow their prey lower down the valleys.

Hence the trip started with eight nervous guys meeting at the airport in Brussels. Nervous because we knew it was possible: we had the best trackers of the Snow Leopard Conservancy, we all had our own scopes, we knew Jon Hall (mammalwatching.com) was going to be there with a crew as well. More eyes scanning the vast landscape means better chances of spotting the leopard. Due to time limitations we were only visiting Ladakh, and not southern India for tigers, lions, rhinos. This meant that it was an “all or nothing” trip. Or you see it, or you come back from a trip seeing only a very barren landscape. Hence, nervous…

When you land at an altitude of 3500m, some acclimatization is required. Altitude sickness is always lurking and as tour leader one of my main concerns was that nobody should be left behind. As such we spent two days birding the beautiful Indus river valley around Leh.

Birding the Indus river for migrating warblers and residents birds, such as the local Ibisbill.

Monky see monky do

Very friendly and welcoming people.

All of us were very keen on seeing ibisbill so we looked further along the barren Indus river banks.

And found it!

The ibisbill is so special it is the sole bird species in its family. There are no subspecies. It was only described in 1831 based on a painting.

Himalayan wagtail

After two days of acclimatisation the time had come to travel towards Hemis national park. There we had planned a seven day expedition with only one purpose: seeing a snow leopard in the wild.

We had nine local people involved: drivers, cooks, trackers and spotters

I will never forget the Dutch quote by Jan prior to leaving: \"Gast, ge goa ewa zien zene! Een ezelke me voif samsonite valieze den beirg zien oep teejne\"

Prey was around

Dragging a 500mm along proved usefull in some cases, eg. when a beautiful mountain weasel was found.

Getting up was cold so we sang a lot to keep moral high. This is Frans doing a backstreet boy impression early mornin'. Moral soared...

By then I was so nervous the only thing I could stutter was \"people keep calm, there is a leopard in sight\". This is by far the most intense moment I ever had on a nature trip. Jigmet again ran up the mountain and only moments later, we were looking at a snow leopard resting on a slope.

Very strange moment: tears were flowing, men were hugging, fists were in the air. We were the happiest people in the Himalayas...

Then he got up...

In the evening there was a snow leopard cake, prepared by our chef... The following days we looked for more leopards but no succes.

Three days later, we traveled further east towards the Tibetan plateau in Tso Kar. Target species here were wild ass (Kiang) and rare birds (Tibetan sandgrouse and Black-necked crane).

Another crazy landscape.

Saker falcon dive bombing in a group of Hill pigeons.

Years ago, Tibetan sangrouse was extremely difficult to see. Only recently, this population in Tso Kar became known. We saw many

But the stars of the Tibetan plateau are by far the wild ass (Kiang). They live in huge herds and roam the emptyness...

Tso Kar base camp is very pretty but very cold: 4600m altitude and -20°C during the night. Big respect to the crew who helped us in this extreme environment.