Radhika Kothari from Snow Leopard Conservancy India Trust. She and her team are doing conservation education, engaging with tourists and working with local villagers and wildlife officials to protect the snow leopards in Ladakh, a spectacular part of the Indian Himalayas.

I recently did a telephone interview with Radhika Kothari from the Snow Leopard Conservancy India Trust in Leh, the captital of Ladakh in northern India. She talked about the exciting camera research and community conservation programs they are doing, and this is some of the most successful snow leopard conservation work around.

Radhika and her team are very busy and here she explains some of their recent new initiatives to save the beautiful snow leopards in this part of the Indian Himalayas.

“To strengthen scientific research, we chose two areas, Ulley and Saspoche. We got 10 camera traps from Panthera and 5 from the Department of Wildlife Protection (Jammu & Kashmir)  this summer. We got photos from these and counted four, possibly five individual cats.  These 10 cameras were a trial but next year hopefully we’ll be able to set up between 30 and 40 cameras and that will give us good science to tell real number of snow leopards here.

 We consulted with local communities all the way. And we do all this work with the collaboration of the Wildlife department here in Ladakh.

 As far as the communities go, first we involved then with idea of camera traps so that they would accept the cameras and understand what they were for. Then the local people identified an area where there are ibex (major prey of snow leopard) and this area will now be solar fenced and the community is helping with that work too.

 Another project we’re doing is livestock insurance program in western Lladakh and recently we opened our new Snow Leopard Conservation Interpretative Centre at the SLCIT offices in Leh. We showcase information on the cats and Ladakh wildlife and our work. Any one can drop in and for free watch 2 movies we show – Silent Roar and Ladakh Natural history documentary. We’ve also started selling the handicrafts made by local women so there are lots of good reasons for people to drop in and see us.”

I was very lucky to meet with these hard working folks last February when I trekked in Ladakh and saw a snow leopard in the wild. Snow leopard sightings here are very possible and the future wellbeing of the cats, their prey and the villagers that share the spectacular mountain habitat is being protected by the hard work of the SLCIT. Well done, team!

A beautiful snow leopard sleeps in her wild home in the Indian Himalayas. Photo Sibylle Noras & Jigmet Dadull.

Who doesn’t?

Earlier this year I had the time of my life watching a snow leopard in the wild in Ladakh, India. I went on a fabulous trek with KarmaQuest and the Snow Leopard Conservancy to the Himalayan mountains in Hemis National Park and with the support and professional tracking of Jigmet Dadul and his team we found a magnificent female cat on our 7th day and spent the entire day observing her.

Snow leopards are rare and elusive; many biologists have studied them for decades and only caught a glimpse or two of the cats. So believe me it is an amazing experience and a privilege to see one in the wild. This trip is being offered again in February (6th to 22nd 2012) and my friend from KarmaQuest, Wendy Lama tells me there are still two places left to join this group.

Don’t miss this opportunity to see a snow leopard in its own wild habitat and contribute to snow leopard conservation in Ladakh. Led by a Ladakhi snow leopard expert wildlife spotter, assisted by trained local scouts and a high-powered telescope in camp, you’ll have the best set of eyes prowling the landscape for you. You’ll also stay with a Ladakhi family in a Himalayan Homestay where you get to share the local way of life, meeting villagers and sharing their food and swapping stories.

Part of the trip cost is a donation (in many cases tax deductible) which directly supports snow leopard conservation in Ladakh through the Snow Leopard Conservancy India Trust. The folks at the SLCIT are hard working and dedicated and passionate. Its due to their work with ecotourism development programs that benefit and inspire the Ladakhi people to protect snow leopards that make it possible for the cats to thrive in this part of the Himalayas today.

If you’ve always had a dream to see a snow leopard in the wild, go with this group. Each winter group for the last four years has seen a cat, so without a doubt this will be the best chance you’ll get.

Nanda Devi, second highest mountain in India in Nanda Devi Reserve, now confirmed as snow leopard habitat.

Remote snow leopard camera shots shows the cats are moving higher up the mountains than ever before. More villagers are encroaching on snow leopard habitat and putting pressure on natural prey animals like wild sheep and goats. With less food and more people moving into their home territory snow leopards have moved from lower hilly regions to high mountain ranges of Himalayas in India.

Pictures captured by Wildlife Institute of India (WII) as part of the ‘Project Snow Leopard’ show there are no snow leopards at 3000m altitude.

Automatic cameras, called camera traps, trigger the camera as the cats move nearby. The WII project has identified 13,000 square kilometres as snow leopard habitat and installed cameras about 6 months ago in Nanda Devi Biosphere Reserve Park and Valley of Flowers.

Former Chief Caretaker of wild life, Anand Singh said, “Snow leopards are not getting proper food. The predators are finding it difficult to hunt their prey. If they are found at higher mountain ranges then it is for sure that they have shifted their base.”

Photo by Muntasir Mamum of wild snow leopard near Chadar frozen river in Zanskar, Jammu and Kashmir, India.

I got this email and photo from Muntasir Mamum recently who saw a wild snow leopard in the Indian Himalayas in January. Lucky!

”We were a combined team of thirteen from Bangladesh and India up for a winter trekking to Frozen River Chadar which is located in India,  particularly Jammu & Kashmir territory.   I saw that cat from very far so it showed up tiny but it was chasing ibex. It was in January this year and I guess it was near Tsarak Do.”

Thanks for sharing this, Muntasir. We can see the cat very clearly, you must have been so excited. Any-one else would like to send me photos and/or stories of snow leopard sightings? Please do so.

Carcass of a bharal (wild goat) killed by snow leopard. Photo Kulbhushansingh Suryawanshi

A fascinating report of a snow leopard killing a wild goat high up in the Indian Himalayas by Kulbhushansingh Suryawanshi, who is a research scholar with the Nature Conservation Foundation in Mysore, India.

“An hour of hard climbing through knee-deep snow took me to the crest of the plateau at an altitude of 4,500 metres. I gasped for breath in the rarefied air of the endless Tibetan steppe grassland that extended in front of me. Resting my weight on an ice axe, I was admiring the panoramic view when a silhouette on the snow caught my eye. It was a snow leopard moving gently, almost like an elf, hardly leaving a footprint. It was about 200 metres away, perpendicular to my line of sight, and seemed unaware of my presence. I sank to my knees and reached for my binoculars.

Vulture near a bharal (wild goat) killed by snow leopard. Photo Kulbhushansingh Suryawanshi

Very few outsiders have seen it in its natural environment in the high altitudes of the Himalayas. I got this rare opportunity in Spiti Valley in the remote trans-Himalayan region of Himachal Pradesh.

Suddenly, the snow leopard stopped, crouched low, and started staring at something. From my position I could not see what it was looking at. I crawled to the top of a small hump, taking care to avoid being seen by the animal. A group of about 30 bharal (a wild goat) was grazing on a small patch of grass about 300 metres from the snow leopard.

Using the cover of small rocks and bushes, it now started moving closer to the bharal. There was an unnerving silence all around. Just when I expected the snow leopard to move closer to the bharal, the silence was broken by the loud ‘honking’ of a donkey. It came from behind me; the livestock of the village had moved closer and was now about 500 metres behind me. The snow leopard withdrew into the rocks and kept a close eye on both the livestock and the bharal.

The snow leopard retreated further into the rocks and I could not see it any more. I held my position for a long time. Before I realised it, evening was upon us. It got colder and dark. The livestock had also retreated towards the village. The stalemate had been resolved. The livestock had been ignored over the bharal, saving the herder and the snow leopard a lot of trouble.

The next morning I went back to the Rungalong plateau, the site of the pervious day’s encounter with the snow leopard.

A scanning of the landscape drew my attention to a flock of vultures. They led me to the place where the snow leopard had made its kill the previous night – a male bharal, about four years old. The vultures were tearing at whatever remained of the kill. The snow around the kill was sprayed in red, and the pugmarks told the story. There were few signs of a struggle; the marks on the throat indicated a swift kill. There was still some portion of the kill left, and I expected the leopard to return for it in the evening.”

Rungalong is adjacent to the reserved area of Kibber village in northern India. The local people, with support from the Nature Conservation Foundation, a non-governmental organisation based in Mysore, have stopped grazing their livestock to help revive the wild bharal population and turn this area into prime snow leopard habitat. Story from The Hindu.

Beautiful town of Leh in northern India, snow leopard habitat. Leh in winter is icy and cold, but plastic water bottle free all year. Photo Sibylle Noras.

It’s the 41st annual Earth Day and organisers have got an online pledge facility happening. Over 100 million people are pledging to make a change in their lives, even litle things like taking shorter showers, planting a vegetable patch and one of my favorites, giving up the purchase of water in plastic bottles.

I was so impressed when I was in Leh, Ladakh India, for my snow leopard trek recently. The town, which has about 35,000 people and thousands of local and western tourists every summer, has gone plastic bottle free. For so many years discarded bottles choked the little waterways and streams of this beautiful Himalayan town, but no more. Go people!

If you feel like helping the Earth today, visit the Pledge site to take part. Every little thing we do helps our environment, our wildlife (including snow leopards and their habitat in the mountains of Asia) and our future generations.

First snow leopard photo ever captured in Uttarakhand state in India. Photo Wildlife Institute of India.

A camera placed in the Nanda Devi Biosphere Reserve has captured an image of a snow leopard, the first photographic evidence of the elusive cat in the state of Uttarakhand in northern India.

Yogendra Joshi, a member of the Snow Leopard Network says “The legends of this cat know as ‘Him Tendua’ in Hindi has been part of stories and folklore since time immemorial. Although I heard many a stories from villagers and nomads it was the first time a conclusive evidence was reported in the state where I live.”

Nanda Devi, second highest mountain in India in Nanda Devi Reserve, now confirmed as snow leopard habitat.

A photo shows an adult snow leopard, gender not known. It is more than 10 years since eveidence of the cat was found in this state but now this is evidence that the area is snow leopard habitat.

“We suspected it was here, now we know for sure,” said Sambandam Sathyakumar, a senior scientist specialising in endangered species management at the Wildlife Institute of India, Dehra Dun.

Sathyakumar helped train the Uttarakhand forest staff to install 15 cameras along likely animal trails in the Nanda Devi reserve.

“The Uttarakhand government now plans an elaborate protection and management of habitat for the snow leopard in the high Himalayan regions of Uttarakhand to safeguard the feline. The state will try and estimate the population with cameras,” said Shrikand Chandola, chief conservator of forests in the state.

And there’s good news for any cats living in this area. A forest official said the Nanda Devi reserve will be developed as potential habitats under Project Snow Leopard.

Our snow leopard looking across the valley at us in Hemis National Park, Ladakh, India. We watched her for 8 hours. Photo Sibylle Noras

I got two inquiries this week from folks in India wanting to know the area  for best chance to see snow leopard. After my fantastic trip in February with the Snow Leopard Conservancy India Trust I have to say Hemis National Park in Ladakh in northern India is special snow leopard habitat. Of course there are no guarantees and we met many people who had trekked for weeks without seeing a cat. But the odds here are probably better than anywhere else I have heard of.  I’d love to hear from you if you know an area where chances of sightings are high.

Rinchen Wangchuck, Director of the Snow Leopard Conservancy India Trust who passed away earlier this week. Photo SLCIT.

After the news of Rinchen Wangchuk’s passing this week many people have posted their condolences here on the Blog for Rinchen’s family and friends. I just wanted to thank you all and let you know I am passing these messages to his family and to his colleagues at the Snow Leopard Conservancy India Trust in Leh, Ladakh. Rinchen obviously made a huge impression on many people, not only with his passionate snow leopard conservation work, but also his warm personality and outlook.

Readers will know from a blog post earlier this week that Rinchen received  an “Award for Outstanding Achievement in Community-based Snow Leopard Conservation” from the Snow Leopard Conservancy US. Rodney Jackson from the SLC  told me that although the award was formally presented to Rinchen just a short time before he passed away, he had known about it for a few months. It is fitting that he was able to enjoy the Award in that time.

Rinchen Wangchuck, Director of the Snow Leopard Conservancy India Trust, who passed away this week. Photo SLCIT.

I’ve just received tragic news from the Snow Leopard Conservancy India Trust that their Director, Rinchen Wangchuk has passed away. Rinchen this week received an Award for Outstanding Achievements in Community-Based Snow Leopard Conservation from the Snow Leopard Conservancy U.S.

Sadly he had been suffering from a motor neuron disease for some time. He leaves behind his wife and two young children.

I’ve been aware of Rinchen’s ground breaking work with local communities for some time but never had the chance to meet him. On my recent trek in Ladakh’s Hemis National Park I met many of his friends and colleagues who spoke about his passion for  educating the people of Ladakh to live in harmony with the snow leopards in this spectacularly beautiful part of the Himalayas. During that trek I was able to spend 8 hours watching a beautiful snow leopard and I know this was largely possible due to Rinchen’s dedication to changing the attitudes of local herders so they value the cats .

My sincere condolences go to Rinchen’s family, his friends and colleagues. I know he will never be forgotten. His vision and his work live on.