First snow leopard year post COVID
It was a 2 year break for my snow leopard expedition as COVID had put breaks on this most anticipated Himalayan odyssey. So what changed in Spiti this year? Nothing substantial as time normally stands still in this stunning landscape. The only development which was Spiti was finally had telecom connectivity so spending those weeks after weeks in the tough sub-zero conditions wasn’t pinching this time. Not that it did earlier but at times one does become home-sick when you spend prolonged months in such remote areas. This year was different as Spiti had recreation opportunities and time-off moments in the form of Netflix documentaries and watching live cricket matches.
When I documented and witnessed snow leopard courtship in 2019 for the first time, I thought I was blessed by the Himalayas and it was an honour to be dwarfed in that grand landscape and gazing at the rare behaviour of this enigmatic species. Little did I know that the same luck would shine again in 2020 in a completely different location as snow leopard romance was in the air yet again. This year my expectations were moderate but Valentine’s Day was celebrated early in Spiti as for the third time (and this time around the distance was much closer) in my previous visits the same natural history phenomenon was documented again. The courting pair was seen throughout most of the expedition and that became the highlight of the visit.
Some images that made the post-COVID snow leopard expedition too special…
Snow Leopards to Savannah
I have been living in a suitcase for the past few months and have no time to share updates from the field. We at Nature Wanderers, wrapped up our snow leopard expedition series in Spiti with some fabulous sightings of the mysterious Himalayan cat including wonderful natural history moments like mating snow leopards.
We also wrapped up a Masai Mara photo safari in February which we followed up with a training session I conducted around remote photography of African wildlife. Some amazing perspectives were created in the process. Here our some photo updates from the month of February 2019
Image by my guest – Shishir Kumar Jain
Image Courtesy – Nature Wanderers Photo Guide, Saurabh Desai
Image Courtesy – Nature Wanderers Photo Guide, Saurabh Desai
From Snow Leopards to Tigers
I have been on the road since the first week of March. From a fortnight in high altitude terrains of Himalayas in search of Snow Leopards to shuttling between Corbett & Ranthambore guiding guests from South Africa, United States & United Kingdom. Here is a quick round up for March 2018.
The Snow Leopard Expedition was a memorable experience with 6 sightings of 8 individual cats. The tender mother and cub moments enthralled our guests and the bold male gave some excellent photographic opportunities.
Paro’s young cub in Corbett has been looking in great shape and being the lone cub he is growing up fast. His antics around the river and river beds of Dhikala would be etched in sighting records of Corbett for years to come. Ranthambore on the other hand has been going steady and the major turn of events has been the sudden surge in sightings of Krishna (T19) and cubs post March 2018. Machali Junior or Arrowhead littered in the last week of February but the cubs have not been seen post the first report and the survival of the young cubs is questionable. The other consistent sightings have been Laila (T41) and her Blue Eye male cub. Noor (T39) and her female litter of 3 cubs are now showing signs of separation. Ladli (T8) and the cubs have been regularly seen along with the separated male cubs of T60.
Stay tuned to this space for some more exciting summer reports from Wild India in the coming months.
Shivang Mehta Photography 