Once you get high into the Himalayas it takes a lot of skilled people to pull this trip off safely. Indrajeet our logistics man set up a great crew that got us there and back safely.
Drivers
It starts with the men who drive on the icy one-lane roads at the edge of the cliff at 12,000 feet. This video gives you a few seconds of the driving we did multiple times per day for 5 days (not to mention the 2 days of mountainous driving to get to Kibber).
Guides (par excellence)
Indrajeet
Indrajeet was the logistics guy, jack of all trades, and all around knowledge encyclopedia. He has experience in these mountains and it was nice to tap into his expertise.
Indrajeet at the end of the day making sure everything was going according to plan and there were no problems
Indrajeet and Dr. P’s porter scanning for snow leopards
Indrajeet has assisted professional film crews like the BBC when they came to find the snow leopards
Santosh
He was our main guide, and just like Indrajeet, he was a class act. His expertise was invaluable.
An impromptu video of Santosh was recorded at the restaurant hotel in Kaza just before our final location in Kibber at 12,000 feet. You can hear Yarin, our guide from Israel whose company Phototeva set up the trip, interpret Santosh’s words into Hebrew for those in the group that did not speak English.
Santosh talks about the 25-30 snow leopards in the 2,000 square kilometers of the Kibber Wildlife Sanctuary. Where we were located at the village of Kibber there were 5-6 snow leopards that frequented the area. He then proceeds to talk about how our watchers (the scouts out in the field looking for snow leopards) look for pug marks (footprints), and using their knowledge of snow leopard behavior, along with their phenomenal eyesight, spot leopards.
When get a report that a snow leopards has been spotted we get dressed in our cold weather gear (the average morning temperature was – 20 Fahrenheit (yes, that is minus 20)), gather our heavy camera equipment, and with our porters and guides speed to the spot in those mountain roads.
Santosh is an excellent wildlife photographer in addition to being a guide
After a busy day of guiding and photographing Santosh climbs up the last few steps on the steep slope overlooking the gorge.
Santosh relaxing at the end of the day
He liked Dr. P’s “May The Forest Be With You” cap so much he stole it out of Dr. P’s luggage when he wasn’t looking!
Spotters (watchers)
Without them it would have been highly unlikely for us to see a snow leopard. The spotters were soft-spoken and rugged gentleman with eagle eyes. The two spotters went out early, and with their keen eyesight and knowledge of the area and snow leopards, found them for us.
They tended to work on their own and we only saw them on occasion
They usually had their eyes glued to binoculars
Tenzin is on the left, and Sonam on the right, warming up after spending the day outside
At the end of the day the spotters would come to the main area to warm-up and plan the next day with Santosh. Here is a translated transcript of what Santosh and Tenzin are saying in the video below:
Tenzin: Yes, sir. The second leopard went away to the other side
He’s a very shy male. We can try to find him.
Santosh: This is the mating pair, whom you saw squabbling this morning?
Tenzin: Yes, they were fighting with each other this morning. They were quite noisy too. So perhaps they’ve yet to warm up to each other.
Santosh: So they haven’t mated yet.
Tenzin: Yes.
Porters
They assisted us in getting our camera gear into the vehicles each morning, then helped us carry it to our photographic location and set it up. They were quite capable and without them it would have been impossible to get some of the pictures we obtained.
Dr. P’s porter was named Chhopel
The porters working together to set up Dr. P’s camera equipment at the edge of the gorge
Ready to start photographing snow leopards from a comfortable seat
Chhopel was always friendly and ready to do whatever it took
Porters on their lunch break(that is Tenzin the spotter on the right giving a thumbs up)
Scanning for leopards with the camera ready to go
At the end of the day they all congregated to thaw out and share stories. That is Indrajeet at the front right hanging with the guys.
Our Group
Roy Galitz’s company called Phototeva, based out of Israel, set up the trip. Yarin was the main guide on this trip. He had been to this location before, and his expertise and desire to do a good job for the group were instrumental in making this trip a success.
Our group of 5 Israeli’s and one American (me) taking a break from photographing. Yarin is in sunglasses to my right
Next post Dr. P will go over accommodations