Snow Leopard Scouting @Hemis High Altitude National Park, Leh

Blog of the Snow Leopard Scouting Trip with WWF Explorers to Hemis High Altitude National Park, Leh / Ladakh, 10-19 Feb 2014.  


Snow Leopards (Panthera Uncia - an endangered species listed in IUCN Red-list http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/22732/0) are the most mysterious and hard to find large cats, colloquially known as the #GREY-GHOSTS of the Mountains, living here in one of the most rugged and harsh terrains, their #Trans-himalayan #COLD-DESERT habitat. 

With 4400 sqkm area, Hemis National Park is the largest in India; the altitude ranges between 3000m - 6000m high terrain of the trans-Himalayan cold-desert within Ladakh district of Jammu & Kashmir. According to experts, Snow Leopards are most likely/easier to be spotted, with some luck, during the peak winter in Feb at lower altitudes around 3500m, and during summer with the prey species of mountain goats and sheep going higher up for grazing, the snow leopards also go to higher reaches around 5400m and above.

A brief WWF presentation on Snow Leopard conservation, prepared by our trip team lead and Snow Leopard researcher Aishwarya Maheshwari is available for download from here. More detailed reports by him on Snow Leopard conservation in J&K (Kargil area), Himachal (Spiti area) and Uttarakhand, are available here.

According to Aishwarya, India's population estimate for Snow Leopards is between 400-700 individuals, and 60% of the population is within Jammu & Kashmir- within that, the highest population density is reported within Hemis National Park. 

Hemis National Park has a great conservation success story, and it really felt good to know about the measures taken there to minimise human-wildlife conflicts (that is a major issue almost all across India). On the last night of our camping, it was inspiring (as it would be for any wildlife enthusiast), to listen to the local wildlife guard Khundrup explain with earnestness and pride about the model system for conservation they too helped set up in Hemis; It was also about his colleagues' and community's initiatives to improve the eco system for both people and wildlife, building awareness and inspiring youngsters with a sense of responsibility and pride about sustaining and protecting their iconic species. While there are community participatory programs with high level of involvement of the local population, there are also eco-tourism initiatives with minimal impact to the ecosystem and waste management, all of which have fed back to make CONSERVATION & COEXISTANCE a ground reality that works both ways! 

For me personally, the experience of camping out during peak winter in the Himalayas for the first time. Even though once I did a 'Himalayan Winter Trek' in the foothills of the Western Himalayas from Dalhousie to Chamba valley in Himachal Pradesh (which happens to be 10years ago!, I realise now), that was nowhere near this experience in the Great Himalayas- Thanks to our organiser Karishma of WWF and our fantastic, pleasant team lead Aishwarya of WWF, who's doing very admirable work- he has been researching Snow Leopards in the Himalayas for 6 years for his PhD, after his masters at Wildlife Institute of India. He has travelled across the Himalayas and beyond for his work!. 

 The Photo gallery [ the shots from mobile phone are not included in this album Slideshow;
 They are shown separately below]

[The following images are all shot with the mobile phone only.]

During Camping @ Hemis High Altitude National Park (campsite at 3630m), Leh,
Western Himalayas

Pug marks of a Snow Leopard (a mother, with that of a sub-adult trailing alongside- see below)
on the frozen Jing Chen river (a minor tributary of River Indus which flows through Leh) with a dusting of an inch of snow from previous evening. This trail on the last day of our camping, led to our lucky 2nd sighting of 2 snow leopards together.

[The WWF guide on Identifying Pugmarks  (pdf document)]

Two Paths Crossed in the Wild:
Pug marks of a sub-adult Snow Leopard and that of  a Red Fox!

Wild Tracks : The Red Fox & The Snow Cock ? (or possibly of the Chukar Partridge)
Early morning, after I went to pee on the snowy rocks around the Campsite, I trailed the red fox footprints- As it crossed the river, the bird's footprints crossed them. 

The Red Fox seemed to be a regular at nighttime looking for tasty bites from dinner plates.

It seemed to be quite foxy to avoid human's eyes as well- As I stayed awake almost all night to watch for it, without any success (while trying to catch the Star-trails on camera with such clear night sky, though photographically that also was spoiled by the bright moonlight, it was some experience in the harsh cold winds, with frost enveloping on the lens after half an hour long exposure!.)

Kazim, one of our guides from Kargil at the Hemis campsite,
fetching water from the river after breaking though the frozen layer

Scouting for Snow Leopard @Hemis High Altitude NP (the habitat ranges from 3000m -6000m of treeless Trans-Himalayan Cold Desert).
India's largest density of Snow Leopards is found here 
(according to some estimates, around 200, in an area of 4400 sq km)
Our WWF Explorers team of 8, (including the admirable, strong-willed 57yr old Rameshji from Chennai, who made the  tough terrain look easier for his physique and age with his tougher psyche; a veteran of WWF outings and a world traveller). 
#MountainPanorama (click to enlarge)

All the campers, mostly foreigners excitedly on the lookout for the 2 Snow Leopards that were spotted early in the morning, with pug marks seen on the frozen river  close to our campsite, within 100m or so!.
“Thousands of tired, nerve-shaken, over-civilized people are beginning to find out that going to the mountains is going home; that wildness is a necessity; and that mountain parks and reservations are useful not only as fountains of timber and irrigating rivers, but as fountains of life. Awakening from the stupefying effects of the vice of over-industry and the deadly apathy of luxury, they are trying as best they can to mix and enrich their own little ongoings with those of Nature, and to get rid of rust and disease.” 
― John Muir

Man and The Mountain:
The youngest of the WWF Explorers squad, 17yr old Jonak Joey, sitting on a ridge about 3900m (towards right bottom- see photo below for zoomed shot- click to enlarge), scanning for Snow Leopards on the next mountain where a couple were spotted for about 6hrs, the previous day, when we've all had an eyeful ogling at them relaxing in the sun on a high ridge. 
I climbed a little further from where he was sitting and waiting. 
It was tough steep climb with loose ground and scree, to the site where a bunch of foreign professional photographers who went ahead were scanning for the Snow Leopard.
Among them, were Alex from Germany who had asked me on the way up to take a few shots for him on his Nikon D4, ( searching for Snow-Leopard mood shots :). He said he had spent a month in Kyrgystan looking for Snow Leopards, but without success.
14 Feb 2014.
#MountainPanorama (click to enlarge)

SOLITUDE!
Jonak, who preferred solitude, peering through his binocs, 
scanning the mountains for  the Grey Ghosts.

“Keep close to Nature's heart...and break clear away, once in awhile, and climb a mountain or spend a week in the woods. Wash your spirit clean…
Climb the mountains and get their good tidings. Nature's peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees. The winds will blow their own freshness into you, and the storms their energy, while cares will drop away from you like the leaves of Autumn”  
- John Muir

Dorje, one of our guides starts scanning the mountains with  spotting scopes
from early morning before sunrise, looking for any sighs of snow leopards.

The Campsite after a Snowy Night and battering Cold Winds @ -23degC

Fantastic Mr Fox :)
Our fantastic and friendly WWF Explorers team lead, Aishwarya Maheshwari at the Campsite.
He has been a Snow Leopard researcher with Wildlife Institute of India for  6yrs,
with the study area stretching across the Great Himalayas,
with his focus site around Kargil &Dras in Western Himalaya.
He obviously has an enviably huge wealth of information and experience of the Himalayas, its people and its ecosystem.

One of the team mates Partho Roy from Calcutta with our local guide Manla, Taking a break from Snow Leopard spotting ;) .
On the trek back to the campsite from the small Rumbak village @4000m.

When a snow-storm hit while I was out birding on the mountain slope,
spying on some Robin Accentor and Brown Accentor - new species for me, the Trans-Himalayan winter residents.
While I was focusing on a bird that was active and foraging even in the midst of the snow-storm,
and when just about to shoot one, heard Partho calling out for me - an SOS/distress call! He was coming up the slope towards this crag, that he was slipping down and will tumble and fall if not pulled up. When I leaned over the rock from where I was standing here, saw him clinging onto the slope, 'on all three' - trying to pull himself up with one hand, struggling helplessly unable to free the other hand holding a Canon 7D with 100-400mm attached that he can't put anywhere.. either him or the camera or both may have fallen a few meter down anytime if he tried to come out of the situation by himself! :)  I put my backpack down and went down for the 'mountain rescue' ;)
This was shot by Partho when I was back, lifting my backpack and back on to look for birds.

[ That late afternoon, I was hoping for an outside chance of getting a Snow Leopard while snowing (just dreaming,
 after seeing NatGeo's Steve Winter's stunning camera-trap shot of a Snow Leopard in a Snowstorm from Hemis,
 that won the prestigious BBC Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2008 award - http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7696188.stm ),
 then I settled for a more reachable goal- capturing at least the birds while snowing.. 
But in the end, ironically, all I got was this shot! ;) ]

The Indus Valley:
River Indus flows in the valley between the two Great Himalayan Ranges-
The Ladakh Range in the North and the Zanskar Range in the South (seen here in the background).

In the topo map below, can see R Indus, flowing down diagonally from Tibet (bottom right) - from SouthEast towards NorthWest- to India, passing by Hemis (towards the centre). 

Ladakh - Topo Map

Local Wildlife Map - Around Rumbak village @4000m
The denizens include Argali, Bharal, Tibetan Wolf, Wild Dog, Snow Cock, Marmots, Snow Leopard et al..
Along with 9 families of humans!

#Ladakh #Wildlife #Mammals

Just 2 days after we (WWF explorers team) left Hemis, it was both thrilling and in a way, a bit disappointing (for our luck slipping by 2 days), to read this on Nat Geo Newswatch- 

Witness the First Ever Successful Snow Leopard Kill Caught on Camera

based on shots by the South African photographer from Hemis, whom we were talking to. He was leading a group of photographers at a campsite just next to ours; They got lucky to witness the kill, and capture it fabulously too!.

+
Documentary from Hemis National Park: 
SILENT ROAR: SEARCHING FOR THE SNOW LEOPARD

History of India's Geography- Land of The 7 Rivers

Interesting insights about India and a fascinating new way of looking at History - Through geography and its changing landscapes!

 One such nugget of information, relevant while India celebrates another Independence Day : About, when the inception of the idea of India, rather "an awareness of the whole subcontinent as a geographical and civilizational unit" begins to take shape- this part here reveals that it is after around 1300BC, in the era of the epics Mahabharata & Ramayana -- i.e., after the destruction or dispersal of the very urban Indus civilization..

(On a related note, latest research report from May 2012 reveals that #ClimateChange  Led to Collapse of Ancient Indus Civilization  http://www.whoi.edu/page.do?pid=117456&tid=3622&cid=138489 )

And here is Economist Sanjeev Sanyal's fascinating, insightful, brief, fast-paced overview of how India's history is tangled in its geography..
His talk @LSE in Jan 2013, based on this book - Audio podcast of the 30min talk +Q&A :

Sanjeev Sanyal is Deutsche Bank’s Global Strategist and was named “Young Global Leader 2010” by the World Economic Forum.

Book Review: http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-features/tp-sundaymagazine/spotlight-on-geography/article4205326.ece

This is my shot from July 2013: 'Moods of Cauvery - The Monsoon Fury'.
Ravaging River that created a ravine here.. 
Near a confluence of River Cauvery, Karnataka, India.
Cauvery's Water-sharing between the neighbouring states of Tamil Nadu & Karnataka has been such a hugely controversial and largely unresolved issue to this day, leading to riots, violent protests and animosity between certain groups of people and politicians of the two states..
Then of course, there are opportunists-politicians who whip it up, to fish for power in troubled waters!
~~~ 
"You cannot buy a river,
Whom do you know that owns one?"
-African Traditional Song.

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The thread on the Collapse of Indus Valley Civilization takes us to NatGeo explorer and scientist/anthropologist/geographer Jared Diamond's theories on 'Why Societies Collapse?' 

How would it be to look back, from 200yrs into the future, of our civilizations' COLLAPSE?!
Many successful civilizations have become relics.. and Our Modern Industrialised Civilisation might as well!..
Jared Diamond, thinks so.

NatGeo documentary- 2210: The Collapse

+@TED : Jared Diamond: Why societies collapse? - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IESYMFtLIis

He lists out the reasons:

#1 Human Environmental Impact

#2 Climate Change

#3 Relations with other friendly societies, hostile societies

#4 Political, Economic, Social, Cultural factors

Going by these, I feel, India's position is very precarious with respect to the first 2 factors. And for the next 2factors: Having straining relationship with increasing demands of the most populous neighbour China, water wars are looming, India's Economy booming (mining, pollution etc), along with the changing socio-cultural landscape (increasing water needs, unsustainable agriculture, effluents dumped on available water sources, rivers, over-exploited acquifers..) putting more and more pressure on the environment to doomingly unsustainable extent..
If our present industrialised civilisation continues like this, I seriously doubt whether we will still remain extant, and manage not to go extinct or Collapse by 2200! :) 

ARYANS (They are NOT A "RACE") &The origins of Vedic Hindu Culture - From 'History of India' by Romila Thapar

From 'The History of Early India' -(From the Origins to AD1300) by minent Indian historian Romila Thapar.

(She is Emeritus Prof in History @JNU,NewDelhi.. A scholar Who is well respected in the West and in India.

 with honourary doctorates from Oxford,Chicago, Paris etc.. and was visiting prof @Cornell..)

She very skillfully weaves together pieces from historical/textual/linguistic/archeological

 "evidences" and articulates her analysis and interpretations- which are vibrantly explained with contexts!!,

and argues in a very reasonable way, and very readable for the non-academic..

She also makes it clear wherever applicable, what CANNOT be ascertained because of lack of any evidence.

The introduction to the book itself is Brilliant in general, giving a good perspective on history and interpretation: A para from it-

[The starting point in the history of a society, has to be familiar with its
historiography-- the history of historical interpretations itself.
 This provides the recognition of the intellectual context of history, instead of preference for just a narration of events. It is NOT "just a narration of events", but by familiarising the reader with the
context wherever applicable, "encourages a more sensitive understanding of the past".
The awareness of historiography has contributed substantially to the change in understanding Indian history over the last half-century.

]

 

In the introductions, it elaborates on the "inaccurate" usage of the term "The Aryans" to refer to "a race".. 

(If you'd like to read the relevant pages from the book, Please click on the images to enlarge )

From the intro: "To refer to 'the Aryans' as a race is therefore inaccurate. The racial identities of speakers of Indo-Aryan languages are not known"

"Indo-Aryans spread gradually over Northern India, incorporating some elements of Austro-Asiatic & Dravidian.Indo-Aryan is in fact a language lablel indicating a speech-group of Indo-European family, and is NOT a racial term. To refer to 'The Aryans' as a race is therefore inaccurate. The racial identities of the speakers of the Indo-Aryan languages are NOT KNOWN."

..

In the chapter detailing history from around 1200~600 BC, it talks about the migration of the people from areas around Iran to settle in Northern India.

.

.

The rise of the Indo-Aryan language group, after the decline of the Indus Civilization by the mid of the 2nd millennium BC..

Migration into Northern India from around Iran/Persia. This makes me think of one interesting aspect: That.. the first wave of "migrations" from west Asia in roughly around 1500 BC brought Indo-Aryan language/old form of Sanskrit to India.. which, mixed with indigenous influences gave rise to Hindu Culture..The second wave of "invasions"from west Asia around 1500AD by the Mughals spread the Muslim Culture widely..

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THE CONTEXT OF THE RIG VEDA
(If you'd like to read the relevant pages from the book, Please click on the images to enlarge )
From the section, "The Context of the Rig-Veda" [Chapter: TOWARDS CHIEFDOMS & KINGDOMS, from The History of Early India, by Romila Thapar ]

The connection between Iran and north India on the other hand are close. The language of the Avesta [The text of Zoroastrianism] and Indo-Aryan language were cognates, descended from the same ancestral language. The date of the Avesta has been controversial, but a mid-2nd millennium BC is now accepted. The linguistic relationship between the 2 includes not just words, but also concepts. The interchangeability between 'h' and 's' is one of the differences, but there is a consistency in this change such as haoma, daha, hepta hindu, ahura in Avestan, and soma, dasa, sapta sindhu, asura in Rig-Vedic Sanskrit. In terms of religious concepts the attributes of gods are often reversed. Thus Indra is demonic in the Avesta, as are daevas (devas or gods in Sanskrit) and Ahura/asura emerges as the highest diety. 

This has led to the theory that originally the Old Iranian and Indo-Aryan speakers were a single group but dissensions led to their splitting up. It was then that the Indo-Aryan speakers living in the Indo-Iranian border lands and the Haraxvati (Sarasvati) area of Afghanistan gradually migrated to the Indus plain, bringing with them their language, rituals and social customs, to settle as agro-pasteralists in the sapta-sindhu area, as described in the Rig-Veda, later merging with the local population.

This reconstruction tallies upto a point with the archaeological evidence. If the presence of Indo-Aryan speakers is indicated by the presence of horse-- which was central to both action and ritual in the Rig-Veda-- then it dates to the early 2nd millennium BC in the subcontinent, the horse being virtually absent in the Mature Harappan period (2500-1700BC). The lack of bones and representations (of horse, at Indus Civilisation sites) points to its being an unfamiliar animal.

(The horse and chariot, introduced from central Asia, became common in west Asia in the 2nd millennium BC, suggesting a correlation between the arrival of the horses and of the Indo-Aryan speaking people into India from west Asia. )

Recently, (GOING AGAINST EVIDENCES, and overlooking the data from from linguistics and NOT showing an analytical understanding of the archaeological evidences,) some have argued that the date of the Rig-Veda should be taken back to Harappan or even pre-Harappan  times, and that its authors be equated with the creators of the Indus Civilization-- This theory would then support that the authors of Rig-Veda were indigenous to northern India, and also the Indo-Aryan language.

But artefacts and monuments of the Harappa culture are NOT described in the Rig-Veda; Concepts implicit in organizing the Harappan/Indus Civilization system of urban settlements have NO counterparts in the Rig-Veda. Many scholars have described what they regard as the essential characteristics of Harappan urbanism, which they have found to be ABSENT in the Rig-Veda : Cities with grid-pattern in town plan, extensive mud-brick platforms as base for large structures, monumental buildings,complex fortifications, elaborate drainage system, use of mud-bricks and fire-bricks in buildings, granaries and warehouses, a tank for rituals, and remains associated with extensive craft activity related to manufacturing of copper ingots, etched carnelian beads, the cutting of steatite seals, terracotta female figurines thought to be godesses, and suchlike.

Also, in the Rig-Veda, there is NO CONCEPTUAL FAMILIARITY with the use of these objects and structures. The Rig-Veda lacks a sense of civic life founded on the functioning of planned and fortified cities of Indus Civilization. It does not refer to the non kin labour, or even slave labour, or to such labour being organized for building urban structures. THere are NO references to different facets or items of an exchange system, such as centres of craft production, complex and graded weights and measures, forms of packaging and transportation, or priorities associated with categories of exchange. Rituals are NOT performed at permanent ritual locations such a s water tanks or buildings. TERRA COTTA FIGURINES ARE ALIEN AND THE FERTILITY  CULT MEETS WITH STRONG DISAPPROVAL. FIRE ALTARS described in the Rig-Veda are of a shape and size NOT identifiable at Harappan sites as altars. There is no familiarity from mythology with the notion of an animal such as the unicorn, nor even its supposed approximation in the rhinoceros, the most frequently depicted animal on the Harappan seals. Tha animal central to the Rig-Veda, the horse, is absent on Harappan seals. There is NO mention of seals or a script in the Rig-Veda; SCULPTURED REPRESENTATION OF THE HUMAN BODY SEEM UNKNOWN.

The geography of the Rig-Veda is limited to the northerly Indus Plain-- the sapta-sindhu area -- and is unfamiliar with the main Indus Civilization areas of lower Sind, Kutch and Gujarat, and with the ports nad hinterlands along the Persian Gulf that were significatnt to Harappan maritime trade."

#India, #IndianHistory, #EarlyIndia, #Hinduism, #Vedas, #RigVeda, #RomilaThapar, #AncientPersia, #Zoroastrianism, #Zarathustra