Snow Leopard Sighting

Dharti_Putra

Friends

Have any of u all sighted a snow leopard live in front of you?

I'v heard there are a lot of them in Ladakh & Spiti. Please guide me which are the best places in these areas to see snow leopards and what will be the best time of the year to see them. I know they're very shy and elusive but lets give luck a chance.

I and my friend are planning to visit Ladakh Spiti in July-August.

paratmoshe

No, only in the San Diego Zoo. ;(
But there is a wonderful book by Peter Mathiessen, "the snow leopard",
which describes a treck in Nepal by a field biologist , and the search of this rare animal, a wonderful book which you might enjoy
as you are interested in this.

paratmoshe

There is an organization which is helping to protect this endangered species, they have a website with a lot of information on these wonderful animals and also where they have been sighted etc.
www.snowleopard.org

Dharti_Putra

Thanks friend

But I think in India snow leopards are found from Kashmir to Sikkim.., is there no chance what so ever to see them. I mean any organization or tour operators organize a safari for tourists? I just now googled in the internet that Hemis National Park in Ladakh and Pin Valley National Park in Spiti have a sizeable population of snow leopards. The locals often encounter these big cats....,

paratmoshe

There is an organization which helps to protect these wonderful animals: www.snowleopard.org
They also have information on where these animals have been sighted. I think in India there are only about three hundred left.

Dharti_Putra

Just to correct you friend.

India harbours 10% of total snow leopard population. There are 200-700 individuals left found in all Himalayan states except Arunachal Pradesh. Although unconfirmed reports of local seeing snow leopard have come from arunachal pradesh. But theory is that the local might be have confused a clouded leopard for a snow leopard..

As far as population data is concerned.. I visited the website of Snow Leopard Foundation.

livinhimalayas

I believe the sightings of Snow Leopard are very rare, just watched a program on Animal Planet where a team spent almost a month trying to find and film one and got lucky only on the last day, the film they took was at best poor in quality as it was filmed from a great distance and in failing light. This was in Ladhakh some where.

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Dimitrz

True

leopards by nature are very elusive creatures.

You will never come to know even if a Leopard is just meters away from you unless you are very lucky or the leopard wants to.

these odds are multiplied by 100 when it comes to snow leopard.

livinhimalayas : I saw the program you are referring to I guess it came in discovery but yes for sighting snow leopard either one has to be very lucky or should have great deal of patience and money ( to afford a long stay in Ladhak )

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Ms Princess W

My brother-in-law sighted his first snow leopard about a month ago while fly-fishing in Pahalgam. Scared him half to death...and a couple of weeks ago, my husband and 15 year old son went trout fishing and found prints of what had to be a large cat in the same area of Pahalgam.

Cayle

Just to put things in perspective. The typical snow leopard population in India is one cat per 100 km^2. This is for a 50 kilo, shy, well camouflaged and chiefly nocturnal cat. The best you can hope for is to search for pugmarks and scrapes.

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machadinha

They're not renowned to be easy to spot no.

Darjeeling has a well-known snow leopard breeding center, where visitors are allowed (provided they keep silent). This may or may not be connected to the local zoo; I've been looking for a website for either, but cannot find one (both get mentioned a lot on other sites alright). Maybe you can.

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Dimitrz

I spent 3 years studying in KV IIT Powai. Borivili NP extended right upto our campus and Borivili NP is know for its Leopard populations- yet in the 3 to 4 yrs I bunked classes and roamed around the park never saw one Leopard

yamla

I looked for the elusive cat without luck last year in Ladakh. My guide camped for 28 days in Hemis National Park and had 3 distant sightings. Best time to look for them is the winters when they descend down from higher altitudes to look for food.

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Dharti_Putra

I think I should give luck a chance. I'll be visiting in october.., dont know whether it is ideal time to spot a snow leopard or an ideal time to even visit that place....,

machadinha

... Just to revive an older thread, looking around for some other stuff I find Lonely Planet '07 mentions the Govind Wildlife Sanctuary & National Park, apparently containing the Har Ki Dun valley, in Uttarakhand, and says there that "You might be lucky enough to glimpse the elusive snow leopard above 3500m." One can always try one's luck I suppose...

They mention one has to go to Sankri (also known as Saur), a nine-hour ride from Mussoorie, for access to here.