Imagine yourself in a landscape so vast that you feel like a
tiny, trivial mass crawling through an unending mosaic of rock, moraine and
snow. A place where the mountains kiss the clouds, the sky is truly blue and
when the darkness of the night shrouds the mountains, the dazzling stars appear
to descend on the earth.
The crisp mountain air and the stunning panoramas can take
your breath away; quite literally as low oxygen levels at 4000 meters and above
leaves one gasping for air. But the silver lining is that one can see for
miles, the view being obstructed only by the mountains themselves and none
else. The vista’s that the trans-Himalayan cold desert offers are bewitching.
Nature lovers who care to venture beyond the typical hill stations are bound to
be rewarded with the delightful visual bounty.
Trans-Himalyan Landscape |
When the prospect of being in such a landscape arose for me,
I was overjoyed. But the opportunity for me had an added allure, the allure to
study one of the most mysterious creatures of the high mountains. Cats had long
been my passion and here was an opportunity to study the enigmatic snow
leopards, the most beautiful of big cats. The spring was approaching and it was
an opportune time to explore the landscape. As I quickly scrambled my most
basic of gear, I noticed the old 10 × 42 binoculars lying in one corner.
They would be the most useful companions; I pondered and quickly placed them
inside a roll of cotton shirts.
When I reached Shimla, a group of people from Kibber village
had already arrived to do some shopping for the newly rented house that would
serve as office cum base camp. Amongst the group of people was Sushil Dorje a
man of immense knowledge and passion for mountains. He would also be my guide
and teacher in the mountains for the time to come. After spending a night in
Shimla and another night in Rampur, we embarked upon our long jouney to Kaza, a
small tourist town that also serves as the district headquarter for Spiti.
Sherpa an old hand was on the steering and I could not help but admire his
skills as he deftly maneuvered the Tata Sumo over the un-metaled serpentine
roads, carved on the flanks of fragile mountain slopes. Even a cursory glance
down the gorge was unnerving. After three punctures, a broken suspension and a
forced halt at Chango (now famous for its apples) we finally reached our destination
at Kaza. Thanks to the barley brew offered generously by a host in the evening,
the nerves were soothed and anxieties drifted away, only if momentarily, like
clouds carried swiftly by a tempestuous wind. Next day, we reached Kibber
village our base camp at 4200 meters and 20 kilometers away from Kaza. After
acclimatizing for a few days, I started exploring the landscape around me,
accompanied by Sushil and young Chuppel who was my prospective field assistant.
A plateau with gentle terrain of flat meadows and rolling hills. |
The postcard perfect pictures of the landscape create an
impression of a gentle rolling terrain; a fine place may be even for a morning
jog. But nothing can be further from reality than this. On our first long hike,
while Sushil walked non-chalantly, stopping near a rocky outcrop or a cairn to
rest and to smoke, I would be invariably trailing behind by a few hundred
meters. As we climbed higher, the BSNL network gingerly showed up on my mobile
as if apologizing for its inexplicable absence in the heart of village. I
called up a few friends and resumed the uphill trek. After a few minutes, we
were negotiating a difficult crag. As I moved inch by inch, drops of sweat had
formed on my brow, even though it was cold and windy. I resolved to enroll for
a mountaineering course and informed Sushil about my intentions. It’s a good
idea; he remarked and kept walking. Day after day the magnitude of obstacles
would go on increasing as would the length of tracks. Usually quiet on the
treks, Sushil would become chirpy the moment a wildlife sign especially that of
a snow leopard was discovered. We walked on the very paths that snow leopards
walked on. Discerning their pugmarks, scrapes and scent marks on overhanging
cliffs, Sushil would estimate their approximate age and the likely direction the
snow leopard might have taken while I tried to relate all this to its big brethren,
the tiger. We were making good progress, but there was a long way to go.
Placing camera traps in a large area necessitated that we
pack our bags and camp out in the mountains for prolonged intervals. Villages
close to our area of operations always assisted generously with manpower,
accommodation and information on wildlife. Their knowledge of the mountains and
the boundless hospitality is remarkable. While camping out in the mountains,
Kesang, one of my field assistants would invariably find a flat piece of stone
that would serve as a pan to cook thick, but delicious chapattis.
Huddled around the fire with temperatures rapidly dropping to subzero and a fading evening light throwing long shadows of the mountain peaks, we would quickly plan for the next day and then invariable hit the sleeping bags.
Huddled around the fire with temperatures rapidly dropping to subzero and a fading evening light throwing long shadows of the mountain peaks, we would quickly plan for the next day and then invariable hit the sleeping bags.
Two months had passed by, my skin had tanned, the belt had to be tied an extra inch and we had placed twenty camera traps in locations we suspected snow leopards would pass by. There were just a few more cameras to be deployed. “We made good progress, but not too many sightings of wildlife”, I remarked a bit sadly.
A herd of blue sheep in a meadow |
The rendezvous began with the first monitoring of cameras
and continued till winters when snowfall coupled with the risk of avalanches
began hindering our access to some of the study sites. Camera traps provided us
remarkable documentation of some of the rare creatures and equally rare events
in nature.
The first was a sequence of photographs of a female snow
leopard and her two grown up cubs chasing a blue sheep. The first cub was
followed by the mother who in turn was followed by another cub. Perhaps she was
teaching the cubs one skill they would need the most once they were independent;
the skill of being a successful hunter.
Biologists often rely heavily on scats to estimate snow
leopard diet and their numbers using the molecular genetic techniques. But
scats that were thought to be that of a snow leopard would often turn out to be
that of a canid. This was puzzling and the puzzle was resolved when one of the
cameras recorded a red fox relieving herself on the very spot where a snow
leopard had deposited its scat a few days ago. Seems like the fox wanted to
challenge the mighty snow leopards and mock the researchers who claimed to
understand their biology!
The funniest creatures however were the sturdy yaks with
their thick shaggy coats. Often they would spend hours in front of a camera
trap munching and nibbling on some invisible blades of grass around camera
traps. I would curse the yaks for draining the precious batteries and filling
the valuable space of the memory cards with their constant munching.
To add to my woes, one of them would often decide to spend the night in front of the camera. With cameras programmed to take pictures without cease and every second, I would have to wade through thousands of pictures of yaks. I could not afford not to look at each of them for the fear that one of them might have recorded a snow leopard as well. With their use in ploughing, transporting goods and as a source of meat, yaks are valued by the local people. The cursing didn’t go well with yaks and they extracted revenge by dislodging one of my cameras and bringing down the stone cairn that hosted it. Thankfully the camera on the other side was left untouched and that’s how we knew the culprits.
To add to my woes, one of them would often decide to spend the night in front of the camera. With cameras programmed to take pictures without cease and every second, I would have to wade through thousands of pictures of yaks. I could not afford not to look at each of them for the fear that one of them might have recorded a snow leopard as well. With their use in ploughing, transporting goods and as a source of meat, yaks are valued by the local people. The cursing didn’t go well with yaks and they extracted revenge by dislodging one of my cameras and bringing down the stone cairn that hosted it. Thankfully the camera on the other side was left untouched and that’s how we knew the culprits.
The cameras also secretly photographed a marten out on
perhaps a dinner date on a romantic moonlit night while we lead a frugal
existence huddled in the tents.
The majestic Ibex seemed to refuse to fear snow leopards and were often recorded treading the same path as that of a snow leopard.
Blue sheep seemed wiser spending most of their time in the lush green meadows, though never far from a cliff in case the need for a quick escape would arise.
The majestic Ibex seemed to refuse to fear snow leopards and were often recorded treading the same path as that of a snow leopard.
Blue sheep seemed wiser spending most of their time in the lush green meadows, though never far from a cliff in case the need for a quick escape would arise.
A golden eagle once landed in front of a camera, recording a
splendid self-portrait, while another camera trap recorded a young wolf rolling
in the snow.
Wolves are very rare in this landscape and finding one in one of our camera traps was a sure surprise.
Wolves are very rare in this landscape and finding one in one of our camera traps was a sure surprise.
Village dogs have become a conservation problem in this
landscape as dogs not only kill the livestock of local people resulting in
economic losses, but also kill blue sheep, the primary prey of snow leopard.
Till recently, it was difficult to determine how far from the village, these
dogs were ranging.
Camera traps have now revealed that the dogs range far and wide in this landscape which is a cause for concern. One day while I was having a conversation with one of my local friend in a village, I discovered another advantage to conservation from camera traps. My friend told me that the camera traps have deterred a few mischievous people from capturing blue sheep. The fear of being captured in hidden camera traps had kept them at bay.
Camera traps have now revealed that the dogs range far and wide in this landscape which is a cause for concern. One day while I was having a conversation with one of my local friend in a village, I discovered another advantage to conservation from camera traps. My friend told me that the camera traps have deterred a few mischievous people from capturing blue sheep. The fear of being captured in hidden camera traps had kept them at bay.
The camera trap eyes were neutral observers, recording whatever
came their way without favour or prejudice. Children and elders would be
equally curious when they encountered a camera trap and gradually they are
learning more about this work through the conservation outreach and education
programs of the Nature Conservation Foundation.
The cameras however recorded a beautiful portrait of one man
along with his two gorgeous horses. That was the man who had monitored a few of
them through the summers and the winters ensuring that they worked flawlessly. He
was the camera trap guardian.
Note: An edited version of this article was published in GEO. May
2013. Pages: 26-29