Ghosts of the Mountains: My Snow Leopard Trek

The call came unexpectedly but decision was taken instantly followed by applying for leave from office, booking tickets, etc. You never lose upon a lifetime opportunity to encounter the ghost of the mountain even if that means a near intolerable altitude and temperature freezing your senses, do you? The train started on time from Sealdah. We kept on building up the adrenaline, feeding on different stories of wild travels from the past. Bed tea in our trains always comes from the tea sellers who board the compartments even before the service from pantry could start. This also works as either very disturbing morning alarm or an equally welcome announcement for the next halt in absence of an official declaration system in trains. We were already in Uttar Pradesh and woke up to see that the Bengali scripts were replaced overnight by Hindi all along. You actually may see sign-boards of at least five languages (Assamese, Bengali, Odissi, Telegu & Tamil) when you start from Guwahati in the North-East by train for Chennai to the South.  This time our destination was New Delhi, the capitol in the North.

We were occasionally greeted by families of Sarus Crane, a very common sight at the cultivation lands in the northern part of the country. The grey bird with red head is as tall as we stand and quite fearless to the farmers working nearby. The birds enjoy widespread protection due to the belief about a pair’s lifetime devotion to each other. A few shy horse-like figures hide behind the bushes as our speeding train crossed. These are Nilgai or Blue Bull, the largest of the Antelopes found in India (from the Blackbuck family of recent Bollywood attention). The antelopes are structurally same as deer, but unlike deer which periodically shed and regrow their horn, antelopes has a permanent one. The male Nilgai is dark grey and female is mud colored. Despite damaging crops, they are not harmed as they are believed to be related to the sacred cow. Oriental White Ibis, the black & white bird with curved long bill were also seen. We saw a number of water-bodies flocked by numerous ducks before the train entered Aligarh. One of them even had a River Tern, skimming the water surface for fish which made us initially think it to be an Indian Skimmer. Indian Skimmer has an orange bill and a dark upper part unlike River Tern which has a yellow bill with more whitish body. The pond also had a Eurasian Spoonbill which raked up the muddy corners for frogs and the more common, Indian Pond-heron & Cattle Egret, looking at the water like a magician as if to hypnotize the fish in it. The train route always covers the most remote and unseen areas of my country. We reached Delhi for an overnight stay and next day morning took flight for the Kushok Baluka Rimpoche Airport of Leh.

As per various references, Leh was known in the past by different names such as Maryul or low land, Kha- chumpa etc. Fa-Hein referred to it as Kia-Chha and Hiuen Tsang as Ma-Lo-Pho. It is said that the first Immigrants to this land appears to have been the Tibetan nomads called Chang-pa who followed ancient Bon religion before Buddhism was introduced during reign of Ashoka. The whole of Leh district is mountainous with three parallel ranges of the Himalayas, the Zanskar, the Ladakh and the Karakoram. The beautiful, Stok Kangri is the highest peak at 6123m. Three rivers, Shayok, Indus and Zanskar flow through Leh. The flora and fauna of Ladakh was first studied by Ferdinand Stoliczka, an Austrian/Czech palaeontologist, who carried out a massive expedition in the region in the 1870s.  For such an arid area, a total of 225 bird species have been recorded. About 11 Snow leopards (Shan in Ladakhi: 9 adult & 2 cubs) are believed to be in Hemis National Park of Leh at the time of our visit.

Photo credit: Prasun Kumar Majumdar

With the high terrains, Leh offer fantastic trekking opportunities along with nature/ wildlife sighting/ photography. Local sightseeing can include Indus-Zanskar confluence at Nimmu, Shanti Stupa, Leh Palace, Hall of Fame or the famous War Museum, Chamba Temple, Jama Masjid, Gurdwara Pathar Sahib, Stok Palace, Zorawar Fort, Magnetic hill, Pangong Lake, Tsomoriri Lake, Nubra Valley, Siachen Glacier etc. and the trekking trails. Rafting & cycling options are also there. We went for the five day, Leh (3524m)- Spituk (3210m)-Zingchen (3385m)-Husing Nallah -Rumbak (3812m)-Yurutse (4077m) route covering parts of Hemis NP with occasional temperature as low as -30°C. This real story is about our lifetime experience seeing the Shan and other wild encounters of lifetime.

The flight was full and seemed like a miniature India with people from all states preparing to fly together for all purpose. The Sun light reflected from the white, snowy mountains of Himalayan Range while we tried to keep our eyes open from the remaining sleep of last night at Delhi. Like an expert bird the aeroplane flew between barren mountains with white patches and landed at Leh airport. We followed the other regular passengers who took out their winter gears and polarized sun glasses before deplaning. A fresh, chilling air greeted us along with the smiling face of our driver, Lotus Namgyal. He rushed us to the hotel where we will spend the day acclimatizing to the height and cold, real bone tattering cold.  We spend the afternoon buying various items that we missed in Kolkata. Our tour guide, Tsultrim Changsem visited us in the evening for a detailed session about the tour starting next day. The night was chilling but we braved that to climb the roof top for the clear star-filled sky and the moon-lit snowy peak, Stok Kangri. We fell in love with it just like all others, visiting Leh do. We will have no connection with the rest of the world for the days to come and we started enjoying every bit of it.

Photo credit: Prasun Kumar Majumdar

Day 1: Leh - Spituk - Zingchen – Husing Nallah

After breakfast we drove from Leh towards Zingchen through the picturesque Spituk Valley crossing the river, Indus. The region is a birding paradise and we had our first encounter with the Chukar family, a buff colored partridge with a black band over the face like a half-worn necklace.  We arrived at Zingchen and a team of porters and cook joined us. We started our trek through a gorge over the chader of hard icy layer of the river surface towards Husing Nallah. The sound of the tinkling river under the ice makes you wonder as if a fairy from the tales had touched the surface by her magic wand last night stopping the flow so that you can fall into her arms walking over the river.

Photo credit: Prasun Kumar Majumdar

We were walking cautiously over the ice when small rocks started falling from above with dust in the air. Some activity was definitely happening far on the rocky-mountains making us all eagerly glancing at the site. Then appeared a heard of Bharals or Blue Sheep what we had missed to locate because of their slaty grey color blending perfectly with the surroundings. There were many along the snow line where small bushes are source of food to them. The males have black patches in the front of legs which the females don’t have. The horns are curved backwards towards neck. The Bharals are tough climbers and Snow Leopards prey upon them. So, the Snow Leopard trails are mostly along the tracks of Bharals. Our excitement enhanced and with each sound the adrenaline rush kept us going despite the chill and breathlessness. By afternoon we reached Husing Nullah where we will camp for two days and the place was already a fare for hundreds of wild lifers from BBC, Nat Geo, Freelancers, Adventurers, Explorers, porters, cooks, support staffs and travelers like us with their numerous tents and gears. One thing was common and connected each one of us, the expectation of sighting a Snow Leopard and the cold, cutting our greetings to node.

Photo credit: Prasun Kumar Majumdar

Day 2: Husing Nallah

The place is surrounded by hills and the only road that brought us here from Zingchen follows the path of the little river covered by ice. You will still hear the continuous flow of water beneath the hard icy layer. A few shrubs and trees will greet you with cold wind that plays around from every direction despite the hills. One permanent and a couple of temporary toilets are erected near the foothill. They are horribly smelly as decay is slow in the harsh weather. Tents of different color are easily identified by the local porters and stories of previous sighting started flowing once they meet, greet & complain about strangeness of their employers. The previous night was spent in the sleeping bags with full winter-wears on and still shivering. The water intake was more than usual at this environ. The punishment was the nature call at night. The hushing sound of pleasure from the trees mating the chilling wind overlapped the one from continuous flow of the river. The sky was dark blue from the reflection of light from the full Moon and the stars on the snowy barren hills. Everything seemed to have planned to hide their most precious secret. The one that is seeing you now, you can feel it’s breath touching you, still warm, so near and yet the only movement you see is that of the Tibetan flags of different colors put on a string in rows to wave-of the bad spirits.

We woke up from sleep as our tent was trembling from the running footsteps. A few seconds were wasted to leave the temptation of the warm sleeping bags. Everyone was running around on war footing despite the cold and our query fell into deaf ears.  They carried their missile-launcher like lenses, tripods, monopods, scopes, video cameras and we followed suit. In wilderness the natural instinct kicks in automatically. We didn’t knew or see and still we anticipated something exciting happening at the top of the mountain a few kilometers away where every gear pointed with the owner’s eyes behind.  Our lenses didn’t have the range, neither had we a scope with us and still with a very high heart beat we shared the joy that reflected in every face. The Ghost of the Mountain chose to make an appearance in her throne at the top of her realm. And then a foreigner called us to join him in seeing through his scope what was happening in the heaven. A mother Snow Leopard pampered her quite grown up cub at the top on the mountain very much camouflaged with the surrounding rocks.  Hours passed like seconds before they disappeared behind the rocks, leaving us with memories of lifetime to share and cheer till we live. We could take a few snaps through our limited gears where it appears like an ant but what was captured in heart was bigger than any award winning photographs. We were blessed to see the Snow Leopard on our second day. We were blessed to meet so many wild life lovers who shared with us their privileges. Nature removes all boundaries created by human.

Whole day was spent by us volunteering in turns behind the scopes as spotters. We saw Bharals on another slope of the mountain, a Tibetan Fox on the opposite mountain running after something beyond our visual reach. Tibetan Fox are common in this part of the world. It is a bit reddish with thick far and smaller than the Indian Fox of the plains. Over lunch we heard stories of sighting of a Pallas’s Cat by a porter from the group that prepared to move out and approach closer to the sighting area next day. During our afternoon walk we also heard about the existence of Asiatic Ibex, Ladakh Urial, Argali in the trek route that we planned to cover in coming days. We tried to imagine the mountain goats/ sheeps from the description of horns that a kind forest guide from other group drew by his walking stick.

The river under the frozen surface continued to call us out and we obliged despite the stormy wind that had already taken everything under its shawl of cold. We were relaxed as were the others who had waited for months just for a glimpse of the grey beauty. The day was rewarding in contrast to the unpredictability that we had consoled ourselves to experience before the tour. We walked towards the small bridge and some activity under the carpet of the red and golden leaves fallen on the bank of the frozen river caught our attention. Something very small was moving fast and stopping suddenly like a statue that eluded us of a sight. We waited holding our breath. A few minutes passed and then there it was. A guinea-pig like mammal appeared with great caution in the little opening allowing us to locate it. With small round head, ear and without a tail, this short legged energetic animal of orange-grey moved around the rocks suddenly stopping & disappearing, soon to peep out between the rocks.  A traveler who stopped over seeing us lying on the edge of the road informed us that this is the most common Pika of this area named the Royel’s Pika or Himalayan Mouse-hare. There are other species like Large-eared Pika etc. They are going to be our friend throughout the trek route, surprising us with sudden appearances from the broken rocks. A Red-billed Cough circled over the valley announcing the end of day as the Sun rays slowly hides behind the Mountains in front of us. The wind took over to rule the night that promised to be romantically clear and we shivered along with the small patch of trees. It was a most satisfying day one can ever imagine in this part of the world and we will remember this day as one achievement till we live on this beautiful & amazing place, we call our home, the Earth.    (To be continued…)

Photo credit: Prasun Kumar Majumdar