Snow Leopard Photography at Upper Mustang

Overview

Board on a journey in order to spot the elusive snow leopard, the grey Ghost of the Himalayas.

Underneath the mountains, far away from the eyes of outside world, at remote locations of mountains this fluffy creature lives. It has straight ears and strikingly beautiful spots and is beautiful among all cats. The long and soft coat of fur provides snow leopard with protection from bitter and cold wind of Himalayas. Snow leopard the rarest of the Himalayan animal.

Such elusive big cats are incredibly rare and are extremely difficult in observing, studying and filming. Their shy nature and exceptional camouflage makes them self-contained in their own habitat. Exploring their territory is the only option to encounter, study and film them. Their dens are well chosen, it has outstanding views of the surrounding cliffs. On such territory no hunter other than snow leopards would have a chance to catch such agile prey. A female with her cub makes an easy target. Their paws gives excellent grips and the long tail helps in balance. Snow Leopard do not roar they hiss and howl in the mountains.

Nepal is one of the twelve country where snow leopards reside. With an estimated population of 300-500 running in the wild in different Himalayan region of Nepal. Many Himalayan region of Nepal are still unexplored if search of snow leopard.  On this journey we take you to one of the less explored region of Nepal, where this snow leopard resides. Despite of having road access in the region of Upper Mustang, there are many regions with in upper mustang which is still unexplored and pristine. We will be exploring the region of Ghar Gompa, Marang sungda La, Thulung Phat, Thulung khola and many other places. 

This creatures resides in over 3000m-5400m in alpine and sub alpine zones in Nepalese Himalayas. Despite of them being unknown the population might decreasing as one of the major for their death is falling of the cliffs during hunting of its prey. Apart from this the unintentional kill by human settlement of that region with the intention of protecting their livestock. Global warming is also considered as the reason because such fluffy creatures resides in over 3000m-5400m in alpine and sub alpine zones in Nepalese Himalayas.

Why did we start this Snow Leopard Tracking ?

As a humans we have natural love for exploration, rooted in our past. Over time, however, we've somewhat lost our connection to the wild. In the face of modern challenges, our need for nature has grown. The need, desire and experience of travel is undergoing a transformative process, accelerated by the recent global pandemic. There's a notable shift towards more conscious, experiential travel—a meaningful journey that raise connection, inspiration, and renew the bond with natural world. Individuals crave stories that go beyond capturing moments in photographs. It reflects a collective desire to rediscover the Mother Nature.

Here at Global Holidays Adventure, we have been providing such experience in finding this wonderful big cats high up in the mountains. We have been organizing such trips with collaborating with Babu Gurung, a local photographer and a conservationist. We are trying our best in terms of finance and creating awareness among locals from our side in order to conserve these wild cats. Our main objective for such kind of trip is to conserve the snow leopard and attract visitors from all over the world. Without harming the territory of snow leopard, we want people to come see and do something from their side in order to conserve these wild cats in their natural habitats. 

Apart from this having visitor from all over the world, helps in boosting tourism and this directly supports the locals as they will be motivated in conservation activity. Not on this but there will be employment generation and local will be motivated to stay in their place and start small business like guest house and follow the traditional way of weaving and creating something special. This helps in preserving the culture and tradition of people of Upper Mustang, which is very rich. Tiji festival at Upper Mustang holds great significance amongst the locals and the youngsters are not paying attention towards their tradition too. Gaining visitors from all over the word helps in preservation of culture as well.