Tien Shan: Get prepared!

Update from our snow leopard volunteer project to the Tien Shan mountains of Kyrgyzstan

As our advance team is getting ready in Bishkek or about to fly there, here are a few things for you expeditioners to prepare:

First, please remember to look at and study our terrestrial expedition methods guide. On that page, you will find a field guide (updated today), which you will need to have in the field with you, as well as other guides on plants and butterflies, as well as research methodology background papers and a video:

The most important thing you will need is the field guide. Please make sure that you have a digital or printed copy with you on the expedition.

We’ll be using new, fancy and complicated Garmin 700i and 66i GPS units. The more you can familiarise yourself with them ahead of the expedition, the easier you will find it to work with them in the mountains.

Our updated snow leopard expedition report with news of great successes of our community camera trapping group is now also online. Again, the more you know before you go, the better, but in a nutshell “The community camera trapping group in 2020 and 2021 demonstrated continued snow leopard presence through several snow leopard photo captures in several locations and found unconfirmed signs (scats, scrapes, tracks) at various locations. It is interesting to note that captures are increasing year-by-year, but there is insufficient data to tell whether this is a positive sign connected to snow leopard presence increasing in the study area.” With your help, we aim to find out.

So get ready, get excited and we will see you in the mountains in due course. This diary will now start in earnest and the next entry will be from Bishkek. See you there!

Update from our Kyrgzstan expedition to the Tien Shan mountains, volunteering in snow leopard conservation.