Tien Shan: Keen & capable

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

We’re more than half-way through group 1 and the team has proved itself keen and capable.

So far, we have retrieved two camera traps from the mountains. The batteries of one of them only lasted for a few weeks after the last expedition left it. The other performed well with the batteries lasting almost until our return and giving us a picture of a snow leopard and a wolf. This is good news already.

Some of the other camera traps have proved elusive to find – or they have been stolen. Herders feel watched and threatened by them, poachers even more so, and a camera trap spotted by a poacher is invariably a camera trap lost. These are the realities of life in a far-flung corner of the world, well away from digital overload or any kind of policing.

On the brighter side, group 1 has already covered 27 (!) survey cells and conducted three interviews. This is a great effort, well done!

Pictures and a fuller report in a week.

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