Update from our snow leopard conservation expedition
It’s Sunday, midway through group 2. As I write this on our rest day, some of the team are catching up on laundry, some are out with our camp manager in search of petroglyphs, and our scientist is in the zone collating the data we’ve gathered so far. We deserve the break, after some bad weather over the last week.
Big day on Saturday
Saturday was big day for us. An ambitious team set off to service a camera trap placed quite high above camp. Alas, when we got there, it was nowhere to be found.. presumed stolen. While we searched the area, Emil continued along the ridge in search of a station we had set up the previous year in an area where we know snow leopards like to hang out.
The result: The station got some very close up photos of an individual. Results continue to flow in as we comb through the many photos captured.
Looking ahead
Looking ahead, we are exactly half-way through this season’s Tien Shan expedition. We have serviced a little over half the camera traps in the field. We continue to survey the three main valleys surrounding camp for livestock, animals of interest and prey species.
Thank you, Anna, for the fun sketches in our camp dairy, which always make for great reading..
Oh, and there has been talk among the local herder families of an older wolf preying on livestock nearby. We have found fresh tracks and scat, but no sighting yet.
And we got an amazing shot of a bearded vulture on a fly-by past a camera trap.
Read also: First I second I third I fourth I fifth I sixth I seventh I eighth I ninth diary entry of the Tien Shan snow leopard conservation expedition. All Tien Shan 2026 diary entries on one page.
Author: Darran Keogh
Darran Keogh grew up in Ireland and has spent much of his adult life travelling and working in the outdoor industry. He has a degree in Outdoor Education and Geography and is a qualified Mountain Leader and an International Mountain Leader Aspirant. An adventurous spirit has taken him to explore remote areas around the world and in recent years Europe’s great mountain ranges from a base in Chamonix Valley, France. Happiest sleeping under the stars, climbing, surfing or exploring snowy mountains, he is now based in Ireland once again, with his attention turned to conservation: Darren is a member of Ireland’s Governing Body for mountaineering’s Climate action group, has another degree in studying Climate, Sustainability and Environment and is a proud member of the Biosphere Expeditions team. More about Darran.