Author: Biosphere Expeditions

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

Team 3 has been a very productive 12 days with many highlights, a little ermine hopping through camp being one of them! We’ve had nights under the stars in bivvy bags watching shooting stars and the Milky Way, river dips, yoga, a successful Archaly valley reccee and of course lots of research.

The first few days as always, we focused on training, getting familiar with equipment, ready for driving off road, field surveys and camera trap servicing and placement. This also allows time to acclimate, especially for those of us that live at a much lower altitude for much of the year (yours truly). Getting to know the field guide is important too and we learn that identifying scat, prints, tracks, scratchings etc. is a dark art.

The results of this group were:

No more snow leopard pictures on this group, because all camera traps had been serviced recently. But two more potential snow leopard scats have been added to this year’s collection in the final group, bringing the tally to six total. Talking about scats: The first batch from group 1 has come back and all the high-mountain ones were indeed snow leopard; only the lower altitude one collected next to the ibex skull was not, so a very good result for group 1. Well done!

Over the three groups we have managed to survey over 97 cells on my last count, this has involved some big days out along rivers, through deep-cut gorges, up steep scree slopes, over majestic ridges and through alpine meadows awash with cranesbill, alpine aster and edelweiss, an abundance of wildflowers typical. In the background a scattering of prominent glaciers provide much needed water… But I digress. The overall headline results of the expedition are:

Expect the full expedition report with all details and conclusions in a few months.

Camera traps are now placed in and around three valleys; those cut by the Burkhan, Archaly and Jyluu Suu rivers. We have also had some very interesting interviews. You will need to wait for the report for more on that.

When the time finally came to pack down camp, swifts were frantically foraging overhead and the wildflowers had gone to seed. It’s amazing how short the alpine season is here. Emil, our scientist left with our equipment including yurts, showers and kitchen destined on the penultimate day, so we were back to wild camping for our final night. The last morning involved an early breakfast, a quick final goodbye to the local herders who have cooked and kept us fed many of the evenings here and then we were on our way. The journey to Bishkek went smoothly.

So it is now time for reflection and maybe a toast to the season that has been. A heartfelt thank you to all our citizen scientists in this final group for their huge effort. Thank you everyone for keeping high spirits when the weather grounded us, for playing a role in keeping expedition base camp running smoothly and of course for your data collection activities. Also, your company has been fantastic. Thank you to Johnny for all the guidance and Sofia for your delicious salads and desserts and of course all your help around camp, thank you Matthias for the training and taking me on as part of the Biosphere Expeditions team. Most importantly, thank you to all the citizen scientists this year, for without you, this couldn’t happen. Rahmat!

Darran Keogh
Expedition leader

I leave you with some more impressions and a couple of feedback videos:

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

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

Hello from base camp. The sun is shining, nights are cool with morning frost that is quick to thaw with sunrise.

All is well here, we are surveying many 2×2 km cells in and around the valley, even a requests from our citizen scientists to revisit and resurvey areas they reckon hold promise! We had some interesting local interviews today with the usual hospitality and offers of local food and drink and talk of close encounters with Tien Shan bear, wolf and snow leopard.

Today is our rest day. Monday we head to beautiful and remote Archaly valley (see pictures) to set up camp for surveys there and an extended reconnaissance for 2026. We look forward to bringing you more details at the end of the expedition, after we get back to Bishkek at the end of next week.

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

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

And just like that, the second Tien Shan expedition group of 2025 has concluded. A whirlwind of a fortnight with higher temperatures and more sunny days than any of us could have imagined – with the occasional blizzard thrown in for good measure.

All camera traps placed in 2024 have now been either serviced or retrieved and an extra seven camera traps placed. We have set up “stations” at three locations, which have previously yielded great results.

There were more snow leopard captures on the 2024 cameras, in fact we recorded four more snow leopard events. Here are the best ones:

And of course we recorded other animals too and achieved the following in group 2:

One highlight was the direct sighting of a Mongolian wolf with prey in its mouth:

Other animals posed for our cameras too:

After a severe weather warning thwarted our original plans for overnighters between Monday and Wednesday, we managed to squeeze in a brief overnight expedition on Thursday evening.

All in all, another very successful group. I will now hand over the expedition leader baton into the very capable hands of Darran – he is about to enter his third Tien Shan expedition group and now knows the valley like the back of his hand. I must thank each and every participant from this year and previous years: your motivation and hard work has afforded us incredible results that are far beyond our expectations. I hope to see you all again in the field again one day soon.

Johnny Adams
Expedition leader group 2

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

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

Group 2 has settled in and is collecting good data. All but two camera traps have now been either serviced or collected, once again yielding snow leopard images.

The last two camera traps will require an overnight trip, but we have some severe weather warning for the next couple of days, so won’t be venturing deep into the mountains.

We have also set up two new camera traps at a new location, in this study site’s first “camera trap station” configuration. This is when two camera traps face a pinch point through which animals pass. The aim is to take pictures of animals – particularly snow leopards – from two sides simultaneously as this makes it easier to identify individuals through their unique coat spot patterns.

We have also found snow leopard tracks

and logged our first-ever direct sighing of a Mongolian wolf – carrying a small bird kill – by a group on cell survey.

All field data are up to date and the weather so far has been good, with clear warm days and no rain, though this is about to change. This group has so far surveyed 13 cells surveyed and conducted two interviews.

In other developments in Europe, the first batch of suspected snow leopard scat from group 1 has now been sent for DNA analysis to a specialist lab in Germany. We should have results within a few weeks.

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

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

Group 2 is now safely at base camp, after a 9 hour journey on progressively smaller to no roads. Today training begins.

Following a successful first group, we hope now to get more local interviews, more cells surveyed and camera traps serviced and set and we will hopefully be reporting back with more positive data at the next opportunity.

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