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Group 3 have arrived and are on their way to base camp.
With this group, we will retrieve the last two camera traps still out in the field from 2023, place new ones and check the ones put out in groups 1 & 2, survey more cells, conduct more herder interviews farther afield and hold a community information event at our base camp.
As always, updates from the field will be scant with no up-to-date pictures until changeover. Wish us luck for this final group.
During the final week of group 2, we received a tip from a local herder that he had seen a snow leopard at close range on two separate occasions in the same area. The area was in the same valley that we conducted our group 1 overnight mountain expedition in, so we know the area well.
We arranged to meet with the local herder, so he could show us the location and we could scope out camera trap locations. On the day we were supposed to meet, there was heavy rain and the forecast promised a wet day. Still, Emil and I were unperturbed by the weather and made our way to meet him, but he was suddenly “busy” for the day and unable to show us the location, but gave us some very brief details about the area and some geological features to identify it by.
After about an hour of walking, we were able to identify the area specified, but were surprised as it didn’t seem like classic territory for snow leopards. There were numerous cattle in the area and it was at a relatively low altitude with lots of grass and vegetation. We scoured the area for tracks, scat or scratch marks, but couldn’t find any evidence. We placed two camera traps in the vicinity and will report back, if we record anything interesting during group 3.
Overall, relations with the local community are very good. We have now conducted 16 herder interviews, which pretty much covers the big valley that base camp sits in. During group 3, we will move further afield.
Felt souvenir production for the expeditioners, bread-making and milk production for the expedition and therefore some income generation for the community is in full swing. Our information evening we had to postpone again to group 3, but I am determined that it will happen.
Our second group was an expedition of two distinct halves. The first week was characterised by expansive blue skies with wall-to-wall sunshine. The second week was a different beast altogether, with gloomy skies, rain and thunderstorms almost daily. The weather, however, did nothing to dampen the enthusiasm and motivation to conduct research and get deep into the mountains.
The first few days were filled with training and briefings before we got into the nitty gritty of the work we are here to do – research snow leopards, their prey and survey their natural habitat. We have been very successful in this aspect with 85 different cells already sampled, amounting to a total of area of 340 square kilometres surveyed.
Our scientist Emil led a group of willing expeditioners deeper into the mountains on a three-day expedition across a 4000 m pass that leads into the Jil Sul valley to the north of our base camp. This enabled us to survey cells that would be impossible to reach in just one day and to place camera traps in promising locations.
Another team conducted an overnight expedition by car deep into the valley to survey cells at a lower to mid altitude and were fortunate to find wolf scat as well as evidence of snow leopard prey species and some interesting bird sightings.
I am currently back in Bishkek making our preparations for the third and final group. Emil and I have been working hard on a camera trap plan, so there will be plenty of opportunites to get into the high mountains during the next two weeks.
Thank you to group 2 for your hard work and we are looking forward to meeting group 3 on Monday.
The weather has been kind to group 2 – we’ve had sunny days all week.
We have now retrieved all but two camera traps from last year and they have yielded lots of prey species and another wolf, but no more snow leopard photos.
Camera trap in place
We have also found an argali skull and horns, so these iconic and elusive mountain sheep are around, but rarely seen.
Argali
We have also conducted eight more herder interviews.
Herder interview
We have an overnight mini-expedition with an advance base camp planned for the second half of this group. This will take us north via a 4000 m pass to survey more cells and place camera traps.
Advanced base camp
Also planned is a community information evening, during which we will explain who we are, what we do and ask how the community can and wants to be involved and benefit financially from our work, for example by supplying us with produce such as milk and bread or by helping with supply runs or producing felt gifts (felting is a great tradition and skill here).
Group 2 have arrived and are on their way to base camp.
With this group, we will search for new positions for the camera traps we have retrieved in group 1 (or putting cameras back in successful positions), retrieve camera traps still out in the field, survey more cells, conduct more herder interviews farther afield and hold a community information event at our base camp.
As always, updates from the field will be scant with no up-to-date pictures until changeover. Wish us luck for this group.
Group 1 started two weeks ago with a weather forecast of inescapable perma-drizzle, but the reality has been much kinder. There were of course the occasional rain/snow/hail showers, but the conditions have been favourable for the most part.
A main task for this group has been to collect camera traps left by the 2023 expedition on remote ridges and other far-flung places. To get to them, we have been traversing mountainsides and ridges where few have ever set foot – with the exception of previous expeditioners, adventurous local herders and Soviet cartographers perhaps.
The results have been mixed, with one camera trap having 6000 images of nothing but snow. However, others have been much more fruitful. We have captured snow leopard on two traps and a solitary wolf. We also have pictures of ibex, badger, fox, weasel, rabbit, mouse and snowcock. The search for argali continues. The team have also been busy collecting data and surveying cells throughout the Burkhan and surrounding valleys with 40 cells already surveyed.
Last Tuesday and Wednesday the group split into two halves for an overnight mini-expedition away from base camp with one half driving into the valley to the north to gather information from the local herders and survey cells and the other half venturing to a remote pass to spend the night and survey cells in the vicinity. Both groups survived the experience and were rewarded with a clear night sky full of stars with the Milky Way clearly visible. The car group was forced by strong winds to retreat to the car for a “cosy” night’s sleep. The group that slept at the mountain pass were able to find good evidence of key snow leopard prey despite the extensive presence of livestock in the area (and some rather intimidating yaks). Large groups of ibex were spotted and there were reports of a live wolf sighting although there are reservations around this due to the consumption of Kumis (fermented and alcoholic mare’s milk) on previous days.
I hope that group 2 are now prepared for the rugged Kyrgyz landscapes and excited to get started. We have found hiking poles to be invaluable as well as having the Kyrgyz dictionary downloaded for offline use on Google Translate for communication with locals.
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!
Very good news from the field. We received this message from the field today: “Hi, all well here. We retrieved camera traps today and have sightings of wolf and snow leopard. “
Screenshot
This is from camera traps left in the mountains by the expedition last year, some now retrieved by group 1. Well done!
We can’t show you the pictures, as we only have text connectivity via satellite with the expedition, but here’s one from an earlier expedition.
We’ll have to wait for the real thing until group 1/2 changeover in 10 days.
There is zero connectivity at base camp and we will enjoy the digital detox. But this also means that I will only send one, perhaps two, short text-only updates per group via satellite. So please be patient, assume that no news is good news and wish us luck for our endeavours.
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