Snow Leopard Photo Tour : Everything You Need to Plan the Best Tour

Trying to plan a snow leopard photo tour? Found across 12 countries in Central and South Asia, the snow leopard is one of the most difficult big cats to photograph. Getting a great photo can be the ultimate feather in a wildlife photographers hat! And we’re not just talking “proof-i-saw-them” photos, but capturing an iconic wildlife image.

This article will help you learn how to plan the best snow leopard photography tour. Increase your chances of getting the perfect snow leopard photo by:

1. Selecting the ideal destination for your snow leopard photo safari;
2. Learning what to prioritize when selecting a snow leopard photo tour operator;
3. Making sure you are doing things ethically;
4. Getting a better understanding of why certain countries are better than others for photography;
5. Choosing the ideal camera equipment, lenses, and tripod.

If you want to simply see a snow leopard, we’ve got several options for you. See a comparison of these three snow leopard tour destinations. The Signature snow leopard expedition to Ladakh and the Classic snow leopard tour to Ladakh run November through April, the snow leopard tour to Mongolia is scheduled in October, along with the snow Leopard expedition to Kyrgyzstan.

If you’re obsessed with wildlife photography, getting a great shot of a snow leopard, might be pretty high on your list of dream shots. We get it. Most of our team are photographers and we are always working on getting the snow leopard shot. It also helps that our team has both trackers and filmmakers who have captured some of the most iconic snow leopard footage in the world.

Duncan Parker filmed snow leopards for both the BBC’s Planet Earth II and NatGeo’s Hostile Planet. He was responsible for the dozens of camera traps placed to capture up-close shots for both. Khenrab, Smanla, Dorjay, and Rashid have worked closely with the world’s top camera crews and photographers to track snow leopards. They have worked with top production crews, including the BBC, NatGeo, the Discovery Channel, and Animal Planet. They helped choose remote camera sites for the legendary Steve Winter of NatGeo. Brad, Behzad, and Sebastian, have taken some amazing snow leopard shots and lead a snow leopard expedition to ladakh each year.

So if all these folks have great shots and footage of snow leopards, a snow leopard photography tour must be pretty easy, right? There’s certainly quite a few of them advertised by a bunch of companies.

Well, not quite. The areas snow leopards live in are harsh, high, and sparse. Quite unlike the areas you visit on a photo safari for tigers, or on a photo tour to Kenya for lions. This has a great impact on wildlife density and populations. You may see a few dozen lions in the Mara in a week, but may only see 2 snow leopards on a photo tour. Perhaps only in the distance. Or you may see none at all. It’s all a part of the experience and the reason why these cats are the pinnacle of wildlife photography.

Keep reading to understand the process behind finding snow leopards and getting close to them. Once you know this, you’ll have an easier time picking a destination.

Getting close to snow leopards is the ultimate objective for anyone on a photo tour. The closest encounter a photographer can experience is when a snow leopard attempts to hunt. Yes, our trackers have run into snow leopards on remote trails. Yes there have been opportunities for guests to witness a snow leopard being released into the wild. Maybe one got captured after getting into a livestock pen, or got a satellite collar. But those are not regular events. You can’t plan for those.

What is regular is hunting and stalking.

Here’s what we do to put the odds in your favor to witness a snow leopard hunt.

When searching for snow leopards, our teams constantly find snow leopard prey – blue sheep, ibex, or argali. When they come across these prey animals, they try to understand their behavior. A few blue sheep or ibex staring in the same direction is often a sign that something in that area has their interest.

Of course, a relaxed herd of ungulates doesn’t mean a snow leopard isn’t around – it just means that they haven’t detected it. Each year our trackers point out snow leopards (and sometimes wolves) that are trying to sneak up on an unsuspecting herd.

Through thousands of hours of observation, we know that snow leopards prefer stalking downhill. An uphill chase expends a considerable amount of energy. Something the snow leopard cannot waste in this harsh environment.

This knowledge is critical. It means if the herd of ungulates is between you and the snow leopard, you’ll get great action photos.

Do you want to stack the odds in your favor on a snow leopard tour? Then you have to account for all variables in this equation; the humans, the prey animals, and the snow leopard.

If you want to photograph a snow leopard at a close distance, you need to witness a hunt sequence, and even better, a kill. A kill is the closest photographic opportunity. When a snow leopard downs an animal, it will guard its kill and stay by it till it has consumed as much of it as possible.

If prey animals are comfortable with humans, they don’t mind being close to them. If prey animals fear humans, you will only be able to observe them from a distance. So even if you witness a hunt sequence, it will not be close enough for great shots.

In India, wildlife hunting has been banned since the 1970’s.

Thanks to community based conservation in Hemis National Park, even poaching is nonexistent.

The blue sheep here know no fear of humans because of this. We routinely have blue sheep approach within a few dozen meters of camp, and have them walk past areas where we are spotting and tracking.

This lack of fear means that blue sheep end up spending a lot of time in lower valleys, instead of sticking to grazing areas on steep ridges. Prey animals in lower valleys results in predators in lower valleys.

This is the first step in getting close to a snow leopard.

Countries such as Mongolia, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan allow trophy hunting of prey species such as ibex, argali, and markhor.

Thus all wild ungulates in these regions fear humans. It is almost impossible to approach them close enough for photographs.

Snow leopards are incredibly territorial animals.

They control large swathes of rugged terrain, up to 100 square miles per individual. Abutting snow leopard territories have significant overlap. Our tracking teams that work on our snow leopard expeditions to Ladakh have known this for a long time through observation.

Recent data from five collared snow leopards in Hemis National Park confirms this.

5 different snow leopards were all captured in the same traps, collared with GPS collars, and then released. Over a six month period they repeatedly walked the same trails, albeit at different times, and urinated on the same marking rocks.

Some of these high ridge marking rocks are visited by over 8 cats. Now that’s the type of traffic you want if you’re on a snow leopard photography tour.

This is the first type of route intelligence. One based on territory. It is gained by a lot of experience. Our head trackers have two decades each of observing these elusive creatures. They’ve seen a lot of snow leopards pee on a lot of rocks and make a lot of scrapes.

In fact, even the non tracking members of our crews can now make excellent educated guesses about whether a rock would be a good snow leopard marking rock.

Route intelligence, only possible with years of experience, month after month after month, is essential. This ability to predict and reposition is critical to get closer to a snow leopard.

To see it disappear over a ridge, and to know where it might go, means less time wasted in hoping it reappears on the same ridge, and more time spent relocating to where it will end up. Perhaps a tighter valley with closer views.

We always thought that this innate understanding of movement was area based knowledge. That it was based on watching snow leopards do the same thing many times in the same valleys.

When we first took some of our best Ladakhi trackers to Kyrgyzstan to train government rangers on the art of snow leopard tracking, our Ladakhi spotters surprised us.

They instantly analyzed ridge-lines, pointing out marking rocks in an area they had never been to. When they found a snow leopard on the first day, they correctly predicted where it would reappear after it disappeared. Repositioning their scopes to a different part of the mountain. A mountain they had never seen before, in a foreign country.

So it seems that this ability to predict movement also relies heavily on an understanding of terrain. Snow leopards, like all animals, take the easiest route. To instinctively know the easiest route while observing terrain through a scope may be one of the most difficult skills.

This is why we add a Ladakhi spotter to our snow leopard tour to Mongolia as well as our snow leopard expedition to Kyrgyzstan. While the local spotters are eagle-eyed, they are still developing their route intelligence.

For photography, it’s important not just to find a snow leopard, but to then track it and get closer. Again, this is best possible on a snow leopard expedition to Ladakh.

The last element that will better your chances of a great snow leopard photo is the terrain.

The terrain needs to be mountainous. No plateaus, no rolling hills. We want tight valleys and nice ridge-lines.

Why? More surface area to scan from one spot. When you have a thousand vertical feet in front of you, you have more area to scan. More ridges for snow leopards to blend in and observe prey species, and more opportunity for snow leopards to walk on the top, silhouetted by the sky.

A snow leopard, like any other cat, is built to hunt. To be successful, it needs terrain to shelter behind. There are no grasslands, no trees, and no bushes to hide behind in prime snow leopard habitat. They must use the terrain to their advantage.

So you want a lot of terrain. Rolling hills make scanning difficult, plateaus offer no hunting advantage. Though you can theoretically scan for much longer distances, one little dip can hide the terrain behind it. After all, you’re looking for an animal that’s about two feet high at the shoulder.

Scanning in a tight valley means you can also ascend the opposite slope when a snow leopard is spotted, bringing you to eye-level without worrying the snow leopard. It means closer images.

Tight valleys allow our spotters to disperse and cover multiple angles in multiple valleys, allowing a wider net to be cast. This increases sighting chances and allows greater detection of all wildlife, including snow leopards.

Again, Hemis National Park in India offers this tight terrain.

We run the best snow leopard photo tours in the business. But we don’t run these just for the photography. Conservation is our first priority. Snow leopard photo tours help us achieve several objectives, the foremost of which is making the snow leopard worth more alive than dead.

Voygr Expeditions is not a simple travel company. Conservation is our top priority. Incredible travel experiences are a tool to conserve habitat, wildlife, and culture.

We prioritize working with the very best conservationists, scientists, and field teams. Not just to track snow leopards, but to actively conserve them and their habitat. We know what ideal snow leopard tourism is and we practice it every day.

We believe that conservation must involve local communities. Snow leopard tourism is the best way to do so. Here’s our take on reducing human-wildlife conflict through simple economics.

Snow leopards prey extensively on livestock, even if wild prey is available. Studies in India, Mongolia, and Nepal have all confirmed this.

“Livestock have degenerated anti-predatory abilities as a result of artificial selection for other traits and living in a human-mediated environment,” says Charudutt Mishra, Executive Director of The Snow Leopard Trust and Founder Trustee at Nature Conservation Foundation. “Their large herds and more predictable distribution also make them vulnerable to predation. Our data show that livestock will get killed, irrespective of the abundance of wild prey; that is an important lesson for livestock management.”

A similar study, recently published in the Journal of Ecology and Evolution (https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ece3.6815 – Khanal, Mishra, Suryawanshi) conducted in the Upper Dolpa and Lower Dolpa regions of Nepal confirms this. The study shows that even with the same wild prey density at two sites, the site with higher livestock numbers had higher depredation. Snow leopards prefer livestock because they are much easier to kill.

Invariably, with livestock depredation come retaliatory killings. While most studies recommend better herding practices, such as predator proof corrals, we take this one step further. We propose replacing livestock as a primary source of livelihood. This will entirely eliminate this conflict.

You cannot ask people to sacrifice their livelihoods without providing a suitable alternative. You cannot do so in areas that are remote and isolated, with few sources of employment. In snow leopard habitats across the range, people are competing against snow leopards. This is true in the remote Tien Shan in Kyrgyzstan and in the high Pamir of Tajikistan. It is also fact in the Altai of Western Mongolia. At its very basic definition, they are competing for resources.

Here’s where snow leopard photo tours come in.

When we operate snow leopard photo tours, we start with hiring locals. We train locals on how our remote camps function, how to track snow leopards, and how to take care of our guests. This provides a stable source of income to a few members of the community. They act as snow leopard photo tour trackers, camp hands, transporters, and sell basic staples such as meat, vegetables, and milk to us. Local employees earn more in 3 months of work with us than their family makes annually raising livestock.

As we expand tourism operations, more community members get employed. Hiring more employees means fewer community members rely on livestock. This gradually results in decreased livestock numbers.

Livestock rearing is a difficult task. Someone always has to accompany the animals. Usually many families pool their animals, and many people take turns to take care of the herds. The majority of herders are happy to take easier jobs that pay more. This is another significant contributor to declining livestock numbers.

Of course, in areas this remote, some domestic animals are always required. They are needed for milk, meat, and transport. Our goal is not to remove domestic animals from the equation. Instead, we seek to balance this equation. Small herds are easier to protect in corrals, reducing the chance of a predator getting them. Small herds have a lower impact on grazing land. This allows wild animals to increase in population.

So snow leopard photo tours can directly impact livestock numbers. It creates a positive attitude towards these long hated predators. When we connect the communities income with snow leopards and wolves, they actively work to protect them. They turn from hated pests to valued assets. This attitude change is an incredibly valuable tool. It helps to protect ecosystems, habitats, and even culture.

This brings us to our third major point. Low employment, joblessness, and lack of opportunities in remote regions force communities to migrate to large towns, cities, and away from the mountains. Cities across Asia cannot cope with these pressures of migration. The UN states “factors that contribute to indigenous peoples’ urban migration include land dispossession, poverty, militarization, natural disasters, lack of employment opportunities, the deterioration of traditional livelihoods combined with the lack of viable economic alternatives, and the prospect of better opportunities in cities.”

But this migration to urban areas isn’t the solution. Usually, economic migrants from remote rural areas can only access the most basic jobs. These are often exploitative. In addition, indigenous peoples in urban areas may experience discrimination. They can have difficulties in sustaining their language, identity and culture. It can also be difficult to educate future generations, resulting in a loss of indigenous heritage and values. Urban migration is no solution. Snow leopard tourism can provide a solution to this. It has done so in Hemis National Park.

Snow leopard photo tours allow remote communities access to economic opportunity. It allows for them to generate a sustainable livelihood without abandoning their way of life and migrating to a city. It brings critical dollars to the communities. Without migration, without loss of land, and without loss of culture. When done well, it in fact acts as a strong promoter of culture and unique ways of life. It also converts remote villages into champions of conservation. It decreases poaching activity around them.

All of these points lead to one conclusion : snow leopard photo tours are an essential tool. They help bring in cash to remote communities and convert snow leopards (and other predators) into assets.

Simply participating in a snow leopard photo tour is a strong contribution to snow leopard conservation. But remember to choose an operator that pledges to very strong ethical standards.

We pledge to conduct our snow leopard photo tours with the highest ethical standards.
Standards that respect wildlife, the ecosystems we visit, and the communities that host us.

Voygr Expeditions pledges :

• that baiting is unacceptable. We abhor the use of bait, alive or dead, to attract snow leopards. We also shun the relocation or manipulation of any kills in order to get a more suitable sighting.
• that snow leopards, and all other wildlife, are never disturbed. Any snow leopard sighting is a gift. We do not obstruct, encourage, dislodge, or disturb these creatures. We do not crowd them. We prioritize their safety and well being.
• that we never photograph den sites.
• that we always maintain a respectful distance. Our trackers are equipped with the most high-powered spotting scopes on the planet. We never push the boundaries of respectful viewing. If a snow leopard stops its natural activity and begins to move away from us on purpose, we have failed.
• that we work within the rule of law. We champion systems based on permits, oversight, and monitoring.
• that we do not use drones with wildlife. Any drone use is for landscapes only. Never for wild animals, anywhere.

Here is what you need to learn before you embark on the ultimate photographic quest.

The basics:

1. Hire the best snow leopard tracking team;
2. set reasonable expectations, and;
3. dedicate some real time to getting the shot.

Step 1 : Find an expedition company that specializes in snow leopards. That’s easy, it’s us. We don’t sell 37 trips across Africa, we don’t sell cruises to Antarctica, and we can’t help you photograph puffins off Shetland.

We do know snow leopards, though. Our lead trackers have more than 70 years of combined experience.

Step 2 : Set the right expectations. Just because you’ve hired the best team on the planet doesn’t mean you’ll get the shot you imagined on your first snow leopard photo tour.

While we’re confident our team will find you a snow leopard – the distance between you and the snow leopard is entirely up to the snow leopard. It could be close, it could be far. Our team will always prioritize the safety and comfort of the snow leopard during a sighting. We have strict rules of engagement. A stressed snow leopard could be a dead snow leopard.

We can’t guarantee sighting a wild animal, certainly not one of the most elusive ones on earth, but we do have a 100% success rate at finding them.

Step 3 : Ok, so you know what you’re getting into.

Now set aside time for snow leopards. Real time.

If you want the shot, you’re most likely going to have to visit the snow leopards a few times. Unless you’re the type of photographer that has fantastic wildlife luck, and we do get some of those types, you’re most likely not going to get your dream shot on your first try.