A remote camera captures a snow leopard at Hemis National Park in Ladakh, Jammu, and Kashmir, India.
Photographer: Steve Winter/National GeographicTravel
What to Know Before You Go Tracking Snow Leopards at 13,000 Feet
High in the Himalayas, the formerly endangered animals are a major tourist attraction in Ladakh. But there are no guarantees.
On my sixth day in the mountains, a pair of Tibetan wolves emerges from the frozen valley and saunters past, just a few hundred yards away.
Minutes ago, I was sipping warm masala chai; now I’m holding my camera in the biting cold. The duo is bold to come this close, but it’s only because they don’t fear being shot by anything other than my Canon Rebel DSLR. Their coats—patches of red, brown, and white—keep them blended, a rippling optical illusion.