Looking for ghosts requires special patience. The chances of finding it are low, but doubting means giving up, so keep looking.
This is a technique for tracking snow leopards. Morap Namgair learned that early. He was five years old when he first saw the animal in his remote village of Ulay in Ladakh, India. The area is full of wildlife and is a paradise for aspiring photographers like Molap and his younger brother Stanzin. These big cats are called locally. Shanimmortalized in the BBC series Planet Earth II They were mainly grateful to their father, Norbu, who followed them as a crew member.
Ladakh had just become famous for its sightings, but everything was shut down due to the pandemic. That’s when the brothers vowed to photograph something no one had ever photographed before: a snow leopard under the stars. They hoped the image would highlight the beauty of this mountain region and its apex predator, thereby spurring efforts to conserve both. The region is warming twice as fast as the rest of the world, threatening landscapes and wildlife. The brothers believed that if the outside world could only see what was at stake, that would influence the government’s actions.
They spent months blanketing the area with cameras. However, halfway through the project, Stanzin died of heart disease. Although it was difficult, Morap pushed forward on his own.
Last August, on a 33°C (91°F) day, he climbed a ridge at 4,900 meters above sea level. “What I found on camera was a dream come true,” Morap says. He was bittersweet though. “Buddhism believes in reincarnation. I always look at snow leopards and often think, ‘What would happen if Stan Jin was reincarnated as a snow leopard?’ Perhaps he will stop for a photo or perhaps say hello. Maybe he did.”
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Source: www.newscientist.com
