Confluence of the Doda and the Tsarap Rivers
The expedition to Zanskar was funded by the National Geographic Society, and my original plan had been to go in via jeep last November. However, National Geographic had made me an offer I could not refuse – an invitation to a forum on Conservation in Tibet, with His Holiness the Dalai Lama, and an opportunity to address the burgeoning trade in furs and body parts of tigers and leopards in India and Tibet. Other commitments in 2006 left us facing the Chaddar or postponing the expedition for a whole year. None of us wanted to do that.
Rigzen Thundup using the CyberTracker
Our group included nine porters and the village-based nature guide Rigzen Thundup (no relation to Tashi), whom SLC-India was training to monitor wildlife using the CyberTracker.
Our destination was the Lungnak Gorge, a remote corner of an already remote region, with 120 families in five settlements. We wanted to identify snow leopard population hotspots and determine if the gorge would be good for a long-term radio-tracking study. We would interview villagers to assess livestock depredation and map problem sites. We hoped to link culture with conservation by documenting local attitudes, folklore and stories to illustrate Zanskari people’s relationships with the local fauna and flora, including the analogy between culturally important species and ecologically important or charismatic species like ibex and snow leopard. Rinchen, Jigment and Tashi would hold a training workshop for Homestay providers with an eye toward expanding the program in Zanskar.
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