Somewhere on each of these rocky, snow-streaked slopes sits a snow leopard. British wildlife photographer David "Baz" Jenkins took the pictures in February 2014 in Hemis National Park in Ladakh, in the Indian Himalayas, and they show better than any textbook why this big cat is called the "ghost of the mountains". Try to find it in each unmarked photo before you scroll to the circled version.
Hemis National Park: snow leopard country
Hemis National Park lies near Leh in Ladakh and is one of the best places in the world to see a wild snow leopard. Studies there have counted around two leopards per 100 km², and Ladakh as a whole holds an estimated 380–598 of the cats. India's 2024 national survey put the country's total at 718.
Jenkins flew in from the UK and joined a small photography group in Leh on 13 February 2014. The group worked along the Rumbak gorge, where local guide Aditya "Dicky" Singh recorded nights of around minus 19°C inside the tents. On 17 February they watched a mother and her grown cub more than a mile away; the next day a female appeared on a cliff above the path between Rumbak village and camp, and Jenkins photographed her from a frozen stream.
Why snow leopards are so hard to spot
The snow leopard (Panthera uncia) is built to vanish into broken rock. Its thick coat runs from whitish to grey, with black spots on the head and neck and larger dark rosettes on the back, flanks and tail. Against grey scree, patchy snow and shadow, those markings break up the outline of the body, so the eye reads the cat as just more rock.
Other adaptations suit the cold: broad, furry paws work like snowshoes, small rounded ears lose little heat, and the long, thick tail helps with balance on steep ground and doubles as a scarf wrapped around the face. Unusually for a big cat, the snow leopard cannot roar.
A good trick when searching a photo is to look for a continuous body shape, such as the curve of a back or the line of the tail, instead of a single spot.
Where snow leopards live and what they hunt
Snow leopards range across 12 countries of Central and South Asia, from Afghanistan and Pakistan through India, Nepal and Bhutan to China, Mongolia, Russia and the Central Asian republics. They usually live between 3,000 and 4,500 metres, climbing to about 6,000 m in summer and moving lower in winter. In the Himalayas their main prey is the bharal, or Himalayan blue sheep, along with Siberian ibex and other mountain herbivores.
The IUCN lists the species as Vulnerable, with fewer than 10,000 mature animals in the wild and a further decline expected. Conflict with herders over livestock, poaching and the loss of wild prey are among the main pressures.
Seeing a snow leopard in Ladakh
Most snow leopard trips to Hemis run in late winter, the season of Jenkins's visit, when the cats follow their prey down into the valleys and mating season makes them more active. Expect to fly into Leh, spend a few days acclimatising at about 3,500 metres, and then base yourself in a homestay or camp in the Rumbak valley while local spotters scan the slopes with telescopes. Pack for nights well below minus 15°C, and allow at least a week: sightings are never guaranteed.
Explore more: foxes against a snowy background; a predator seen at close range underwater. For a snow leopard on video, revisit the 2016 Gulmarg snow leopard video, and read how Tibetan Monasteries and Snow-Leopard Conservation are linked.
The saturation of the pictures aren't the same though...
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