Seeking the Snow Leopard
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Having travelled to many places off the beate
Having travelled to many places off the beaten track, Iceland, North Africa, the Middle East to name a few, I had decided to give something back to the environment and take part in a volunteer conservation research expedition. These are well organised and professionally run expeditions usually to a remote corner of the world and available to a fee paying public. Clients become involved in undertaking the field work for a diverse range of projects helping local scientists in fields from Archaeology to earth Science. I had previously been involved in a project in the US studying caves, and was interested in a similar thing but with more of a Central Asian focus to it, having travelled to the former Soviet Union in the past and been impressed by its friendly culture and surreal landscapes.
Coming across an advert for Biosphere expeditions and their project to the Altai Republic, it immediately enticed me to seek more information. The Altai is a small Autonomous region to the south of Russia, bordering Mongolia, China, and Kazakhstan .The project involved looking for traces of the increasingly rare and majestic snow leopard, of which only 60000 individuals remain, and their prey in the higher regions of the Altai Mountains. The snow leopard is notoriously difficult to track and its conservation relies on work by volunteers to assess its range in some of the most inaccessible areas of Central Asia. The Altai is a large range with peaks towering over 4000m and is shared between Russia and Mongolia. It is home to the Altai people, a race of semi nomadic herders, related in appearance and culture to the neighbouring Mongolians.
The project was sponsored by Motorola and more importantly Land Rover, so it sounded like a challenging and adventurous undertaking. Land Rover provided vehicles for the individual projects and enables volunteers to drive these both on and off-road. Enticed by this I immediately signed up for the project and the driving!
As my part of the project I was required to join the group, comprising of Norwegian, American and British team members, at the city of Novosibirsk in Western Siberia. Local Land Rover agent Autoland provided us with four fully expedition equipped Landrover Defenders, 3 110’s and a 90. All interested team members would have to take part in an off-road driving course, before being allowed to undertake field work.
To get to the rendezvous point I would need to procure a Russian visa, that in itself being a long and ponderous procedure. You need to get a letter of invitation from a Russia tour agency or local individual. Biosphere expeditions being a conservation organisation were not able to provide the necessary documentation; I would have to figure that out myself. Getting a visa here in New Zealand can be difficult if you are not on a tour and local organisation tend to massively overprice their services. Quotes of around $1000 are not uncommon just for documentation. However going through an overseas travel organisation, invitations can often be cheaper and easier to obtain.
Having my Russian visa sorted, it was necessary to get a Chinese visa, luckily a pain free process and fly via Singapore and Beijing. As Novosibirsk is not that well connected, flying on a Russian airline is pretty much necessary, in this case using local Sibir Air. To get there would involve a short trip in an ageing and dubiously maintained Tupolev 154. I was a tad worried as I boarded this flight from Beijing, the airline had just weeks before had a major crash and Tupolev's have an extremely poor safety record!
Surprisingly enough the flight went smoothly and upon final approach I noticed that the Novosibirsk was pretty vast, strung along the edges of one of the longest rivers in the world, the Ob being 3700 km long. It is the third largest city in Russia, being fairly industrial in nature but having a pleasant city centre adjacent to the river.
The first part of our trip was a 500km drive through southern Russia adjacent to the river Ob and then through rolling plains and farmland, pleasantly reminiscent of New Zealand. Thou the roads are generally very good it pays to keep very aware, Russian drivers at the best seem very suicidal, overtaking on the blindest corner, and not even pulling in as the oncoming car approached! Or pulling away from the shoulder at very low speeds into 100 + km traffic. It made for a very entertaining but nerve racking drive south. The amount of memorials on the road sides is a testament too how many accidents there are.
At days end we neared the Altai and the landscape immediately changed to high forested mountains and wide rivers full of rapids. This area is highly popular with Russians as a holiday destination and is dotted with log cabins known as “Dacha’s”, basically the Russian equivalent of a Bach. Finally arriving at the scenic village of Anoz, we had arranged to stay the night at a mountain lodge, complete with its very own sauna.
The next day we awoke, ready for a very long drive through the mountains, to our final destination near the Mongolian border. The main route through the area, the M52 was featured on the documentary series “Long way round” and provides stunning scenic views for most of its length. At the end of 12 hours of solid driving, with several drivers, we reached the last town of Kash Agech for our final refuelling and then a 60 km night drive off-road to our campsite.
Next morning, introductions all round, meeting other team members, Russian guides, scientists and support staff, then on to the briefing. Here it emerged that we would spend most of our time, surveying mountain ridges and forested valleys for signs of leopard, argali, ibex, fox and wolf. A days work would generally involved a 1-2 hour drive off-road to the study area, 4-6 hours of challenging trekking and a similar drive back home. Our home for the next two weeks was fairly primitive tents, long drop toilets and a homemade campfire heated shower, in a stunning valley surrounded by forest and peaks of 3000metres plus. All off-road drivers were instructed in responsible off-road driving along the lines of the Landrover experience course and their “Tread Lightly” motto. We were instructed in the 4wd system of the Landrover Defenders, the engine management system and how best to maintain traction in real world conditions. Our course included areas or rutted soil, clay tracks, engine braking on steep ascents/ descants and river crossings. The land consists mainly of wide grasslands with many small river crossings, generally fast flowing but shallow in depth.
The area being a world heritage site, is generally protected from development, and encompasses a vast area of grassland, mountain and forest. It is home to summer herders who mind their flocks and live in yurts (small round huts made of felt that are quickly and easily assembled). The region is crisscrossed by dozens of such trails, and there seems to be no regulations or where u can go off-road, as long as you do it responsibly.
The following day we started out surveys, this first introductory trip involved a 2 hour drive to the Argali valleys, an area known to be a good place to sight Argali, a type of wild sheep. The drive out involved for the first part driving on long highway like dirt trails and then crossing small rivers. Here we would usually use Low second and diff-lock engaged just to be sure, but on every occasion with good momentum the landrovers made the hazards look easy. Later in the drive the trails ended and we basically had to navigate our way through the braided rivers going on individual calls at what looked best. At one point the lead Landrover got bogged down in long grass, adjacent to a stream, but was easily recovered by the 2nd vehicle.
Getting to our destination, we kitted up for along, hard trek into the mountains, summiting at 2950m with wide views of the countryside. Some signs of ibex and argali were found, but no direct observation. Our return was trouble free, following our easy to see tyre prints, through the grass and riverbanks back to the well worn trails of the steppe.
On another day we engaged in an even longer drive to a mountain near the Mongolian border. The trail west involved some fast driving by our Russian guide over the wide flat steppe and then a series of fast ascents on small hills, ending with an extremely steep ascent of a hill taking us up to 2900metres! On the return I noticed that the lead vehicle was having to contend with wheel slippage and sliding, as it had not engaged low. The Russian guides seemed to have a habit of using speed or random steering to counter lack of traction. Possibly not the most responsible technique, as tyre marks on the mountain side attested too, but seemed to be effective. Our vehicle using low second was able to make the descent slowly but in full control.
On our day off from work, we took a trip to the sacred springs where apparently rejuvenating natural water, pumps directly out of a hillside. After a fill up of my water bottle, we continued driving to meet some locals at their yurts. We were given the full welcome with complimentary tea, bread and yes you guessed it, Altai vodka!
Altai people are extremely hospitable and welcoming of visitors to their land. We discussed sighting of animals with them and got some encouraging responses that a leopard had been seen that spring.
Nearing the end of our 2 week trip, a smaller portion of the group went off on an overnight excursion to a remote valley. We drove almost 3 hours along river banks far beyond the established tracks, and then on through slippery wet grass and river channels to a valley not far from the Mongolian frontier. A major bonus of the long drive was a sighting of a flock of Argali on the mountainside. Argali are a large species of wild sheep which is preyed upon by the snow leopard. Poaching had reduced numbers in recent years, so this sighting was very useful. Running extremely fast and sure footed, it was only major animal sighting of the entire trips, aside from seeing many small rodents, squirrel, jerboa and the like.
Despite deteriorating conditions, rain and hail we made it easily enough and using our intuition found the best routes to the valley planned for the survey. Temperatures had plummeted from the normal balmy dry heat of 20-30 degrees to a rather chilly less than 10 degrees. On our hike to some interesting glacial lakes, it even began to snow! Tends to show you how quickly alpine weather conditions can change, and how vital it is to be adequately equipped.
Camping the night we were subjected to freezing conditions but our campfire and vodka kept as warm enough! Our return was very similar, with the only exception encountering traffic on several river crossing, a series of UAZ Russian jeeps, whose drivers seemed surprised to see a convoy of near new defenders in a place where Lada’s are the usual transport!!
Time had come to head home and drive back to civilisation. The group was not tempted by the trip ahead, as the vehicles ergonomics left a lot to be desired. However memories of the relaxing sauna at the mountain hut in Anoz was enough to counter any discomfort on the drive back. A more relaxed drive back as this was the final expeditions for the year, enabled us to see more clearly the amazing woodlands and rivers of lowland Siberia on our return to Novosibirsk
On my return I felt inspired by all we had achieved in our effort to acquire data that would help to protect these amazing cats. Although it was a small effort, it all adds up and will help toward the establishment of a national park in this region. I also learned a great deal about off-road driving and how it can be used for the good of the planet, when undertaken responsibly.
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