In search of the elusive snow leopard

I climbed up a hill slowly to find a fabulous view: on the right, yellow swift current carrying soil washed down by rainfall ran through the grand mountains. On the left, the naturally formed Buddha statue at the top of the holy mountain sat in a clear blue sky facing another mountain shrouded by thick dark cloud. Before long, sunshine shone through so that one side of the mountain appeared bright and warm, and the other dark and cold.

Because of the altitude and the cold I got hungry very easily, so I went down the hill to eat a bowl of Tibetan noodles in a warm, white tent. Besides it were two rows of smaller tents in many different colors. The owner, a middle-aged mother of a 8-year-old girl, said it was the end of the tourist season here. In July and August the place was crowded with jolly visitors from outside, she said. The girl shyly handed me two candies. The musician Sonam Dargye played a Tibetan song on Mandolin for us.

Outside, it was nightfall and our return journey in the darkness on a dangerous road would take many hours, during which we might well pass hunting leopards hiding beside the road. Before I rushed back to the car, the owner said: "Come next year, we will take you to a wonderful place to see the animals."

Yet locals, who venerate nature, are not exactly keen on a tourist influx even if it benefits them financially, because they believe it will disturb the lives of wild animals, Tashi Dondrub said.

"They oppose the idea, saying the animals they used to see along the roads will not show up anymore."

Under development plans, 2 percent of the Three-River-Source National Park would be preserved for wildlife, and these areas would be off limits to the public.