Chicham Day 4 - Day of the hope

 February 7th started extremely well. We got a wake up by our home tracker with some great news. 

There were two very probable sightings we could get. The first was the one above Kibber, where the cats were supposed to move down towards a herd of Blue Sheep as they hadn't fed in a week. The second was the sighting near Langza, just off the road. 

We got ready and headed up to the Gypsy. The morning shortness of breath was still there, but getting better.

The veterinarian was in town. All the yak had gathered to get checked. As we watched, we learnt that the locals fed their young Yak Mustard Oil, for heat. It was either poured down the throat or fed as cakes.

We were relaxed as there was no news yet from the trackers. They had left early, but had to travel a distance to reach the probable sighting areas. 

After a bit we headed out. Decision was taken to head for Langza. It was further away by road. But logic was that it was simpler coming back from there than driving up.

The road takes us down towards Kaza. And the we turn up towards Hikkem and Komic.

As we headed out, we saw the crowds lined up, watching Ibex.

 That was not for us. We were cat or nothing !! Our plans were to head down to Tabo the next day. Our flight out was for the morning of the 11th from Chandigarh. So we would stop a night at Tabo, the next at past Rampur and the get into Chandigarh evening of the 10th. Made the drives safer, what with snow and ice on the road. Plus there was increased police checking going on as there had been a fatal accident on the road the previous day.

At the junction where we had seen the Blue Sheep the previous day, we keep going straight instead of turning towards Komic.

The drive was brilliant. New terrain for us.

 By the time we got to Langza, it was well past midday. There had been no call from the trackers.

We got to the ridge point at Langza to be greeted by some serious wind. It was colder than what we had experienced earlier, even though the day was clear and the sun was on us. The wind was just brutal.

We also got to know that the trackers had lost the leopard down the ridge over the stony outcrop. 

A group of enthusiasts were there before us, with their paraphernalia. Frozen, but in hope that the leopard would come back.

The camera never came out. Hands stayed well entrenched inside the gloves. And, yet seemed freezing.

Had lunch in a small covered unit, which fortunately had a rudimentary heating system. Were able to get the gloves off to handle the spoon. Very quickly gave part of my rice to our tracker, before he could realize what was going on. Heard him complaining on excessive eating later.

Headed back to the Chicham Kibber area. Learnt that the leopards in the heights had come within photography distance. And, some had headed for the 4 hour climb. Had no regrets not doing that we the height we would have gone up to was more than Langza. Cannot believe it would have been a pleasure, even if we had seen the snow leopards close up.

Definitely feeling a bit sad that we had not seen the elusive cat. But not upset. The last four days had each been a different experience. The terrain had in itself been exhilarating. The drives, the Ibex, Blue Sheep and Red Fox, not to leave out the Raptors, were good enough for us.

Headed back to the homestay with our plans clear. 

We would get into the Gypsy, packed and loaded. The trackers would be asked to cover the immediate Kibber Chicham area and not move out. And, irrespective of sightings, we would head down towards Tabo by 1200.