Thrill Of The Unexpected thehindu.com

While being taken to watch animals in the wild is exhilarating, one cannot but long for the surge of excitement that chance encounters bring.
As I turned the focusing ring of the spotting scope, the two came into view. “Two cubs! They have been here since morning,” said my colleague from Leh.

The cubs were of snow leopards and were perched on a small flat projection in a rocky mountain ahead of us. They seemed unaware of the attention they were getting, and the great excitement they were causing. A host of tourists had gathered around three spotting scopes set up at vantage points. The cubs were, of course, oblivious to our presence; only powerful lenses could bridge the great distances that separated us.

We were in Leh, in March this year, and on the second day of our trip, we got news of the leopards that were spotted a little below Ulley village, in the Sham region of Ladakh. We set off post-lunch, a mixed group of Ladakhis and ‘down ke log’ (as non-Ladakhi Indians are referred to). We parked our vehicle on the road below Ulley and walked as briskly as we could, to the group of tourists and locals who had already gathered to watch the cubs for the past few hours.