The following is an account of a snow leopard spotting near Ulley village, written by students James B. and Dzenan C.

July 16
3 km from the small village of Ulley

Today we — a group of young Putney students and their leaders — spotted three majestic snow leopards, a rare sighting under the heat of the mid-July Ladakhi sun. Dzenan accounted: “It truly was captivating. After hiking for hours, seeing a snow leopard was really invigorating.” James had an interesting perspective on seeing the “Shans,” as the Ladakhis would call them: “The ghosts of the mountains are elusive and rare. We were truly lucky to see them.” We’re not sure whether or not we’ll see the snow leopards again, but one thing is for sure: we certainly enjoyed the opportunity of joining the lucky few in seeing Ladakh’s apex predator.