In March 2008, Chengdu Business Daily reported that a Lama in Zhenda Township, Shiqu County of Sichuan Province took a video of the snow leopard with his home video camera. Although it was very vague, experts confirmed it was a snow leopard. It is said that this is the first video of wild snow leopard in China. In addition, my photography friend Mr. Lu Linglong, a famous Chinese adventure photographer who had been searching snow leopard  in Shiqu for many years, said he had not been able to sight any snow leopard at all. I began to be interested in snow leopard.

        A few years later, I read the book The Snow Leopard, written by famous American writer Peter Matthiessen. It's about his journey with the world-famous naturalist George Schaller to find  snow leopard in Nepal. His writing was beautiful and vivid, making people feel like being on the spot. I read through it in one go and thought this would be my dream experience! The idea of pursuing the snow leopard took root in my mind. The book's Chinese version is done by a Taiwanese translator with high quality. I often recommend it to friends who like outdoor and adventure.

        In 2015, I heard that Beijing University's Shanshui Conservation Center had done a lot of research on snow leopards in Zaduo County, Qinghai Province, and many people had seen snow leopards, so I invited Zhang Ming (right), a quasi professional in wildlife, to explore there togather.

        Looking up information online, Zaqing Township in Zaduo county is known as the hometown of snow leopard. So we went straight to Zaqing township. There was a bronze snow leopard statue on the township square. There were continuous bare rock mountains and many blue sheep. It felt like a typical habitat of snow leopards, but how to find them? The mountain is so big and vast! We  tried seek advice from local villagers. Unfortunately,  the old people  almost can't speak Chinese, young boys did not have experience about snow leopard.

        Back to the county, there was more information about snow leopards. It seemed that everyone knew where there were snow leopards. Some said Addo Town, others said Moyun Town and Chadan Town. We chose to go to Moyun Town and drove more than 100 kilometers of dirt road for a day. There were several families and a temple next to the township government. The people in the township government were very nice. After knowing that we were photographers, they let us stay in office room in which there were steel wire beds. We had our own sleeping bags with us.

        We ate highland barley cake and yogurt at the home of a herdsman near the township government for dinner. His son, who went to school in Xining, acted as an interpreter for us. The old herdsman had lived there all his life and had never seen a snow leopard. He just heard that the snow leopard killed yaks in winter. The mountains here were relatively flat, without bare rock, unlike the habitat of snow leopard.

    In the 7 days, we got nothing about the snow leopard, and felt that we had no hope of finding the snow leopard even if we were given more time.

    In Zaqing, we saw nine wolves, which was the best thing of the trip.

        Two years later, one day in August 2017, I went to Balang Mountain pass to photography the Grandala in sea of highland flowers. Several photographers were already there. One of them was Lu Linglong, whose beard face was easy to identify.

        We didn't know each other before. I took the initiative to say hello and asked him what he had taken recently? He said that he was investigating the snow leopard in Shiqu County and would  start photographing the snow leopard next year. I asked if I could go with him. He said yes, but it was very arduous. I asked for Mr. Lu's phone number. Coincidently his 11- digit mobile phone number has only two digits different from mine, and our Chinese zodiac signs are the same--dragon, only he is one round older than me.

        I think this is fate. I also believe in Mr. Lu's exploration ability and influence and connection in Shiqu. I am determined to search snow leopards with Mr. Lu. In order to show my determination and sincerity, I offered a SUV  for Mr. Lu to use in Shiqu. When I am free, I will fly to Yushu, the nearest airport to Shiqu, so as to save travel time. It takes two days to drive from Chengdu to Shiqu County one way.

        In May 2018, Mr. Lu set out for Shiqu. The  Shiqu County Govenment sent Zeren DengZhu as the driver and assistant. He was Mr. Lu's assistant in photographing the "Sun Tribe" series of picture albums in Shiqu for 10 years.

        I got up at 4:00 on June 2, 2018 and went to Chengdu Shuangliu Airport at 5:00. The flight at 6:00 flew to Yushu and arrived at 7:30. The plane had to cross a high mountain area before descending. It was very bumpy and even the flight attendant felt uncomfortable. It is said that in bad luck, the plane couldn't land and would have to fly back to Chengdu.

        Mr. Lu, Zeren DengZhu, and JiangDeng Zeren,Secretary of Dilikong village where we were going to, met me at the airport. JiangDeng offered me Hada. Tibetan friends are very particular about dress and ceremony.

Yesterday, they had bought a lot of things in Yushu city, including a whole box of eggs, a big bag of cabbage, a big bag of highland barley powder, a big bucket of purified water…and filled the trunk of the SUV.

        Not far from the airport, we took a narrow path and went straight to the Jinsha River, This area is the junction of Qinghai, Tibet and Sichuan. Drive through an iron cable bridge on the Jinsha River and enter the boundary of Sichuan. The dirt road beside the river was rugged and narrow, and some sections that were often repaired after landslide were dangerous.

        This is the place where Yao Maoshu was died in drifting along the Yangtze River on July 23, 1985. It looks calm now. In the summer rainy season, the current is swift and treacherous 

        The local people set up a prayer flag pillar here to commemorate Yao.

        We drove from the airport for nearly 3 hours to Dilikong village, parked the car at Jiangdeng’s house, unloaded the food to be taken up to the mountain, put them on motorcycles, and then rode into the deep parts of a ravine

        After nearly an hour by motorcycle, we came to the place where the herdsmen were stationed during the season to dig caterpillar fungi. This was the cabin of the Jiangdeng family.

        We planed to stay here for one night and go up the mountain the next morning. Unexpectedly, it began to snow in the evening. The next morning, the hillside was covered with snow, so we had to stay for another day.

        On the morning of the third day, the snow melted. We  started off  early in the morning. There were six horses. A lot of light goods were tied on horseback first, then they chose a strong and gentle horse for me to ride. It will take us about six hours to climb 1000 meters vertically. We had two breaks on the way when they unloaded the goods from the horses and let the horses rest for a while. The herdsmen took good care of their livestock.

        We met blue sheep on the way frequently. They are the favorite food of snow leopards.

        When we  went through some pass, Tibetan assistants sprinkled "wind horses", some color paper printed with scriptures, to pray for good luck for us.

        Around 3 p.m., we finally came to the 5000 meter ridge, which was the place where we would camp for a week. There was no grass, all piles of stones and no flat ground. The assistants chose three places and  made three small platforms to set up tents. Mr. Lu and I each had a tent, and the three assistants shared a slightly larger one.

        Several Tibetan assistants went down the mountain with horses. They would pick us up a week later. There was no cell phone signal here, and the distance was too far to use walkie talkies. So, in case of anything happaning, we could only rely on ourselves.

        Mr. Lu, three assistants and me, total 5 people, would stay here for 6 nights and 7 days. The three assistants were:

Zeren Dengzhu, who worked with Mr. Lu for several years 10 years ago, was born in highland, has a strong body, excellent driving skills and good in both Chinese and Tibetan.

Jiangdeng Zeren, secretary of the Dilikong Village, knows the mountain like his backyard.  He loves wild animals. He had installed many infrared cameras, knew where snow leopards were, and could speak a little Chinese.

        Angjiadeng, an accountant in the village, was a honest and down-to-earth man, and could hardly speak Chinese.

        Mr. Lu Linglong was nearly 70 years old, he was still quick of foot on the high mountain. He went up on the last steep slope by himself, but I really could not walk up. I rode on my horse and let my assistants to drag the horse up

        On my third day on the high plateau. I came to the top of the barren mountain. The altitude reaction was serious. I had to stay in the tent reading to kill the time.

        The first morning on the mountain, I got up early, set up camera and quietly waited for the snow leopard to appear

        After waiting for more than two hours, I came up with an idea to let Dengzhu and Jiangdeng go in the opposite direction of our goal to see if there were traces of snow leopard activities, such as killed blue sheep. Half an hour after they left, Angjiadeng suddenly became restless and waved to Mr. Lu and me. We guessed he saw some animal, but we didn't understand what he saw and in what direction. He had to run up to tell us. But we still could not see anything. We wanted him to point the camara lens to the animals he found. He could't understand, and he did not know how to  use the camera. We were sure that he had seen a snow leopard.

        He ran back and forth, the snow leopard found us and turned away. The whole process lasted a few minutes, and we did not saw the snow leopard. When Dengzhu came back, we got to know what had happened. The snow leopard appeared 150 meters away from us and on the side of a pile of stones on the ridge. Mr. Lu and I just couldn't see it from our positon. We needed to move  to see it. It was useless for us to let him point out the direction. 

Later, Dengzhu and Jiangdeng went to the place where the snow leopard appeared to check. The snow leopard left feces there and melted the snow.

        If Dengzhu was there at that time, he could quietly told us move to the right position, and we might have photographed the snow leopard on the first day. We missed a great opportunity! Everyone just felt a little sorry and didn't complain about my idea to let them go out for inspection. We have a consensus that photographing wild animals is unpredictable like this. Don't regret for any decision  made.

        We cooked all the eggs before going up the mountain. The temperature on the mountain was low and food wouldn't go bad. Other foods were instant noodles, fried dough sticks, pickled mustard, cans, etc. there was a gas stove for outdoor activities that can boil water. I didn't have water to wash my face and teeth. I brought a bottle of mouthwash and rinsed in the morning and evening. Jiangdeng gave each person a piece of caterpillar fungi every morning, which was dug up a few days ago. We hope this miracle medicine of the high plateau could help us through these hard days.

        In the next days, it was very hard for me. My face was swollen, and my lips cracked. I had a headache,  couldn't sleep all night, and I was annoyed by the sharp stones under the thin cushion. Sometimes I suddenly felt very cold and trembled uncontrollably... Mr. Lu asked me if I could continue staying on the mountain top several times. If I feel too bad, we could go down earlier than planed.  I also hesitated, but on second thought, it's not easy to come up once. If I retreat halfway, I can't come up again. My dream of photographing snow leopard will never come true. I noticed Jiangdeng took some medicine every day. I asked him what it was. The answer was headache powder etc. It was hard even for local people on such a high altitude. I asked for some to eat. It had an immediate effect. I slept well at night and came back to life the next morning.

        One day there was a heavy snow, and the surrounding view changed greatly.

        Unfortunately, the snow leopard never appeared again. The day before we went down the mountain, we took some pictures and kept them as a remembrance. Angjiadeng went down earlier to arrange the horses for next day.

        On June 9, 2018, the last night on the mountain, it began to snow again. In the morning, there was snow and fog everywhere. There was no signal on the mountain. I didn't know if the people who picked us up can get there? At about 10 a.m., a whistle came from the foot of the mountain. Mr. Lu said that it was them. This was one of the ways for herdsmen to communicate in the wild, which was called Tibetan paging. After nearly an hour, several figures appeared from the fog. I was glad they arrived on time. I really wanted to go down the mountain.

    They were tired

        After a break, they began to dismantle the tent, pack up their belongings and pack everything, including garbage.

        I took a picture with Mr. Lu. Thank him for bringing me to this unforgettable experience.

        In snowy days, horses couldn't get on the steep rock slope. The assistants brought down everything  on their back  a vertical distance of 200 meters.

        I need to go down by myself. It's not easy to go up the steep slope and it's difficult to go down too. 

Finally, we went down to the scree slope. Everyone was very tired, so we had a rest

        Riding on my horse and going down is victory for me.

        At the bottom of the mountain, we changed to motorcycle from horse. The horses are released with all load. They roll on the ground. They are happy to complete the task.

        It's much faster to go down the mountain. We returned to the village at 5 p.m. and arrived at Yushu city in late evening. I' flew back to Chengdu at 10 a.m. on June 10.

        After returning to Chengdu, I suffered the recurrence of hernia. It was caused by the hardships of this period on the high mountain, and needed a repair surgical operation. 

        A few days later, Mr. Lu  went up the mountain again. This time, the camp was selected on the ridge opposite to the last camp. It was 4500 meters above sea level, with shrubs and many trees. There was a large bare rock mountain 600 meters away. It was the place where  snow leopards activates were captured by infrared camera many times.

        On July 9, Mr. Lu called me. He  photographed a snow leopard! It's was far in distance. I had hernia surgery on July 11. Just out of the operating room, Mr. Lu called again and told me he photographed the snow leopard in the flowers, about 100 meters away. In the next few days, they saw snow leopards almost every day.

        I couldn't wait anymore.  Regardless of the pain in the surgical wound, I flew to Yushu again on July 21. Mr. Lu and Deng Zhu met me at the airport. We went up the mountain that day. The conditions was much better this time. The terrain was not so steep and there was plants and trees. I felt that the oxygen content was much higher. The altitude reaction was not sever as last time. It rained every day. You could wash your face with  water collected by waterproof coat.

        A base camp was built 200 meters away from the hidden tent, where the support staff cooked and ate. There was a large gas tank and high pressure cookers. The living conditions was much better. 

        But this time we were facing a new challenge. In low altitude and forest areas, bears haunt. We often saw Tibetan brown bears  walked on nearby hillsides. Brown bears are the most dangerous wild animals on the Qinghai Tibet Plateau We stipulated that we couldn't go out alone after dark. 

        We had a new assistants this time,  Shilong ZeRen. He used to be a hunter, and knows the habits of animals very well. He has good eyesight, can speak a little Chinese, and always asked me "cold?", "tired?" That makes my heart warm.       

        On the afternoon of July 23,  5 PM on the third day of waiting, ShiLong Zeren rushed to my hidden tent and said "snow leopard, snow leopard". He looked at the upper part of rock mountain more than 600 meters away with my camera for a long time, but didn't see the snow leopard. He was sure it was there. He asked me not to move the camera and kept my eye on that area. I kept staring at the viewfinder. After more than 20 minutes, there was finally something out of the rock, a snow leopard! Sure! This is the first time I saw and photographed the snow leopard! It took less than five seconds from its appearance in the viewfinder to its disappearance.

        It began to rain heavily and the light was very dark. We had to withdraw to our base camp. After a while, the rain stopped and a magnificent rainbow appeared, like a gate to heaven!

More blogs will come.