Frequently Asked Questions

Snow leopard tours happen during wintertime, from November right up to April. For the last twenty years, most tours were in February and March. People always thought mating season meant more snow leopard movement, giving higher chances of seeing them. Now, because more people want to see snow leopards and we have more experienced trackers with best equipments, we know something new. You can spot these cats just as easily from autumn through spring. Actually, checking all our data tells us that even mating can be a bit unpredictable. When a female is ready to mate, she calls out and leaves scents on rocks. This attracts male snow leopards nearby.This does bring more snow leopards to one spot. But it doesn’t guarantee the female will be easy to view or in our specific tracking zones.Sometimes, all the mating activity can even clear out an area completely, causing a "dry spell" with no sightings for a while. However, many snow leopards mate around the same time. So if one area is quiet, our teams in other areas might still see cats mating. We make sure all our teams, even other tour operators and specialists, talk to each other. This helps us plan well for great sightings.You can see these shy cats in the summer too, but sightings are much less frequent and they are usually much further away. Winter is the top time because the snow is deep higher up in the mountains, so the leopards move down to lower altitudes where it's easier to find them.

We use the best available optic in the world which is Swarovski BTX 95 scopes. All our spotters are equipped with Swarovski scopes and binoculars. We mount the scopes on Manfrotto tripod with video head. All our guests are excess to our scopes. For our snow leopard trips in Ladakh, we keep at least 4 spotting scopes for every group of 8 guests. This means there is one scope for every two people. Since we focus on photography tours, at least half of the guests usually bring big cameras and lenses. When we spot a snow leopard, these photographers stay busy with their cameras and don't really use the scopes. Because of this, almost every guest who is not a photographer gets their own scope to watch the leopard comfortably.

Being born and brought-up in the snow leopard territory, we understand the habitat more then any other tour operator. All our trackers and guides are from Hemis National High Altitude Park and other parts of Ladakh with more then decades of experience finding leopard and other wild mammals. Our spotters helped finding leopard and does camera trapping for award winning documentaries like BBC planet earth and National Geographic Hostile Planet and many more home documentaries.

Ladakh is considered the Snow Leopard Capital of the World, offering the best chances to see these rare cats in the wild. It is home to approximately 477 snow leopards, which is about 68% of India's total population. The region has a well-established network of experienced local trackers and naturalists who have worked for decades to monitor and protect these animals. Unlike other remote habitats that require days of trekking or driving, Ladakh's prime sighting spots are accessible from the regional capital, Leh within one hr to 2 hrs max. Besides snow leopards, you can also see other rare high-altitude wildlife like the Tibetan wolf, Himalayan lynx, pallas cat and more-then five different spices of angulates.

Touch wood, till now we managed to show snow leopard lot all our guests who come for snow leopard expedition. We never guarantee that you will see snow leopard for 100% but expedition with us using the best spotters with best spotting scopes, years of experience, staying in the best habitat, understanding their behaviour, habitat and prey result a great chance of seeing snow leopard in the wild.

Best time for snow leopard expedition is winter season which is November till April. Elite Expedition is best tour operator because we use the best property with centrally heated lodges in the prime habitat. With the temperature outside minus 20 we maintain room temperature plus 19 to 22 so that guests sleep comfortably. Your rooms will be provided with hot water bags inside your bed for extra comfort and humidifier in each room. Click here for checklist for more details.

Camera: DSLR or mirrorless cameras with high resolution give you the flexibility to crop images without losing detail.

Telephoto lens: 500mm or 600mm with 1.4 tele converter   is ideal but good to have 800mm. Using a teleconverter can increase the focal length further, allowing you to photograph from a safe distance.

Backup camera: Carrying a second camera ensures you’re covered in case of equipment failure.

Tripod: Essential for stability, especially with long lenses or in low light.

Maintenance gear: Keep lenses, sensors, and contacts clean to avoid fog or smudges sharp images are crucial when a snow leopard appears.