ladakh three elusive
cats expedition (snow leopard, lynx & pallas’s cat)

Welcome to India. On arrival at Indra Ghandi International airport, our airport representative will receive you and take you to airport. Drive will take about 10 minutes. Checkin into hotel.

All flights to Leh departs early morning. Board flight to Leh. An hour flight to Leh the - capital town of Ladakh. View from flight is amazing, witnessing thousands of high peaks, glaciers and valleys. From Leh airport you will be picked by your tour guide and take you to hotel in Leh. Drive will be not more then 10 minutes. On arrival at hotel your guide will brief you about the process acclimatization, getting use to high altitude terrain and itinerary in details. Day complete rest in hotel with all meals.

Wakeup at dawn for coffee or tea, later drive half an hour drive to Thiksey monastery to attend morning prayer ceremony. This will be best experience to witness monks morning activities, prayer, briefing and teaching small monks. Monastery founded in 1400 by Sherab Zangpo of the yellow hat order. With a stunning 12-story Tibetan Buddhist complex in Indus Valley, resembles Lhasa’s Potala Palace and is known as "Mini Potala" for its architecture, housing ancient murals, statues (like a giant Maitreya Buddha), and sculptures, vital to the Gelugpa order, offering serene views and spiritual experiences. Overnight in hotel with all meals.

After breakfast drive an hour to snow leopard territory and checkin into wildlife lodge. After lunch set out with spotters to look for snow leopard.

This is how snow leopard tracking works.

Early Morning (6.30 AM): Expert spotters go out at sunrise to look for wildlife, like wild sheep, on the mountain slopes using high-powered scopes and binoculars.

Morning (7:00 AM): Guests wake up to hot coffee and tea. Guides share the morning's tracking news. If a Leopard is Found: You go straight to the spot to see it. Staff will even bring your breakfast to you so you don't miss anything.

Afternoon: Depending on where the animals are, you might also visit local villages. You can try traditional butter tea, hear local stories, and see how villagers protect their farm animals.

Evening: Return to base for drinks and a three-course dinner. You can relax and listen to stories about past expeditions under the stars.

Morning last session for snow leopard sighting. After breakfast drive back to Leh. Reach Leh hotel by lunch. After lunch rest for preparation for next part of the tour. Overnight in hotel with all meals.

Here we will make a base in Leh for another 4 nights and drive everyday for about an hour to Prime Lynx habitat known as Warila. We will spend whole day around warila, Changla and Shanglung. Evening back to hotel. Overnight in hotel with all meals.

Our spotters will be stationed nearby village around Warila which is a prime habitat for the Eurasian lynx, Tibetan wolf and Argali -The largest wild sheep in the world and various birds of prey. Each day, the spotter team will scout different valleys to scan the mountains. If there is a sighting, they will immediately inform us, and we must reach the location as quickly as possible. Our support staff will provide lunch, tea, and snacks in the field, and we will drive back to Leh in the evening. The area is also famous for its stunning monasteries and one of the highest motor-able pass Warila 5,312 meters (17,428 feet), so if no wildlife is spotted, we can always visit these cultural and scenic landmarks instead.

The drive will be about 6 hours from Leh including lunch and tea stops. Will stop 40 kms before handle to scan for Pallas cat. Later evening will continue drive to Hanle for Overnight in guesthouse.

Welcome to the Hanle basin - one of the most remarkable high-altitude cold deserts in the world. Over the next four days, we will explore the Changthang Wildlife Sanctuary, a sanctuary for rare and endemic species that have adapted to survive at altitudes above 4,300 meters. Our journey focuses on the elusive 'ghost of the steppe,' the Pallas's cat, but the landscape is teeming with other incredible predators and grazers.

Pallas’s Cat (Manul): Our primary target. Known locally as Ribilik, this small, stocky cat is famous for its thick, frosty fur and 'grumpy' expression. They are master camouflagers that live in rock crevices and abandoned marmot burrows. We will look for them primarily at dawn and dusk when they are most active.

Tibetan Wolf (Shangku): A powerful apex predator of the plateau. We may see them trotting across the plains in small packs or alone, often on the hunt for gazelles or young livestock.

Tibetan Sand Fox: Distinct from the Red Fox by its square-shaped face and greyish-tan coat, these foxes are often found near pika colonies, their main source of food.

Tibetan Gazelle (Goa): One of India's rarest mammals, with only a small population remaining. They are extremely shy and usually found on the high, windswept plateaus above 4,800 meters a place called Kalak Tar Tar.

Eurasian Eagle-Owl: One of the largest owls in the world. We will scan the rocky cliffs where they roost during the day and hunt at night.

Morning after breakfast we drive back about 6 hrs to Leh. Overnight in Hotel.

Morning after breakfast transfer to airport for your flight back to Delhi. On arrival in Delhi our airport representative you take you to hotel near airport. As per your international flight we will take you to internal airport for your flight back home.

Flight from Delhi to your onward destination. Tour concludes with unforgettable memories of Ladakh—its breathtaking landscapes and rare wildlife encounters including snow leopard, Pallas’s cat, and lynx.