Himalayan brown bear safaris in India – all you need to know about seeing one of the world’s rarest animals
New tourism venture hopes to increase awareness of the critically endangered species that is already extinct in Bhutan, and to provide employment and income for local people, in the second coldest inhabited place on Earth
We are up early, 5.30am. We have to be if we are to get into position to spot India’s largest predatory mammal, the Himalayan brown bear, before the sun rises.
Already extinct in Bhutan, the Himalayan brown bear numbers less than 200 in Pakistan. India could be the last remaining habitat with significant numbers although there are estimated to be between 500 to 700 left.
Skiing in Kashmir: Gulmarg resort is off-the-radar paradise of untouched slopes and breathtaking terrain
We’re in a small village near Dras, in India’s Kargil district of Jammu and Kashmir. Dras is best known for two things: being shelled heavily by Pakistan during the conflict of 1999 and for being the second coldest inhabited place on Earth. At -17 degrees Celsius, it’s a bracing start to the day.
The expedition we are on is the brainchild of two young men, Surya Ramachandran, a 27-year-old engineer turned naturalist from southern India, and Muzammil Hussain, a 31-year-old entrepreneur from Kargil. As a child, Hussain experienced the India/Pakistan conflict in 1999 first hand – bombs had landed in his schoolyard – and he was keen for the Kargil area to be known for something other than the war. Together in the summer of 2016 they scouted the region, observed the wildlife and put together a package, which involved the local community and provided much needed employment and exposure of the species’ plight.
Our group of eight – six friends from India, my wife and I from Hong Kong – gulp down some hot tea and line up outside the village house rented for our stay, dressed in every item of warm clothing we have carried.