‘Earth Still Has Precious Wild Places With Shy Tragopans And Curious Snow Leopards'

Environmental filmmaker Doel Trivedy has followed wildlife across the Sundarbans, the Western Ghats and the Himalayas. Writing in Times Evoke Inspire, Doel discusses what drives her to chronicle elusive species in their natural habitat, how she filmed a rare pheasant and an enquiring snow leopard — and how lion cubs nearly ate up her camera traps

A MAGICAL SIGHT: Camera traps filmed a magnificent snow leopard in Ladakh

It wasn’t morning yet. Inside my tent, I could sense the freezing chill outside. Yet, I stepped away eagerly from my sleeping bag. Standing at the camp site’s edge, looking at the valley in the forest below, I waited for the sun to rise. Dawn in the mountains is a special time, when the first rays of the sunlight up the tips of trees and the snowy peaks. Light fills all the shadows, the crags and crannies of the hills. I look forward keenly to a new day starting thus, amidst the songs of birds and the steaming coffee brewed on the campfire.

This morning was even more magical. We were in the Great Himalayan National Park (GHNP) in Himachal Pradesh, seeking to film the western tragopan. We’d been searching for this rare pheasant for two years — it had never been filmed in the wild. The western tragopan lives in the higher reaches of the Himalayas. A flagship species, the bird faces habitat loss and poaching. Scientists estimate there are now fewer than 5,000 tragopans left in the wild. For nature filmmakers, the idea of seeing one held great excitement.