Quest for the Firefox

The Red Panda Is a Recluse Who Prefers the Trees to the Ground and the Night to Daylight. Sumeet Keswani Goes in Search of the Endangered Creature in the Eastern Himalaya

- Sumeet Keswani

We all know Po, the adorable giant panda who became the most unlikely Dragon Warrior in all of animated kung-fu history. But who was Master Shifu, morphologically speaking? And what’s that animal on the logo of your browser, Mozilla Firefox? You’ve seen the red panda represented in many forms, but you’ve never really seen it in its habitat. And you probably won’t, unless you’re ready to brave rugged mountain terrain, freezing temperatures and regular disappointment on long, arduous treks. Which is what I’m doing, as I embark on a quest to photograph the red pandas of Singalila National Park in Darjeeling district, West Bengal.

Finding a red panda a.k.a. firefox (cue realisation) in the wild is tough, hence local knowledge is essential to the mission. That’s why I’m here with the team of UNIQUES, a travel company that conducts wildlife photography tours with a focus on rarely sighted species like the red panda, fishing cat, Phyr’s leaf monkey, rufous-necked hornbill, hoolock gibbon and snow leopard. The five-hour drive from Bagdogra airport to our homestay is rich in gorgeous, green tea estates, and the rocky road on the last stretch is effectively the Indo-Nepal border—the steep, forest-covered slope on its right being Indian territory and the one on the left, Nepal. At an altitude of over 2,900m, our homestay, Habre’s Nest (habre is Nepali for red panda), is on the left side of the road so it falls in the neighbouring country. It’s one of the two houses that make up Kaiakatta village. Night falls early here, aided by clouds that swallow the sun before the mountains can. It’s 5pm and the birds are already home.