The snow leopard, known as the ghost of the mountains, is an elusive predator that has captured the human imagination for eons. Yet, by nature secretive, living at altitudes of up to 19,000 feet in one of the world's harshest environments, it is notoriously difficult to see. Ismail Shariff, one of those lucky enough to encounter one, speaks of the experience as momentous, transformative, even spiritual. #SnowLeopard, #Hemis, #WildArt.Works, #IsmailShariff, #Wildlife

The first solar eclipse of 2020 took place today, Sunday, June 21, 2020. Observers in India got the chance to see a dramatic celestial spectacle – a spectacular ‘ring of fire’ in the sky produced by the Moon and the Sun. Here’s all you need to know about this amazing and rare astronomical event. Were the Moon just a wee bit closer - 379,100 rather than 381,500 kilometres away - Earthlings would have been treated to a total blackout, visible at a given spot on our planet about every 400 years.

The arrival of a tiger, it’s true, is often preceded by moments of rising tension, because a tiger’s presence changes the jungle around it, and those changes are easier to detect. Bird calls darken. small deer call softly to each other. Herds do not run but drift into shapes that suggest some emerging group consciousness of an escape route. A kind of shiver seems to run through everything, a low hum that sounds — literally, in the murmured Hindi conversation of the guides — like tiger, tiger, tiger. This zone of apprehension follows the tiger as it moves. Often, the best way to find a tiger is to switch off your engine and listen. You might then hear, from a distance, the subtle changes in pitch and cadence that indicate a boundary of the zone. But even then, it is impossible to predict where, or if, the tiger will appear.

#WildArt.Works, #Wildlife, #Photography, #Tiger

Choti Tara (also called Gauri) is a beautiful and big tigress in her prime, at around 7 years of age then. She was born to her mother Tara in a litter of four. Choti Tara has a confident air about her and a very calm demeanor, yet when you see her you can sense you are in the presence of a mighty tigress. She is tough, and has been in fairly brutal fights with other tigresses, notably with the Ambat Heera female. Choti Tara has a big territory now and covers the area from close to Kolara gate & Jamni village, towards Kosaikanar, Jamunbodi, Chital Road, and until the Tadoba Guest House, Tar Road. She has a radio collar around her neck which gives her the name “Collarwali“ or the Collared Tigress.

A four and a half hour drive from Bhuj, deep in the arid desolation of Kutch, lies an island in the salt pans. Here the ruins of a 5000 year old mega city from the times of the Indus Valley Civilization, known locally as Kotada timba, were discovered. Located on the Khadir bet island in the Great Rann of Kutch - Dholavira - is one of the five largest Harappan sites, the grandest city of its time and the most prominent site in India.