The Rumbak valley is the classic area, reached by road from Leh and then a walk in. Its side valleys hold both the cats and the blue sheep they hunt, and the village homestays are the accommodation.

The Ulley and Shang valleys are the other established areas, with Ulley in particular producing consistent sightings from a small cluster of homestays.

The blue sheep herds on the open slopes are the reason to be there and the key to finding cats — spotters watch the prey and the prey's reaction. Ibex, red fox, and Himalayan wolf are all possible on the same slopes.

The river valleys and cliffs hold golden eagle, lammergeier, chukar and the Himalayan snowcock, and the occasional Pallas's cat in the right country.

The season is winter, roughly February and March, when snow forces prey down and cats follow. Summer trekking here is spectacular and produces essentially no leopards.

Practicalities

Leh is reached by flight from Delhi, and it sits at around 3,500 metres — two to three days of acclimatisation before going higher is not optional, and altitude sickness is the most common reason trips fail.

Accommodation is village homestays, basic and warm, and the money goes directly to communities who now have a financial reason to tolerate a predator that takes their livestock. Bring far more warm clothing than you think you need: watching means standing still for hours at minus twenty.