GYAMO –QUEEN OF MOUNTAINS

The documentary titled “GYAMO- QUEEN OF MOUNTAINS” was picturized on female SNOW LEOPARD in the mountains of Himalayas. This documentary was filmed by Riverbank Studio with MIKE PANDEY (Wildlife conservationist and Filmmaker), GAUTAM PANDEY (Director and Cameraman) and DOEL TRIVEDY (Writer, Director, and Producer) and with other Crew members.

The documentary is filmed initially in the winter season at the mountains of Ladakh where the Team has spotted female snow leopard with her two cubs in the mountains but soon she left the territory for the safety of her Cubs, due to the presence of male Cat. After some months when the summer started in Leh, Father and son duo come back with their team to find out the trail of GYAMO and Her Cubs.

Though it’s a short documentary film but after watching it you will find yourself close to wildlife and you will get to know why snow leopards are so absolutely magnificent.

The team has faced many challenges to finding out this trail of GYAMO and their two cubs. First, they have to acumalatize themselves in the climate of Leh and the main challenge was to track the marks of snow leopards on a height of 17000ft. by placing the hidden cameras and the flashlight sensor.

Without the help of local villagers like Mr. Norbo and his family, it is very difficult to find snow leopard they are very well known about this and Mr. Norbo is also a very good animal tracker. To track snow leopards they have to follow the path of Ibex and blue sheep’s which will show the area of snow leopards. They went at the top about 16,300 ft. above and kept the camera trap to capture snow leopard.

About 2 million square kilometers of Himalayan ranges are covered with snow leopards and this film is documented on a small area of Himalayan ranges to track down one of the snow leopards. The territory of snow leopards goes behind through the Afghanistan, Bhutan, and Mongolia as they can move anywhere to find the best home for themselves.

After some weeks, they came up where they have kept the camera trap to capture snow leopards and finally they succeeded they have captured Gyamo and her one cub in the video before the camera shuts down.

Snow leopards are still being hunted, some are alive for their skin and thus it led to the revenge killing. Due to this the natural habitat are getting disturbed, snow leopards often come down to villages for finding food and this led to the degradation of life stock.

Tsewang Namgil of snow leopard conservancy trust is working on to protect the livestock and reduce the revenge. The community shares their resources with snow leopards to help them. They have kept the life stock under the area which is covered with a wire roof.

The Himalayas are not only famous for mountains and natural beauty but also it is the habitat of one of the most beautiful endangered species like Snow Leopards.

Kudos to whole team, their effort to bring out the lifecycle, behavior, Relationship with humans and conservation of declining snow leopard to Global Forum through story of GYAMO is remarkable.

Watch out this wildlife documentary on Animal planet.

For more films and info please visit www.riverbankstudios.com

Swikriti