IWN Daily Digest — Friday, 9 October 2026
India’s first high-altitude wildlife safari has begun in Ladakh, with the Union Territory’s Lieutenant Governor flagging off six vehicles on Wednesday for trips built around snow leopards, in a region that holds 477 of the country’s estimated 718 of the cats.
As reported by ThePrint (PTI):
“India’s first high-altitude wildlife safari in Ladakh has become a reality.”
The launch took place at Choglamsar Protected Forest in Leh, during Wildlife Week. The safari is run by the Snow Leopard and High-Altitude Nature Conservation (SHAN) Society together with the Department of Forest, Ecology and Environment of the Union Territory of Ladakh, and the government announced the decision on 5 August. The first routes cover Rumbak, Shang and Uley, villages where snow leopards are often sighted, with later routes planned across Hemis National Park, Changthang, Karakoram Wildlife Sanctuary and the Nubra, Zanskar, Sham, Kargil and Drass areas.
Guided and regulated visits are meant to curb illegal off-roading and disturbance to wildlife, while giving local young people a livelihood. The Lieutenant Governor put the balance this way:
“Wildlife should not be protected at the cost of people, nor should development come at the cost of wildlife.”
The same event added training in birdwatching for 20 local youth, with hides planned at birding hotspots, and a felting programme in which 50 women from Turtuk, Photoksar, Sangrah, Chushul and Shargole make wild animals out of wool.
Cheetahs Arrive
Over in Madhya Pradesh, the state’s chief minister released two cheetahs, named Vyom and Neera, into Veerangana Durgavati Tiger Reserve in Sagar district on Wednesday, on the concluding day of Wildlife Conservation Week, giving the state a third cheetah habitat.
As reported by ThePrint (PTI):
“Terming it a historic day for MP’s wildlife, he said the two big cats have been named Vyom and Neera.”
“He said two more cheetahs would be brought in to VDTR next month.”
The reserve joins Kuno National Park in Sheopur and Gandhi Sagar Wildlife Sanctuary in Mandsaur as a home for cheetahs in Madhya Pradesh. The reserve spreads over about 2,339 sq km across Sagar, Damoh and Narsinghpur districts, was notified as a tiger reserve on 20 September 2023 after merging with Nauradehi Wildlife Sanctuary, and has about 439 hectares set aside for the cheetahs, with enclosures and monitoring by the Forest Department.
The chief minister also released the Vulture Population Estimation 2026 report and a book on the reserve written in Bundelkhandi. India’s cheetah count now stands at 60, after five cubs were born at Kuno, up from eight when the cheetah project began in 2022.
Sources: ThePrint (PTI) · ThePrint (PTI)
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