As many as 90 endangered snow leopards have been recorded in Shey-Phoksundo National Park that spreads across 3,555 square kilometres in Dolpa and Mugu districts.

According to Bishwo Babu Shrestha, senior conservation officer serving the protected area, 90 snow leopards were found during the latest study of the species which is on the endangered species list of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). The Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation, supported by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), conducted a detailed study and assessment of the snow leopard population in Shey-Phoksundo National Park from 2019 to 2022.

A total of 319 camera traps were installed in the country’s largest and only trans-Himalayan national park and its buffer zone in 2019 to count snow leopards. According to the park officials, the conservationists started analysing data one year after installing the camera traps.

“Based on the most parsimonious spatial capture-recapture model, an abundance of 90 snow leopards was estimated with a density of 2.21 snow leopards per 100 km2 in Shey-Phoksundo National Park,” says the study report.

The Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation made public the study report coinciding with the World Wetland Day on February 2, 2024.

According to Chandra Jung Hamal, research and field programme officer at the WWF, the study was the first intensive research carried out using the latest technology to record wildlife in Shey-Phoksundo. He said the study also focused on prey abundance and density in and around the national park.

The government of Nepal and the WWF had carried out a study of snow leopards for the first time in Shey-Phoksundo National Park in 2009. There were an estimated 110 to 130 snow leopards in the national park then, said Shrestha.

Nepal is one of the 12 countries that hosts snow leopards. Their estimated population worldwide ranges from 3,921 to 6,290 while 350 to 500 snow leopards are believed to exist in Nepal.

Himalayan tahr, goral and blue sheep are the major prey for snow leopards. According to conservationists, there are more than 4,000 Himalayan tahr, goral and blue sheep members in the Shey-Phoksundo National Park and its vicinity.

Established in 1984 to preserve a diversity of flora and fauna, Shey-Phoksundo National Park has the highest population density of snow leopards in Nepal. According to Hamal, snow leopards are found in the national park areas in the elevation of 2,500 to 5,500 metres above sea level.

Shey-Phoksundo National Park straddles three local units of Dolpa—Shey Phoksundo, Dolpo Buddha and Jagadulla rural municipalities—and Mugum Karmarong Rural Municipality of Mugu district in Karnali Province. The national park is named after the historical Shey monastery and Shey-Phoksundo lake, the deepest lake of Nepal. This national park is home to other endangered species including grey wolf, musk deer, blue sheep, goral, great Tibetan sheep, Himalayan tahr, leopard and Himalayan black bear. According to the Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation, six species of reptiles, 29 butterfly species, and over 200 species of birds are found in the Shey-Phoksundo Park.

According to Shey-Phoksundo National Park, around 4,000 tourists—both domestic and foreign—visit the park area in a year. Shey-Phoksundo lake is the major tourist attraction in the area. A visitor reaches the lake by walking two days from Dunai, the district headquarters of Dolpa.