I have been contracted by Panthera as one of a group of field technician in search of this elusive and almost extinct subspecies of leopard. Our goal is to establish the presence of the Arabian leopard and other wildlife in Saudi Arabia – at almost double the size of South Africa (2.15 million km2), the area is huge. The project has been going on for more than a year with the focus being in the west of the country from Jordan down to Yemen.
Arabian leopards have never been photographed in the wild other than a few camera trap shots taken in Oman some years back – together with Yemen these could be the last two countries with viable populations of this species – and even these are under threat. Once widespread and common across the peninsula, Arabian leopards have gone extinct in most countries across the region over the last few decades and the last known individual in Saudi Arabia was recorded dead, poisoned in the central parts of the country in 2014.
The project forms part of the vision 2030 initiative to diversify the countries economy. With centuries of human history in the area, unfortunately most of the wildlife populations have taken a hammering. Through camera trap studies (deploying hundreds of cameras) we have already found the presence of species like Honey Badger, Caracal, African Wild Cat, Ibex, Gazelles, Red Fox, Blandford’s Fox, Arabian Wolf and more – wildlife is just hanging on in the higher peaks of the bigger mountain ranges – this is great news but it makes our work hard as every day (with the odd break) we head out high up into the mountains, doing tricky 4×4 driving and long, grueling walks in extreme heat and over rugged terrain to achieve our aims of setting up cameras at predetermined locations – with the results, the modelling will give us presence/ absence data on certain species and densities of others.
The next few images with associated stories should give you some idea of the project so far with the focus on the area, the wildlife and the culture…
Image 3: Giant Pool in a ‘Wadi’ – deep in the middle of a dry area we found this magic pool which was deep and made for the most refreshing swim!
Image 4: View from my room in Najran. We are 10km from the Yemen border and 3 of the days we have heard gun fire and things being blown up. The Iran backed Houthis (Shiite Muslims) are trying to overthrow the Yemen government. They are also firing drones into Saudi (Sunni Muslims) to try and blow up the Oil Reserves and airports, but they are being intercepted. Here a parade of part of over 100 army vehicles make their way towards the Yemen border. I am not sure about the reason for the war but that’s what I know at this stage.
Image 5: Shashuka – breakfast with Abdullah, local Saudi leopard specialist and Dr Andrew Spalton (Arabian leopard specialist)
Image 6: We have already spent weeks climbing the mountains. Some days we do over 20km in rough terrain. Here it was another hot day at 38’C and high humidity. It’s really tough on the body and especially on the shoes. Top hiking brands get destroyed in a matter of weeks and at best 3 months.
Image 7: I love the way the locals dress. Camels are to a Saudi, what cows are to an African.
Image 8: Goats are everywhere but this was one of the largest groups – lots of human/ wildlife conflict over the decades with leopards/ wolves/ striped hyenas.
Image 9: View (looking the other way) from my room in Najran.
Image 10: Love the presentation of fruit – a fresh fruit juice will be about 14 Riyals (R60/ $4) but a nice burger can be half that price.
Image 11: Only primate of Saudi – Hamadryas baboon.
Image 12: Mountain walking – closest town is Hadada
Image 13: I am a shorts kind of guy but for respect we have to wear long pants – came across some locals who insisted I take a shot with their belt and knife.
Image 14: We ended up driving through Mecca (Makkah) by mistake. Only Muslims are allowed in but we embraced the moment and as I was the driver (second car in convoy) I managed a half decent photo – what a beautiful city though with the grand Mosque and all. As it was one of my first days in Saudi I was a bit nervous.
Image 15: Price of diesel is about R2 a litre!!!!
Image 16: We are careful not to park our cars in Wadis if there is rain around – this is what can happen.
Image 17: We caught this Uromastyx – amazing critters!
Image 18: This was the end of the hardest day out there…we ascended from about 700m to a point to set up a camera trap at a height of 1700m – as we got there a huge thunderstrom came out of nowhere – we were exposed on the mountain and ran for our lives (literally no place to hide) as we made our way to lower ground. At that moment an Arabian wolf shot out of the bush and we tumbled down after it, using it as a sign for the escape route as a bolt of lightning struck where we had just been moments before and then the hail came down – it was a spiritual moment. I can’t remember ever pushing myself to the max like that, in shear panic! If you don’t believe me, maybe the shoes with the thorns and burs tell a better story! The next 2 days I spent stiff and sore and picking out thorns and still my clothes are not the same more than a week later!
Image 19: Felt at home seeing these mandarins from South Africa at a store in Abha.
Image 20: This man sells Miswak – its a nice taste to chew on and like the Magic Guarri bush in South Africa, you can use it to clean your teeth – once you chew it, it forms bristles.
Image 21: Farmers are friendly – we cracked an invite for lunch and were given some honey – such a treat after a long day of walking.