May 2024
The snow leopard lives in some of the harshest conditions on Earth, where its thick grey-and-white coat renders it almost invisible against the rocky, snow-covered mountains of Central Asia. In the May issue of Geographical, Stuart Butler is on the tracks of this elusive ‘ghost of the mountains’ (as it is often known) in India’s Ladakh region, where snow leopard tourism is helping to support both the big cats and the residents of the remote mountain villages that live alongside them.
Also in this month’s issue: Mark Rowe reveals how targeting methane, the second most potent greenhouse gas, could buy us time while we get our act together and cut carbon emissions; photojournalist Tommy Trenchard meets the Indigenous rooibos farmers in South Africa who are finally getting a better deal for their crop; photographer Peter Caton reports on the situation in South Sudan, where conflict continues and aid is running out for refugees; and historian Katherine Parker charts the cartographic history of Mount Everest.
