You will see a lot of pictures from different places in this talk.
I will hold a talk on snow leopards and the adventures with this cat on 4 February. The talk is at 18:00 in Naturum Värmland in Karlstad, western Sweden. The talk is in Swedish and costs 60 kr. It is open to the public and you are very welcome to come and listen!
Please click here for more information: http://www.mariebergsskogen.se/bildpuff/foredrag/
Today, Swedish media company Mittmedia’s newspapers – including Dalarnas Tidningar, Gefle Dagblad, Sundsvalls Tidning and others – publish the first program in the new season of Vildriket, where I have the role of “the professor” talking about fascinating things in nature.
The program will be running weekly in the winter season. In the first program, I talk about when I saw snow leopards in the Himalaya.
Please see this link (in Swedish):
Click the picture to come to an order form.
You can now pre-order my book Snöleopard [Snow Leopard] which I have written together with the Swedish author and photographer Jan Fleischmann. It will be released in Swedish in mid October with an English version in the planning. Click here to come to an order form [in Swedish].
I was just reached by the sad news that Peter Matthiessen has passed away. I have not had the pleasure of meeting Peter Matthiessen, but reading his book “The Snow Leopard” from 1979 many years ago has inspired me to write my own book on the large cat of the mountains.
In “The Snow Leopard”, Peter Matthiessen journey together with biologist George Schaller to study blue sheep and maybe glimpse the elusive snow leopard as they travel the mountains of Nepal.
After reading Peter Matthiessen’s adventure I have always felt drawn to the high mountains. In 2012 I visited the Himalaya and was lucky enough to glimpse the cat in the wild.
Mine and Jan Fleischmann’s book “Snöleopard” (Snow Leopard) is due in Swedish in autumn 2014.
We have created a Facebook page for the snow leopard book, due in the fall of 2014. On the Facebook page you can read more on our work with the book as we will update it with our progress. Jan has just, for instance, come home from northern India seeing several snow leopards and getting really good pictures!
Please follow this link to come to the Facebook page on the book: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Sn%C3%B6leopard/721503767871043
The book will first be published in Swedish with an English version hopefully coming later.
I saw the Asiatic elephant in Rajaji National Park in January.
The year of 2013 was particularly eventful. Here is the story of some of the expeditions that I undertook and some of the work that I did in the past year.
On New Years Day 2013 I woke up in Sasan Gir near Gir National Park in India and had a morning tour seeing crocodiles and a lot of birds. I had, just the day before, spotted five Asiatic lionesses in the same national park. The expedition in India continued to the former Portuguese colony of Diu and then on to Rishikesh, Rajaji National Park and New Delhi after which it was time to get on an airplane to head back home – but there was one more stop along the way.
Qatar is the richest country in the world.
Qatar – the richest country in the world when measured as gross domestic product per capita – was the last step in the five and a half week expedition to Asia. I spent roughly twelve hours strolling the streets, mosques and skyscrapers of a nation built mostly on oil money.
I started working for the Swedish Carnivore Association as the regional coordinator from February. I work with supporting the organization’s regional forces in trying to save the large carnivores in Sweden. In my job I helped out to build a carnivore-proof enclosure for sheep, organized a lecture with a prominent ethologist where I also acted host of the event, organized many meetings, participated in events, writing newsletters and much more.
The European Parliament in Strasbourg in France.
Many years prior, I did learn how to use ice skates and 2013 was the year when I re-learned how to use them. I also developed my skills with the snowboard and started training Brazilian jiu-jitsu a little bit again after a long hiatus.
In April I traveled to Finland to explore its capital, Helsinki, for a day. Although it was rather cold the trip was a very nice experience.
Starting out with field work in early May, I scanned the forests for trees that have been eaten by moose for Svensk Naturförvaltning AB. This job took me through the counties of Värmland, Örebro, Södermanland, Stockholm and Dalarna.
I visited the Swedish Riksdag to learn more about the political game.
I traveled to Germany and France at the end of August and early September visiting the cities of Freiburg, Strasbourg and Berlin. Freiburg is known for its environmental initiatives while Strasbourg is home to the European Parliament and in Berlin I saw one of the strongest men in the world – a vegan; Patrik Baboumian – score a world record lifting and walking ten meters with a yoke weighing 555 kg.
A tradition in the fall is censusing otters and in September I set out with a team looking for tracks of the acrobatic aquatic animal. I was interviewed by both Värmlands folkblad and Nya Wermlandstidningen regarding the census. We found quite a lot of scats which is a good sign of that the otter is slowly but surely returning.
The International Snow Leopard Conservation Forum in Kyrgyzstan marked what could be a new era in snow leopard conservation.
Together with a class from my old school I visited the Swedish Riksdag (parliament) to learn more about how the political processes work.
Late in October I traveled to Kyrgyzstan to participate in the International Snow Leopard Conservation Forum. The forum was hosted by the president of Kyrgyzstan, Almazbek Atambayev. I also hiked up in Ala Archa National Park for one day and explored the capital of Bishkek. On the way back from Kyrgyzstan I had a full day in Istanbul in Turkey, exploring large parts of the city.
I have held five talks on carnivore conservation in 2013, in Uddevalla, Kristinehamn, Borås, Höör and Stöllet.
Fishes at Universeum in Gothenburg by the end of the year.
For the carnivore magazine Våra Rovdjur I wrote an article about the Asiatic lion after my meeting with the species in Gir National Park and also an article on the Iberian wolf based on an interview with researcher José Lopez and the snow leopard conservation forum that I participated in along with an interview of Brad Rutherford, director of Snow Leopard Trust.
Late in December I visited Universeum in Gothenburg and had a very nice and calm New Year’s Eve with fire and a clear night sky in the countryside of Skåne.
There is an article on the snow leopard forum 
in the latest issue of Våra Rovdjur (nr 4/2013). I interview Brad Rutherford, director of the Snow Leopard Trust for the article. The article is in Swedish. There is also an article on the Iberian wolf in the magazine where I interview José Lopez. You can read the full article on the Iberian wolf here.
Bishkek is the capital of Kyrgyzstan and lies just next to the vast Tien Shan mountain range.
On 19 to 26 October I traveled to central Asia to the country of Kyrgyzstan to participate in the Global Snow Leopard Conservation Forum.
Leaders from all twelve snow leopard range countries agreed to a declaration to save the species from extinction. The seminar was hosted by the president of Kyrgyzstan, Almazbek Atambayev in cooperation with organizations such as the World Bank, Snow Leopard Trust, Snow Leopard Conservancy, WWF, NABU and others.
One of many seminars and discussions at the Global Snow Leopard Conservation Forum discussing the conservation of the big cat.
The country delegations agreed on the final draft and the agreement was signed on 23 October. Along with the declaration, the countries also agreed on an action plan, the Global Snow Leopard and Ecosystem Protection Plan, which deals with specific plans on how the goal is to be reached.
After the forum I spent a full day in Ala Archa National Park. It is beautifully situated in the Tien Shan mountain range.
On my way back from Kyrgyzstan I stopped by in Istanbul in Turkey for a full day exploring the city. Situated just in between the Sea of Marmara and the Black sea, it is the connecting point between Asia and Europe. Exploring Istanbul was very nice although the city’s vast tourism industry takes a bit of the charm away from it.
I spent a full day walking around in Ala Archa National Park which is situated just 40 kilometers south of Bishkek. Some peaks reach to nearly 5 000 meters above sea level.
I am next to one of the signs of the forum.
On Saturday I held a talk about lynx biology at Nordens Ark for the Swedish Society for Carnivore Conservation. Some 50 people were in attendence in what was a great meeting. I thank Ingemar Pettersson for allowing me to use the picture.
The day after, on Sunday, I spent a few hours taking pictures of the snow leopards, again to complement our pictures of wild snow leopards. Irbis and Saheli were both up and about. I also saw the manul, or Pallas’s cat, for the first time. It is a hairy little cat which looks even more grumpy than a European wildcat.
I had a field day last Monday at Orsa Björnpark taking pictures of snow leopards to complement our pictures of wild snow leopards for the book on the species that we are working on. I was there for four hours and got some nice shots.
Meanwhile my colleague Jan Fleischmann is in Stockholm meeting people and doing interviews for the book. Work is progressing.
Jonatan Borling 