Until We Meet Again, My Friend...

Chapter 1: In the Beginning

I finally got off the plane in Nepal's capital, Kathmandu, and drove for a couple hours to the base of the Himalayan Mountains. I was about to embark on a 2 year journey of tracking and gathering data on the world's most elusive cat: the snow leopard. To be honest, I had no idea what I was getting myself into. I was from a small town in Texas and prior to this assignment, I was studying bats in Northeastern Texas. This is was a huge step up from that experience.

I had only heard rumors of this cat in the wild, although I've seen plenty of them in captivity. And as a little kid, I vowed to myself, "I will get you home... You can be free, your family will stop being made into fashion statements, and your home will be restored. Snow will fall gracefully again, the sun will shine, and the rain will fall ever so gently. You are safe as long as I live!"

And with that vow, 15 years later, I am finally going to fulfill what I said. My journey starts with a little casual campsite: a tent for ten people, a water bottle, food, and a sleeping bag, a rain fly, camera crew, a guide (to help me with the native people who live in local villages), and my trusty map. I need all of these things to help with my expedition. In the next two years, we are scheduled to be in eight different local towns. We are to spend three months in each, and they are to help us on our journey with freshness of water and food.

"Yama" I say, "Where is the nearest campsite?"

"It is just one mile to the west and is approximately 3,000 feet away from the most local village."

"Dhanyabad," I say. It means, "Thank you," in Nepali.

As we approach the campsite, we see beautiful rolling hills, a distant village, and the Himalayas. It is summer now, so the grass is more fruitful, and the vegetation is flourishing. I get so  lost within the wonder's of God's handy-work, that I fall asleep in the tent followed by Yama, Josh, and Mark, (my camera crew).

I then awake in the early morning only to hear a howl! A call, a desire, a yearning. I wake the team up, and we set off on foot with cameras in hand, the sunrise putting its make up on, and the outdoors' mystery waiting to be found!