XDEs

Siberian Tiger Winter Tour

Destination: Russia Duration: 14 Days Dates: 7th – 20th Feb 2014

Being followed by Netsor (a large male tiger) one afternoon when tracking tigers

Having the expert guidance of Alexander, a leading Russian tiger expert

Seeing some of the hardy winter resident birds including black & hazel grouse

Being involved in a vital tiger census by counting tracks and setting camera traps

Finding tiger tracks that were so fresh, the tiger must have reacted to our presence

Exploring the immense Taiga forest that spans 2/3 of the northern hemisphere

Being watched by wild Siberian tigers as we shared their winter habitat on foot

Dimitry (one of the reserves staff) spotting and photographing a tiger one evening

Enjoying local caught, grown or foraged food throughout the trip

Meeting Zhorkin the disabled but playful tiger who was rescued at Utyos

Tour Leader / Guides Overview Martin Royle (Royle Safaris Tour Leader) Alexander (Reserve Director & Guide)

Sergey (Base Camp Cook) Dimitri (Reserve Guide) Day 1: Khabarovsk Sergey (Reserve Guide) Ivan (Base Camp Assistant & Fire Manager) Days 2-12: Durminskoye Vitaly (Base Camp Assistant – R.I.P.) Viktor (Russian – English Translator) Day 7: Utyos Centre Participants

Mr. Charlie Bettel Mr. John Merjanian Day 8: Udeghe Village Miss . Stacey Perna Mr. Jerome Stockner Day 13: Khabarovsk Mr. Patrick Stolz

Days 14: Home / Khabarovsk

Days 15: Home

Royle Safaris – 6 Greenhythe Rd, Heald Green, Cheshire, SK8 3NS – 0845 226 8259 – [email protected]

Day by Day Breakdown

Overview Tigers are most commonly associated with the tropical and subtropical forests and elephant grasslands of the Indian Subcontinent and South East Asia; however they used to range far and wide over the Asian continent. From Iran to Korea and Indonesia to Kazakhstan including most of Far Eastern and Central Russia; unfortunately over 93% of their historical range has been lost since the start of the 1900’s (incredibly a reduction of 40% since 1990!!). Most of the comprehensive decimation of the tiger’s range has occurred in China where the tiger has a paradoxical role in the culture; both a revered and celebrated species; an animal integral to the creationist myths of Chinese religion and also one of the 12 animals of the Chinese zodiac. However this reverence is countered by a merciless hunger for tiger products; every part of the tiger is utilised by the Chinese in their traditional medicinal practises. From penis (for fertility) to whiskers (for asthma) and every part of the body in between the demand for tiger products is so lucrative that they have been hunted to the verge of extinction in China and now the demand has been met by poachers in other countries. The vast reduction of the tiger’s numbers in China has led to a huge gap in the tiger’s current distribution. Whilst still present in areas of South and South East Asia any map of the tiger’s range will include a small shaded area along the Russian coastline just north west of Japan. This is the realm of the Siberian tiger (more correctly called the Amur tiger and in the local Udeghe language Amba); a forest that is covered in a blanket of snow and ice for 6 months of the year and then a rich and diverse temperate boreal ‘jungle’ in the summer. At first glance in the winter this seems like the last place that a tiger would be found, however they have spent a considerable amount of their evolutionary history in the forests of eastern and central Asia. The evolutionary history of the tiger starts in Java around 2 million years ago and at this time there were land bridges connecting Java to the mainland and the tiger quickly moved north and reached the Russian Far East, Japan and Korea around 1.5 million years ago. They remained here for some time, spreading west and as far as Turkey (for some reason tigers never made it further west and into Europe and they didn’t cross the land bridge connecting Asia with the Americas. The tiger has been and is a truly Asian species, born and bred. It is ironic that the most closely associated country with the tiger (India) is the one that they arrived in the latest. Tigers only made it to India round 12,000 years ago, this is known because fossil evidence suggests that they never made it to Sri Lanka and Sri Lanka was attached to India via a land bridge until around 12,000 years ago. Since evidence of tigers has been found throughout India from around then it is clear that they would have made it to Sri Lanka if they had arrived when they were still connected. As tigers have spent most of their history in cooler climates they are more at home in the temperate forests than the sub-tropical ones of India, a fact that is highlighted by their dislike of the heat and their love of bathing in the heat of the dry season. So despite the Russian winter seeming so alien for a tiger to call home, they are very at home here and arguable more so than in India. So it is here, in the frozen forests of Far Eastern Russia where our search for one of the most elusive and endangered animals in the world would take place. Whilst seeing a wild Siberian tiger is extremely difficult we would be helped in this task by Alexander and his team who run the 20,000 hectare reserve around 200km south of Khabarovsk. This reserve and the surrounding forests are home to a very high density of tigers (a density so high that it rivals densities in some of India and Nepals’ most productive national parks); one of the main reasons for this high densities of tigers is the prey base. Even though finding any wildlife in these forests in winter is tough there are lots of deer and wild boar around and whilst hunting occurs here (during hunting seasons) it has been less so than in other areas and so the numbers of prey still remains high. Our time in the reserve would coincide with one of the two annual censuses that are conducted in the reserve; by counting the tracks and also by collecting pictures and videos of the tigers from remote camera traps the team are able to build a picture of the current population. The presence of adult male and females using the same areas are great and a litter of cubs is the perfect reward for many hours of tracing tracks in the freezing conditions. By spending time with the team in the reserve and becoming part of the tiger’s continued fight for survival here you will be given a unique view into tiger conservation in a part of the world that is seeing genuine tiger conservation success. Most of the tiger populations around the world are decreasing, plagued with poaching and surrounded by huge and growing populations the tiger’s days seem numbered in many countries they exist in. But in Russia the numbers are increasing, from around 40 in the 1940’s to 500 or so today. This is in part due to increased conservation since the 1950’s when the first ever census of tigers (anywhere in the world) was conducted and the government realised the peril that the tiger was in, part the fact that Vladimir Putin loves tigers and has set up numerous new parks and reserves and has implemented new patrols and anti-poaching measures and also part that Russia is so vast and the population so low, that there are still places where wildlife can live in complete ignorance of people. All of these factors contribute to an increasing number of tigers and with lots of forest habitat around there is scope for a vastly larger population here. But most of this incredible work is only possible with the help of people like us, the eco-tourist and that is what sets Alexander alone, his ideology that eco-tourism here will provide enough income to support conservation and research and will also provide alternative income to the hunter that are currently the only people who pay the reserves for their use.

So we would try and see if we could find a Siberian tiger, however this tour is about contributing to their continued survival and also to understand a very different tiger to the one that is usually covered in documentaries and books.

To see huge tiger tracks in deep virgin snow is an incredible experience and one that will live long in the memory.

Day 1 Khabarovsk Arrival Jerome had already arrived a couple of days before the tour started and so Martin had asked him to be read to leave the hotel by 11am and he left with Viktor and Dimitri to collect Patrick and John from the airport. Their flights were on time and once they were collected we travelled back to the hotel to collect Jerome before being taken to Alexander’s apartment in Khabarovsk. Here the whole group would meet and we would have lunch. With Stacey and Charlies’ flight arriving in the afternoon we did not all get together until around 14:30. Alexander then made some lunch and we had a small briefing and introduction before loading the cars up with our luggage and everything. With three cars (Alexander, Viktor, Stacey & Charlie in one; Sergey and John in another and then Dimitri, Martin, Jerome and Patrick leading the way in another. Most of the journey was uneventful (with just a stop at the supermarket for essentials (chocolate and vodka) en route), driving out of the sprawling and industrial city of Khabarovsk and into the rural areas that dot the southern boundary of the taiga forest before entering the forest as we closed in on the reserve. The last hour or so was on a road that is only a road in the frozen winter, during the summer the area we drove through is a marsh and as a result there are a couple of wooden bridges to cross. It is at one of these bridges were we found out just how difficult some of the driving conditions can be during the winter here. Dimitri tried to drive over the bridge and the vehicle quickly lost traction and began to slide towards the edge and a 3m drop. With the wheel underneath where Martin was sitting (in the passenger seat) hanging free over the edge we stopped and everyone evacuated the car, it was quite secure on the bridge but we were not taking any risks and stopped and waited for the other vehicles to arrive. It wasn’t too long and then we waited whilst Alexander, Dimitri and Sergey winched the car off the bridge. It took around an hour and we were exposed to our first taste of the cold here and also standing in the forest at night we fantasied about seeing a tiger in the shadowy gloom. There was no such sighting and once the car was back on the road and on the right side of the bridge we continued on and arrived at the base camp later than expected. This didn’t dampen the hospitality of anyone though and we were treated to a huge meal prepared by Sergey (Alexander’s son). We ate and were invited for a banya (Russian sauna and integral part of the culture here) afterwards. We also arranged a time to meet and have a tour of the base camp and when we would head out into the forest for the first time before retiring to our log cabins (lovely and warm and kept that way by the hard work of Ivan) for a our first night in the Russian taiga forest.

Day 2 Forest Reserve Tiger Tracking This morning we rose and met at 10:0am (late as it is dark and too cold any time before 08:00am and with the late arrival last night we decided on a late start today. We all met in the kitchen for breakfast before having a guided tour by Alexander around the base camp. The temperature this morning was -38oC which is by no means unusual for this time year. The enthusiasm for the forest and its wildlife that Alexander has comes through and is not lost in translation. In fact there were many times when he would talk about tigers and the wildlife in the reserve and you would understand everything before Viktor had translated anything! He explained about the different trees and plants that are found in the forest and many of which he has planted in the base camp so that the camp can make the most of these species. One of the most fundamental things that shines through here is that nothing is wasted, cigarette buts are saved and burnt as fuel, ashes from the fires and saved, mixed with salt and left as mineral salt licks for the deer at certain strategic locations in the forest and the tea leaves are taken from the kettle and buried, these then attract worms that are used in the summer for fishing. It is very humbling to see people here live in harmony with the forest in a way that is so completely lost in most of Western society. We were shown the banya and how it works, the chicken coups for fresh eggs and the big house that is usually only used in summer as it takes too much fuel to heat up sufficiently in winter. We also met the hunting dogs, there are 3 dogs here and Zidan the male was the first we met. They are incredibly friendly and good natured and clearly like the snow as they come bounding out of their cages and never stop running and rolling in the snow. They are kept in cages as a precaution against tiger attacks. Tigers in Russia compete with wolves and they have evolved a seeming dislike for wolves and as a result all things canine. In the wild they would actively kill and try to disperse wolves from the forest (to reduce competition) and this can manifest itself in dog killing, which is not just distressing for the dog owner but can lead to a tiger spending too much time around a settlement where it may one day take a human or

itself be killed. In fact many of Alexander’s stories of the tigers occurred within the perimeter of the base camp, including one where a tiger took one of his puppies from just 5m in front of Alexander as he stood in the entrance to the kitchen. Alexander showed us the Casandra vine which produces berries that are made into a delicious jam and also who’s roots are used to make tea with. We were also guided through some of the other pants that have been deliberately planted around the camp as their roots, leaves and berries are very good in a concoction of teas. One thing that is also very noticeable around here is the high presence of mistle-like parasitic plants that grow is clumps in the tree tops. Around one in 5 trees has one of these and Alexander explained that when a bird eats the berries of the mistle their dung becomes very sticky so that when the bird defecates it sticks to the trunk of branch of a tree (without falling off and to the ground) this allows the seeds that are undigested in the dung then grow direct from dung at the top of the tree. As we were stood around a white-backed woodpecker flew overhead, the wildlife here is very difficult to see in the dead of winter and woodpeckers are one of the few groups of birds that can be seen around as they fly from tree to tree in search of insects and beetle grubs. One of the most amazing plants that we were introduced to is the famous ginseng, the ginseng grows in this forest all over but amazingly only grows a new bud and leaves every 9 years, so it is understandably highly sought after by the local people and one of the two groups of indigenous peoples here (the Nanai) use lots of ginseng in their medicine. After this introduction to the base camp and a small insight into the way that the local people use the plants here we wrapped up warm and boarded sledges and using snow mobiles went to check a camera trap, count tracks and visit a hunter’s winter cabin. This would be a test for everyone to see how everyone copes with the cold (with temperatures that can drop to -40oC it is imperative that the Russian team makes sure that everyone has the correct gear before we head deeper into the forest and for longer). Along the snow mobile track we were looking out for all of the tracks, whilst counting the tiger tracks is the main target for the tiger censuses it is also very important to count the tracks of all of the wildlife here as the tigers can only survive here with healthy populations of prey animals too. The 2013 censuses showed populations of 138 Manchurian wapiti, 53 wild boar, 27 roe deer and 15 musk deer. Whilst these are not large numbers of animals this is only from a small sample area of forest and when extrapolated to cover the whole protected forested areas around here the numbers are very healthy indeed and the density of tiger numbers supports this. In the 20,000 hectare reserve there are 14 tigers (including 4 cubs) in the greater area (encompassing another 3 forest reserves like Forest) has a population of at least 27 tigers that have been positively identified. This includes around 6 cubs; and it is this incredible density of tigers (4.5 tigers/100km2) that makes this reserve by far the best place to try and get a glimpse of what is one of the rarest, most elusive and threatened animals in the world. So throughout this trip Alexander and his team would be guiding us along certain transect routes that they use twice a year to make these censuses and will be making a note of all animal tracks we see. Within 5 minutes of being on the snow mobiles on this transect we found wapiti, weasel, hare, roe deer and tiger tracks. The tiger tracks were a couple of days old and moving away from the base camp and in the same direction we were heading, they were from a female tiger and as the female that is known to live around here has cubs at the moment, we watched out for more sets of tracks. We followed the female tiger along the path and to a large birch tree that is a well used scent marking tree. We set up a camera trap opposite the tree and carried on. We came across many large nests in the trees either side of the track. These nests were made by Asiatic black bears in the summer as they sleep in the trees as well as climb the trees to feed on tender leaves and buds at the top of trees. This is a strange behaviour for the Asiatic black bear and the reason they spend so much time in the trees is the presence of tigers who are predators of the bears. Obviously during the winter the Asiatic black bears as well as the brown bears that also live here are hibernating, but the reserve in summer and autumn is also the best place in the world to see this endangered bear species. We then arrived at a small wooden cabin, one of many that dot the woods here and allow hunters a place to stay and get warm if they are caught out in the elements. The cabin was basic but the stove worked and we had some tea and warmed up a little. We were also shown a fungus called chagga that grows on the trunks of large birch trees, this fungus has many nutrients and minerals and is reported to have anti-carcinogenic qualities. We would be having more chagga as the trip goes on. Then back at the base camp Alexander showed us huge grubs that were found in a large birch tree that was cut down for fire wood. These grubs were around 15cm long and a similar size and appearance to witchetty grubs, it is hard in winter to see how productive these forests can be in the summer but with a good collection of insects and butterflies Alexander could show us some of the many insects that inhabit the forest and help to pollinate the vast diversity of plant life here. This evening after another very hearty meal prepared by Sergey once again we watched some recent camera trap videos and pictures of the tigers and other wildlife in Alexander’s house. Whilst we watched the videos and heard the stories of Alexander and the tigers in the reserve we were treated to a real delight, roe deer Carpaccio (carved direct from the semi-frozen leg), onion, soy sauce and vodka. Perfect food to end a great day and introduction to the forest and tiger counting. Tomorrow we would go a little further afield in our quest for Siberian tigers.

Day 3 Forest Reserve Tiger Tracking

This morning the thermometers where all way down at -38oC again and we all wrapped up warm, then after breakfast we split into two groups; Martin, Patrick and Jerome with Dimitry and Stacey, Charlie, John with Viktor and we drove to two different starting points. We would be approaching one of the largest hills in the reserve (Big Ambine) from two sides. This is the heart of the territory of the female and 3 cubs, the same female who we saw the tracks of yesterday) and we aimed to try and find recent evidence of these cubs being alive. The mortality rate of tigers is at its highest in the first 2 years of life (as it is with most species of mammals) and as the winters are so harsh here it is very important to have fresh evidence of their continued survival. Especially as there is such a high density of tigers here the chances of the female and cubs running into a male that she has not mated with are high. If this is to occur then the cubs are in serious danger of infanticide. This brutal act is commonplace in the wild of tigers and most of the next few days would be spent around this area as we aimed for fresh evidence that the cubs were surviving and growing towards dispersal age. As Martin, Jerome and Patrick headed out with Dimitri we found female tiger tracks on the road heading away from the base camp and towards the hill we were going to walk, we stopped and measured the tracks, they were 1-2 days old and we also found many wild boar and Manchurian wapiti tracks crisscrossing the road, whilst the tigers typically walk along the roads the prey animals nearly always avoid walking along the roads and instead only cross the roads as they travel through the forest. A little further along the road Patrick and Jerome spotted a sable on the side of the road, but by the time we stopped and got out we couldn’t find the sable. Sable are the main reason for the size of Russia, they were to Russia what beavers were to North America. The vast countries of Russia, USA and Canada owe a lot to the sable and beaver respectively. This is because of the incredible demand for their fur and the fact that fur trappers kept on exploring and colonising more and more wilderness. The sable in Russia are all hunted for fur and as a results they are difficult to see, when spotted and out in the open (like this sable was) it is likely to have dived under the snow where a network of tunnels from weasels, sable, voles and mice allow for quick and easy travel underneath the snow in winter, or conversely the sable could have climbed away into the trees. Either way we couldn’t find the sable and we couldn’t find the tracks that would have indicated where it ran to, if it didn’t climb or tunnel away. We then got towards where we would start the walk from but the snow was getting very deep and we got bogged down in the snow, so we headed back to the base to swap vehicles. As it happened when Dimitri’s vehicle was trapped on the bridge the 4x4 locking mechanism for the front wheels had broken and so he was not getting any traction in the front wheels. At the base camp we spotted a large flock of pine bunting flying over the camp to find some of the hardy berries that survive in winter. In the other car we made it past the deep snow and quickly found tracks from one of the resident males in the reserve, this male is called Nestor (after Sergey Nestorov one of Alexander’s team) these tracks where from last night and we followed them to where the snow the entire length of the road was compacted down. This is where he had slept last night, judging by the amount of snow that had been melted the tiger had been sleeping here for a while, even the impression of his tail was clearly visible in the snow curling away in the middle of the road. The melted snow gave a very good impression of just how large this tiger is. We followed the tracks a little further and came across a very good example of a scrape, this is common throughout all big cats, when they urinate to scent mark they rake their rear paws along the ground 3-4 times. This leaves two parallel tracks with a small mound at the back and in this case a small amount if yellow snow. Further along we found where he had come out of the forest and on to the road. This was fantastic for us but potentially fatal for the cubs we were aiming to find evidence of. It is unknown whether Nestor was the father of these cubs or not, hopefully the mother had mated with him whether or not the cubs are his. This belief that he mated with the mother will give the cubs some protection from him (as he will not know if they are his or not). However the intricacies of these tigers private lives is impossible to know, so all we could hope for was that Nestor had not caught up with the cubs and that all three of them were safe. We then started the walk and climb up towards our meeting point on Big Ambine, however with the delays we had had in changing car and spending time with the sable and the wonderful set of tracks from Nestor (these tracks really gave us an insight into a few hours in the life of an adult male wild Siberian tiger. Actually seeing one would be very hard in deed however to be this close and interacting with the recent histories of the tigers is incredible as very few non- Russians have ever experienced the habitat of Siberian tigers in winter. In fact barring a couple of studies in the 1990’s and a handful of wildlife filmmakers over the years we are just about the only tourists to come here in the dead of winter and try and track down a sighting of this elusive animal. Along the way up the hill (on which we didn’t see any new tiger tracks) Dimitri did collect some Cassandra berries that would be used in our tea once we met up with the other group. As we continued up the hill we spotted a couple of hazel grouse flying form the snow covered ground to the safety of the trees, once they land in the trees their plumage renders them completely invisible. We also came across trees missing most of their bark from 3-6ft above the ground; these were made by male wapiti scraping their antlers on the tree trunk in a sexual display. Other notable sightings before we met the other group included impressions in the snow that showed where an owl (mostly an Ural owl based on the size) had come down and taken a mouse or vole underneath the snow and when we stopped for a short break Martin spotted a Eurasian nuthatch and a small flock of common redpoll and a pair of willow tits. As expected (because we were running late) we met with the other group on our half of the hill, Alexander and Sergey had set off after us on snow mobiles bringing some food and means to create a camp fire once we all met up. Because we were not at the agreed upon meeting place everyone boarded the snow mobiles and sledges and came to find us. Once we were all together we

discussed our findings, the other group had not had seen any evidence of tigers, however they find lynx tracks and saw numerous woodpeckers on their way up the hill. Whilst we were all catching up Alexander found an Ussuri white-toother shrew, the small mammal had died (probably exposure to the cold), this is an example of some of the species that live underneath the snow and make many burrows. By paying attention to the edge of roads and snow mobile tracks it is possible to see small holes going into the snow on either side of the road. Crossing between these burrows are tiny tracks of the mice, voles and shrews that only come out of their burrows in winter to cross these roads. Being so small the shrew would have had to eat at least its body weight in food per day and with those demands it is very easy for the shrew to starve after not eating for just a couple of hours. After seeing the shrew we went back down the hill to where we had left our vehicle and made a camp fire off the road and on the banks of a small frozen river. After warming up with some tea, snacks and the fire we journeyed on and came to a small collection of wooden cabins. This used to be a large town with a population of around 2,000 people, it had a railway direct through to Khabarovsk at its peak and was a major exporter of wood. Since the forest became a reserve this logging has ceased the village has been reclaimed by the forest and the railway dismantled. However there are around 7 huts still here and these are the homes of hunters and fur trappers who utilise the reserve during the hunting and trapping seasons. Managing this hunters village during the winter (when there is no one else) is a lone man Valeri and his young dog Brear. Over the coming days playing with the very energetic and excitable Brear would be a highlight of coming this way. This afternoon we went into Valeri’s cabin and spoke to him for a while. He explained he stays here all year around and watches the cabins, he sees tigers sometimes, although they tend to stay away as they tend to avoid humans as a general rule. Although is sometimes sees them walk down the road just 60m away from his cabin. Back in the base camp during the evening Alexander and Sergey had to take Vitali to the hospital, at the time we were told he has had a problem with his chest, it turned out he had had a heart attack and unfortunately died on the day that we arrived back in Khabarovsk. At the time we hoped it would not be too serious and that he would be back helping out in the camp within a couple of days. So we had dinner without Alexander and prepared for the same time start tomorrow.

Day 4 Forest Reserve Tiger Tracking

This morning the temperature was warmer today, only -25oC and it was around breakfast that we found out that the problem Vitali had was in deed a heart attack and that Alexander & Sergey had not got back until 8am this morning. We were unsure if they would join us out in the forest this morning, but they were ready to go and after breakfast we headed towards Valeri’s cabin. Dimitri would head to the nearby village of Durmin (1 hour away) in order to get his vehicle fixed. Once at the hunter’s village we boarded the snow mobiles to go and check a few camera traps that have been set up to try and get a better understanding of the tiger population and also their behaviours. A few minutes away from the hunter’s cabin (in the opposite direction from Big Ambine and where we explored yesterday) is another small settlement, once again abandoned in winter. This settlement is bee hiving community and they produce lots of honey during the spring, summer and autumn. Snow was falling lightly throughout the day and this would making tracking (particularly aging tracks) much easier in the next day or so. As we drove along Stacey and a couple of other saw a red squirrel foraging on the side of the road. Despite quite a grey appearance this is in fact the Eurasian red squirrel and is one of the few hardy mammals that do not hibernate in the winter. We turned off the road and into the forest, heading down narrow snow mobile trails for about 10 minutes, we then dismounted andheaded into the forest until we reached a small clearing. Here many deer tracks were present in the snow and the ground was very uneven, outside of winter this is a marshy area and the deer use the area to collect valuable minerals and nutrients from the mud and water here. Alexander and his team also take some of the ashes and salt that they mix together at the base camp here (as well as a few other such places in the forest) to help supplement their diet which is very low in sodium. There used to be a hide built in a tree overlooking this clearing but an Asiatic black bear destroyed it last summer. On our way out of the clearing we found a very delicate moth chrysalis hanging on the outer most branch of a tree close to the snow mobile track. It was very quiet today and we collected a camera trap that was located on a bridge (swapping the memory card) and also set a new camera trap on the main road overlooking a very prominent scent marking tree. We then made it back to camp, on the periphery of the base camp in a large yellow birch tree a flock of around 40 Bohemian waxwings where settling down to roost. As we were having our dinner Dimitri came back with some great (if not frustrating (for us)) news. As Dimitri was driving along the main road coming into the camp he found very fresh tracks of a tiger heading in the same direction, thinking he would possibly see one he slowed the car down and crawled down the road. Then we saw one, a large male (Obor) standing on the road, as the tiger looked around and saw the car he jumped over the snow piled up against the side of the road and into the forest. Dimitri then drove closer, stopped the car and opening his door climbed onto the ledge of the door and looked into the forest, it was only then that he noticed the tiger crouched down in the snow around 10m away from him staring at him. He took a picture (not a great one, but the eyes, head and stripes were just visible) before the tiger had realised its position had been noticed and it moved deeper into the forest. To put the scale of our task into context this was the 4th time ever that Dimitri had seen a wild Siberian tiger despite working in the reserve and ones like this for 20 years. Whilst he has not always been employed in looking for tigers, it does go to show that this animal is seldom seen and when they are it is cause for excitement. Whilst Martin and everyone else hoped that everyone would get to see a Siberian tiger, Martin thought that there is a very good chance that at least one of the party would have a sighting during the time we were here in the reserve, whilst this sighting is

fantastic and gave us some hope as it is possible to see tigers on the roads here it also may have turned out to be the one chance we had for this trip, and we missed. Not that we were ever planning on driving from the village to the reserve at 09:00pm. All we could do is hope that the tiger (or the other ones) would be around and accommodating to us over the next few days.

Day 5 Forest Reserve Tiger Tracking

This morning the temperature was a balmy -240C and Alexander had found Eurasian lynx, Manchurian wapiti and three tiger cubs on the camera traps. These are the same three tiger cubs that we were looking for over the last couple of days, so it was encouraging that a few days ago they were still alive and in good condition. The pictures showed the cubs along a bridge along the main road coming in and out of the reserve to the village of Durmin. But most intriguing of all were pictures on the same bridge as the cubs, which showed Netsor (the large male) following us on the bridge and along the road less than one hour after had changed the batteries. The pictures show our group on the bridge, then walking off with Martin and Stacey the last two to leave, the last picture of us at 16:03 showing Stacey and then the next picture at 16:59 showing Nestor entering the frame and walking across the bridge. Today we would become wildlife detective and piece together an incredible night in the life of an adult male Siberian tiger; firstly we found tracks of Nestor close to camp, we followed the tracks back all the way along the road (on top of our vehicle prints) and to the bridge where the camera traps got those stunning pictures. He had also followed us from where we had a camp fire and it is most likely that he was asleep in the snow nearby our camp fire and sat and watched and or listened to us. Then after we left he waited an hour or so until the noise and disturbance had calmed down before heading out along the snow mobile track in the same direction as us. Whether the tiger was intent on following us or if he chose this pathway because the snow mobiles and then our larger vehicle tracks make a very easy path to follow. Sergey had gone into the forest to collect fire wood yesterday evening and had found tiger tracks from two males (presumably Nestor and Obor) who came together in a relatively peaceful meeting before both heading in different directions. Nestor then headed back along the road (doubling back on his earlier path – following us – and headed in the same general direction that the female with the 3 cubs was believed to be in); Abo- re went hunting and we found his tracks following a wild boar along the road. They came out of the forest along a snow mobile track following a frozen stream, the boar tracks very deep and spaced well apart as he ran away. Obor’s tracks were following closely behind (whether or not the wild boar had seen the tiger we do not know, but he certainly knew he was being hunted and picked up his pace). The stride length of Obor was around 90cm long showing he was keeping up a good pace in following the boar. Obor followed the wild boar for well over 1km on the road (and an unknown distance in the forest before this), but he didn’t get make the kill and the wild boar lived to fight another day. We also came across the story of Dimitri’s sighting last night, firstly we came across the vehicle tracks and then where the tiger had gone off the road and into the forest, as we had split into two vehicles (with Charlie, Stacey, Viktor and Alexander in one car ahead of Dimitri, Martin, Jerome and Patrick); so when Dimitri spotted the place where the sighting happened Alexander had already gone ahead. So Dimitri, Martin, Jerome and Patrick got out of the car and following the tiger’s tracks headed into the forest, we first found the pathway the tiger had used to hastily get off the road to a little raised area where he lay down and watched the vehicle pull up, Dimitri get up and then take his picture. We then saw where the tiger got up again and headed back into the forest, only around 20m, but behind the rise and completely out of sight. The snow melted here showed that the tiger waited here for a considerable amount of time, before heading back towards the road the way it had come, we lost the tracks here and then boarded the vehicle again and headed to meet the other car. The road was incredibly busy last night with no less than 6 tigers using the road here, the female and her three cubs tracks were found closer to a snow mobile trail that only heads into the forest around 400m (it is mostly used for phone calls, as this is the only place in the reserve that manages to get any mobile phone coverage) and heading back towards Big Ambine (by using the camera traps we could tell the female had gone out hunting at around 08:00am yesterday morning before returning at 21:00 last night and then at around 23:00 she came back down the track with the 3 cubs in tow – most likely she had made a kill on her own and was going to collect the cubs in order to take them to them to kill), then of course Nestor who moved up and down this road at least twice, firstly following us along the road, then back to where he was spotted by Dimitri and then away again in the same general direction as the female and cubs. Then we had Obor and his attempted wild boar chase along the road and away into the forest. We all met up at the phone road and headed down here to see if we could see where exactly the cubs and female had gone, whether they were still in the area (as the trail is relatively open we hoped that they were still around and then we could have had a glimpse on the road), however this would be unlikely as their pace (judging from their tracks) suggested that they were moving fast and most likely knew that an unrelated male was following them or at least moving around in

the general vicinity. We then headed back to the base camp for lunch (expertly prepared once again by Sergey) and we checked some of the SD cards collected from camera traps this morning, there was nothing new on these SD cards and the afternoon was very quiet with no fresh tracks again. Around the camp we had great sightings of a beautiful eyebrow thrush before setting out (Martin, Jerome, Patrick and Charlie) to set up a camera trap overlooking a similar mineral / salt lick site to the one we visited a couple of days ago. This was on the same section of forest that 5 of the tigers had moved into last night and so we were also looking for fresh tracks and listening out for any tiger calls as we walked through the forest as the sun began to set. The orange glow reflecting off the snow and the longitudinal shadows cast by the trees looking like the orange and black coat of tigers. However the only fresh tracks we found were from a few mice, shrews or voles as they leave the protection of their snow covered tunnels to cross the road. When we returned to the base camp we had dinner and prepared for tomorrow, the knowledge that we were followed by at least one tiger yesterday sinking in as well as the fact that last night around 1.5% of the world’s wild Siberian tiger population was seen using the main road in and out of our base camp last night.

Day 6 Forest Reserve Tiger Tracking

This morning the temperature was once again around -25oC and very windy, making the actual temperature seem more like -50oC and pretty uncomfortable. We decided to split into two vehicles again and head to the Roe Deer Brook, from here we would further investigate the chase (wild boar v Obor) that we saw evidence of yesterday. Dimitri would escort us on this trip and we set off and dove the kilometre or so to the snow mobile track and where the wild boar tracks jut out from the forest and start to head down the road. Obor’s prints on the road had mostly been lost as he have driven down this road now, but the boar’s prints tread much deeper into the snow (its coven hooves not having as much surface area as the tiger’s enormous paws) and so remaining visible for much longer on well used pathways and roads. We followed the small frozen stream (called Roe Deer Brook) along the base of Small Ambine, along with Big Ambine these hills dominate the forest reserve and provide the bears with many good den sites for their hibernation. Big Ambine is around 1,000m tall and Small Ambine around 800m. We followed Obor’s tracks as they led deeper into the forest along the path and also entered the forest weaving in and out of trees. It would seem like Obor had been around this area for 2-3 days before the wild boar had come along and drawn him out on the attempted hunt. We could see the moment when the wild boar picked up the scent (or maybe heard or even saw the tiger), his gait changing from a steady walk to a gallop and then a steady and pacey run. We also found a scrape from Obor, showing that he is not deterred by the presence of the larger Nestor, and is more than comfortable scent marking the territory and showing his presence to the rival male. We followed a little further along the trail and came to a set of tracks that showed the actual chase that occurred when the tiger had first spotted the wild boar, the chase was quite long (around 160m) for a tiger and must have been the reason that the wild boar continued its fast paced retreat for over 1 kilometre along the road. We then heard the familiar sound of snow mobiles as Alexander and Ivan came along to provide lunch and some much needed tea to keep us warm. As part of his ongoing studies Alexander measures the snow depth at certain locations throughout the area and the snow here was 60cm deep (not as deep as it should be for this time of year), and Dimitri explained the tracks we had seen along this trail. All of the trails and roads that we explore during this trip make up some of the transects that Alexander and his team have established for their censuses of the tigers and other wildlife in the area. By having permanent transects that are used year after year for counting you gain a more accurate data set than picking random areas each time (as you would be more biased to pick areas that have you incidentally seen tracks in than other areas), therefore not getting an average picture of the whole ecosystem. Today we were treated to chagga tea, the nutrient rich fungi is placed in boiling water along with the Cassandra vine roots (no tea) and the taste was incredible. On the return to the lodge for an early dinner we spotted a Eurasian jay and some of the Asiatic black bear dens built high in the tree tops. Then at around 6pm we headed out again for a drive along the main road and came across a fresh scat from Nestor, this scat (left conspicuously on the road) was mead at some point in the last 24 hours and contained many large course hairs from wild boar (the most common prey taken by tigers in the Russian Far East). Alexander picked up the scat and decided to move it on to the nearby bridge in front of the camera trap, in the hope that any tigers walking past would take time to smell the scat and we could obtain good photographs of all of the tigers to help in identifying the tigers here to help build up a better understanding of the overall population and the dynamics of it. With this being the only evidence we found of tigers this afternoon we returned to the base for the night.

Day 7 Utyos Rehabilitation Centre Tiger Tracking Today Alexander took us to a nearby rehabilitation centre in order to meet some of the people who dedicate their lives to protecting tigers that have come into conflict with humans, tigers that would ultimately face a certain death without any intervening help. And whilst here we would also be able to see one of these incredible tigers in the snow of the Russian Taiga forest. Along the way we would be visiting different tigers’ territories and a couple of transects that are very valuable to the overall tiger censuses. The temperatures this morning had dropped to -33oC but there was far less wind today so the temperatures were not as brutal as yesterday. Almost as soon as we set off we found old tiger tracks on a road we had not yet been down, and we quickly entered the territory of another large male, this male is called Sher Khan and is the largest tiger around here. We stopped a couple of times along the way to measure the depth of the snow and explore some of the smaller roads that spread like a net from the main road. We left the Reserve and entered a couple of other reserves, whilst Alexander’s reserve is not logged and there are very few roads it was a shock to see more roads and even traffic (large and full logging trucks) in these other reserves. We stopped at one point and found tracks from a female tiger, these tracks were very fresh (less than 1 hour old), their edges were still fluffy with snow and the powder kicked up with each footstep lay undisturbed and not melted on the surface of the snow around the tracks. As we were out looking at these tracks we spotted a few ravens in the sky high above us, ravens are a great indicator of top predators, the scavenge from their kills and also follow them whilst they are moving around and around here the top predators are tigers. With these tracks being so fresh and the tracks heading back into the forest below the ravens it is entirely possible that the tiger is just in the forest resting and listening to us. We then visited a very traditional hunters winter hut for a little while, had a look around and saw the traps that they use to trap to sable as well as traditional style sledges and skis made in the same style as the local Udeghe people have always used. Then further along a different road we found more fresh tracks from the same female tiger, it would appear that this female is still active this morning and if things had been a little different this morning we could have ran across the female as she crossed these roads at least twice within that last couple of hours. However this is the way with wildlife watching, you sometimes miss things by a few minutes, that’s the nature of wildlife watching, especially when your focusing on animals that are so seldom ever seen by anyone. These tracks from the female lead back into the forest, but with tracks that are this fresh it is simply too dangerous to go and check them out any further, the tiger is definitely in the vicinity and it would irresponsible to track further, firstly it could lead to an attack and sever injury or death of a person which would ultimately lead to the tiger having to be killed and secondly it could lead to us having to take evasive action against the tiger which could result in injury or death to the tiger. So we had to leave with the knowledge that the female was around and very active this morning, hopefully we would get a close encounter this afternoon when we returned from Utyos to the base camp. It is likely that the tiger will sleep high on a hill during the middle of the day now, this seems to be standard behaviour of the tigers around here. However so little is known about wild Siberian tigers this may be incorrect information. Camera trap studies should hopefully help to shed light on the activity periods of these big cats and in time hep to build a picture of their daily cycles and larger life histories. As we headed out of the forests and towards the local villages Patrick spotted a male black grouse perched in a birch tree around 15m into the forest and 5m up. We stopped at the village of Bitchoi briefly and then reached the rehabilitation centre. The centre was established by Vladimir Kruglov in 1991, Vladimir used to be employed to catch Siberian tigers alive using nothing but ropes and a large sack. These animals were sold to zoos and circuses and during his life he caught over 40 tigers like this. Then he caught one particular tiger for a circus but this tiger had a missing canine and the circus refused to take him. He was caught as a cub after his mother was killed by poachers however his injuries meant that Vladimir could not risk releasing this tiger back into the wild. So he built a large enclosure on his land, this was the birth of the rehabilitation centre and from this he started to rescue other animals (tigers, bears, foxes, lynx and deer) any animals that were reported orphaned or injured on roads or by hunters were taken in by Vladimir with the aim of helping them recover or grow to independence age before being released into the wild. Some of the animals however are too badly injured or too dependent on people to ever be released and so they are kept at the rehabilitation centre and given as good a life as they can provide. They also become very important ambassadors for conservation and education around here. The most famous of these was of course the tiger that started all of this, named Lyuti he was probably the most famous Siberian tiger in the world and also the most photographed, he also helped to raise much needed money to conservation and research into Siberian tiger during the 21 years he was kept at the centre. Vladimir himself died after a tree fell on him in 2005 and we visited his grave on the way to the centre, when Lyuti died in 2012 he was also buried with Vladimir and as is tradition in Russia the tombstones have pictures of the deceased on them. Vladimir’s is probably the only tombstone in the world that has a picture of a Siberian tiger on there next to him. At the moment the centre is home to 2 tigers, 1 Asiatic black bear, 2 brown bears and a Siberian roe deer. But before we would see any of these animals we had lunch in the home of Erdo Kruglov, Vladimir’s son and a spitting image of his father, who has carried on the good work started by his father. After lunch we were told about the two Siberian tigers that they have here, up until a couple of weeks ago they did have three. Two of the tigers were 18 month old siblings (a male and female) who were orphaned by poachers and found too close to a local village. Without their mother around to make sure they take the correct prey (wild boar and deer) they are likely to take ‘easier’ prey such as livestock, dogs and possibly people. Being so close to a village the authorities decided that they are best captured and placed in the rehabilitation centre until they are old

enough and conditioned to their natural prey and then released into a protected reserve far away from villages. This is where Utyos comes in, there are a couple of such centres in the Russian Far East but Utyos has the best record in terms of successfully rehabilitating tigers. It is always a risk when releasing a top predator into the wild, they sometimes get too used to people and seek them out, and they sometimes get too stressed out and do not live a normal wild life. However the alternative of leaving them involves a far higher chance of them coming into contact with people in a negative way. The general consensus with Siberian tiger rehabilitation is that is if it increases their chance of long term survival by a fraction of a percent then it is worth doing. The male cub was released but they have kept the female for a little while longer, the female is more temperamental and is off show. They are now trying to get her used to feeding on her own away from any stimulus of people before they release her. We were shown some videos of this female from camera traps set up outside her enclosure. We were then taken to see the other tiger they have here, along the way to the outdoor enclosure we past a couple of small pens housing bear cubs, one with 2 brown bears and one with an Asiatic black bear cub. These cubs were also orphaned by hunters and were taken in to hibernate. They are kept in small enclosures to ensure that they sleep through the winter and get into a hibernating rhythm. However they were all found underweight as their mothers were killed before they could put on enough weight to successfully survive the hibernation. So they are more active than they should be for winter, they are likely to be released in a reserve neighbouring our reserve in a couple of months (once the snows have melted), this other reserve already keeps orphaned bear cubs and has a good track record. After these enclosures we made it to the tiger, this tiger is named Zhorik. A 5 year old male tiger was a performing tiger in a the Kurgansksy circus when it got a chicken bone lodged in its cheek, this wound became infected and the circus could not care for the animal and so the centre took custody of the tiger. The odds were definitely stacked against Zhorik making it as the infection was getting gangrenous, however with funding from the David Shepherd Wildlife Foundation and WWF, Utyos was able to operate on the cheek and jaw. With the expert help of a veterinarian team led by Dr. Karen Dallakyan and 19 operations later Zhorik now has perfect health and a life. He will never be able to be released into the wild, having been hand reared and being far too comfortable around humans as well as not being able to hunt (the results of the operations meaning that most of the left hand side of his upper jaw has been removed including all of the teeth on the upper left quadrant – this was because the infection had spread this far); however Zhorik now has an important role to play as he follows in the footsteps of Lyuti as an ambassador for all Siberian tigers. School children visit this centre and Zhorik is probably the only tiger that they will ever see and hopefully they gain an appreciation for this incredible animal and through the hard work that Erdo is doing here the next generation of Russians grow to love the tiger and its habitat and continue the upward trend of tiger numbers in this part of the world. With increasing numbers of tigers in Russia (bucking the trend from elsewhere in the tiger’s range) and the abundant space and prey populations in the vast Russian wilderness this is probably the last hope that tigers have for their long-term survival. We enjoyed our time with Zhorik, it is hard to see a tiger of this size and power in an enclosure and even harder to see the disfigured face of the beautiful tiger. But when you consider the alternative fate of this individual and the need for heightened education and awareness the ends do justify the means here. With Zhorik being an ex-circus tiger he is very friendly to people and mock stalks us, charges and then jumps at the fence. All a show and wanting to play he shows us the behaviours that make the tiger such a formidable predator in the snow. Their huge paws acting like perfect snow shoes and their senses all focused intently on the target, it is remarkable how anyone would want to kill such an incredible animal but with more people joining tours like this in the future we can start to buck the trend in poaching by making alive tigers more valuable to local people, communities and economies than a dead poached individual. This is a long process but one that can be done, it has worked with mountain gorillas, whales and certain species of sharks such as great-white sharks. After around 45 minutes with Zhorik we left and started to head back to the base camp along the same roads, once we got back into Sher Khan’s territory we found very fresh tracks on the road heading in the direction we were coming from, we stopped and realised that these tracks were the same female tiger we had seen the tracks of this morning. They were minutes old, she had almost certainly heard us driving towards her and she had headed off the road and up into the forest up a very steep and rocky hill above us. We followed back the tracks a while and found where she had scent marked three times in quick succession (twice against small conifer trees and once on an overhanging rock face), we could see where she had scraped, scent marked and even cheek rubbed the rocks (the anus, toes and face all have scent glands and are important in scent marking), a possible sign that she is in oestrus and ready to mate. This is one possible reason why she is scent marking so frequently and conspicuously in the known territory of an adult male. We stayed a while and searched the forest, but the visibility of this hill was very limited and we were losing light. Ideally we would want to come across a tiger walking in the same direction as we were driving and we could crawl very slowly behind the tiger (after finding its fresh tracks) and hopefully come across the tiger undetected from behind – in the same way Dimitri spotted Nestor. Unfortunately in this current scenario we seemed to have been the reason the tiger had disappeared into the forest and she would almost certainly be on edge watching us from a concealed position. Even if it had been daylight and the terrain easier for us to follow her, she would know we are following her and either disappear at pace we cannot keep up with or defend herself and her position in which (as explained above) could be very detrimental to us and the tiger. So once again we had to content ourselves that a tiger was probably watching our every move, we then got back into the cars and as the sun began to set behind the dense forest we headed back to the base camp for dinner.

Day 8 Gvasyugi Village Tiger Tracking & Cultural Sightseeing This morning was -28oC and after breakfast we went to visit a local Udeghe village. In the world it is estimated that there are no more than 50 tribes who still live out their lives in as much of a traditional way as possible. In the Russian Far East there are two tribes left in existence, the Nanai and the Udeghe. The Udeghe are more numerous and in the Khabarovsk Krai (district) there are around 600 (out of a total population of 2,000) and the village of Gvasyugi has a population of around 150. Along the way we travelled through the lowland swamps (during the sum- mer) and saw lots of fox, weasel and roe deer tracks these species like the more open areas to the forests. But we didn’t have any sightings of these mammals, along the way we did come across plenty of birds including many Eurasian magpies, northern ravens, rock doves, Eurasian jays, azure-winged magpies, hazel grouse and small flocks pine buntings. We first stopped in the village of Durmin, where by complete chance we came across Alexander’s grandson (Sergey’s son) who was on his way home from primary school. We then crossed the large Durmin River and headed up the forested hills towards Gvasyungi village. Once we entered the forests again we quickly came across tiger tracks (around 5 days old), showing that the tigers here have occupied most of the forests and that with continued protection and low human population densities the tigers can thrive in this frozen wilderness. Martin then spotted a jay having a bath in the snow, before arriving at the village. In the village we were treated to some of the traditional dances performed by four of the local girls and their dancing teachers. They had wonderful traditional dress and their dances were full of vigour and energy. It is refreshing to see young people still embracing and learning the traditional way of life, it is the only way the old ways will be preserved in an ever changing world. With the Udeghe people revering and worshiping the tiger (as well as other wildlife) it is very important that this mind set is not lost and that the people elsewhere in the Russian Far East understand that the tiger and other wildlife is vitally important to the forest here and also that people and the tiger can live in harmony when they are given their own space. We were also treated to a traditional trout dish, the fish is caught and gutted, it is then left in the snow to be kept fresh, the fish is then chopped up very thinly and mixed with onion. This is eaten frozen with rye bread and soy sauce. It is delicious and in true Russian style vodka was downed after every bite; this was Alexander’s influence as the Udeghe village is dry (in fact how he found it we don’t know). Before we left the village we collected Dimitri’s hunting companion Shatan. This is a hunting dog, his favourite dog who he hadn’t seen for months and then here in this village randomly Shatan comes running over to Dimitri, so with gorgeous Shatan in the back of his car we loaded up and headed back to the base camp. All the time keeping our eyes out for tigers and other wildlife but we didn’t find any fresh evidence of tigers. Today we found out that Sergey Nestorov would be leaving us tomorrow as he had to go back to work, this is where we found out that he is still a service colonel in the Russian army and he is also in charge of a rocket manufacturing base near Khabarovsk. He ‘leaves’ the base every now and again so that he can come and help Alexander in the reserve as he much prefers this to his real work. But there had been an accident at the factory and so he had to leave in order to avoid getting into serious trouble himself and clean up whatever mess had been started in the factory in his absence.

Day 9 Forest Reserve Tiger Tracking This morning the temperature was quite warm at -21oC and we split up into 2 groups, one group was Martin, Jerome, Patrick and Alexander and the other Dimitri, Viktor, Stacey, John and Charlie. Alexander wanted to check the territory of the female and the three cubs again as it had been a couple of days since we had seen evidence of the cubs still being alive and yesterday Sergey Batalov had come across tracks from last night of a male very close to where we last found the cubs and also tracks from the mother heading around Big Ambine. Alexander took Martin, Jerome and Patrick towards where Martin had set his camera trap up and around to the closest part of the females territory to our base camp. The other group (Dimitri, Stacey, Charlie and John went deep into the forest and towards the deer lick where we set a camera trap up a few days ago. This is another part of the females territory that we had not visited for a few days. Alexander’s group came across fresh wild boar tracks from last night, these tracks showed that the wild boar were running from the tiger and we went onwards to investigate and found lots of evidence of Manchurian wapiti feeding around the larger trees in the forest, they use their forefeet to scrape the snow away in order for them to get the moss and lichen buried under the snow. They also forage on the lichen that grows on the tree bark and remain snow free for most of the year. We collected an SD card from a camera trap located opposite a large scent marking tree (it turned out we didn’t get anything on either of these camera traps). We then came across the females tracks and followed them, there was no evidence that the cubs were with the female and it is possible that this was a different female tiger. The tracks were very fresh (from around 1-2 hours

ago) and this was what we had been waiting for, tracks that are not so old that the tiger is long gone and not so fresh that it is just too dangerous to proceed further as the tiger could be very close and feel instantly threatened once we started following. So we headed into the forest for around 20-30 minutes and started to the head uphill and deep into the tiger’s territory. As we went further and further Alexander’s demeanour was getting more and focused and we were clearly getting closer to the tiger. We proceeded slower and more deliberately, only stepping in each other’s prints and staying closer together. At this point we were almost certainly being watched by the tiger, the female was probably within a 200m circumference of us and as we followed the tracks they were heading further uphill (up Big Ambine), this is typical tiger behaviour, especially when the tiger feels threatened. At this point we decided that heading any further would not be safe enough for us or potentially the tiger (particularly if this is the female with the cubs), this could stress the female out and she may abandon a kill she has made or defend her cu- bs from us. We then headed back towards the base camp were we met up with the other group. Who unfortunately didn’t have any sightings not any fresh tracks. We then had lunch and at around 15:30 headed back out and this time went up to the other side of Big Ambine to see if we could find any sign of the female and cubs. Light snow was beginning to fall this afternoon but the temperature seemed to get warmer as the day wore on, the light snow would be good for aging tracks so we had renewed confidence that we could find fresh evidence and would know where to focus our attention. As we continued along towards Big Ambine we found a large flock of Bohemian waxwings feeding on the berries on the many mistle parasitic plants that grow in the canopies of trees throughout the forest. Along the road there was lots of Manchurian wapiti activity, it looked like a dozen of these large deer had been feeding here through the night. Further along the road we found male tiger tracks following the tracks of the female and cubs, we then left the car as the snow was getting deeper and walked following the tracks until we found the area where the females and cubs had left the road and headed into the forest, the male carried on walking down the road and thankfully away from the cubs. A little further along the road we found the females tracks again and they headed out of the forest, across the road and up towards the summit of Big Ambine, we followed the tracks a little way up the snow mobile trail until the tracks veered off and into the forest. We assumed that she had left the cubs in a safe location on the other side of the road as she went out to hunt. We were very confident that she was somewhere up on Big Ambine and hopefully had a kill and during the night she would come down and collect the cubs before bringing them back to feed on the kill. Because of the sensitive nature of the female and her cubs relationship Alexander did not want us to spend more time here than necessary in case we stressed the mother out and she left the cubs for too long or abandoned the kill. A kill is a very valuable to a mother tiger and by abandoning one kill to protect her cubs (from us) she could lose it to another tiger and the cubs could face starvation. We set a camera trap up here facing the general direction that we assumed the mother would come back to collect her cubs from. We started to come back and spent a little more time exploring the tracks and we could clearly see where the cubs had stopped and rested and where one of them had sat down on the road. The tracks only showed two cubs and we were unsure if one of the cubs had died (after we left Alexander had pictures from the camera traps showing all three cubs, so they all survived). Also following these prints (as well as the male tiger) was a red fox, whether or not the fox was actively following the tiger (in hope of scavenging some food from a kill) or if it just so happened to be travelling in same direction, we don’t know. As we headed back towards the base camp, the sun getting lower and lower in the sky our last sighting of the day was a hazel grouse that Viktor spotted. Tomorrow we would come back to this area and explore further, hopefully she would come back for the cubs at some point in the night.

Day 10 Forest Reserve Tiger Tracking

This morning there was very heavy snow and it was by far the warmest day so far and the thermometer stood at -13oC. The plan for today was to further explore the area where we had seen the mother and cubs tracks yesterday, so we headed around the far side of Big Ambine and had to use snow mobiles as the snow fall throughout the night and this morning made it impossible for the vehicles to get very far. So we changed vehicles at Vitali’s camp and headed out to where we left the tracks yesterday. We hoped to see tracks from the cubs heading back with the female from the side of the forest they were left at yesterday to go and feed on the kill we assumed the mother had made. By the time we reached the tracks the snow had began to relent at around 11:30am and we found the tracks of the female and where she left the cubs (well where they all headed off into the forest together), tracking was getting harder with the heavy snow but at the moment tracks were just about still visible. We then found where the mother had come back out of the forest (on her own) and followed her as she scent marked twice before moving away and into the forest. We left these tracks and went over the east side of Big Ambine and couldn’t find any tracks, if the male was occupied in trying to find the cubs and mother then we expected to see his tracks here, so it

looked like the cubs had remained either unnoticed by the male or at least he was not interested. We also didn’t see any of the female tracks coming back down and out of the forest so we assumed that she was still on Big Ambine and so it was more likely that she definitely had a kill on the hill. If she was unsuccessful in a hunt she would have almost certainly used the road to move to another hunting area, so the lack of tracks here is good evidence that she was sat on a kill and waiting for a safe and quiet time to collect her cubs. She would probably come down at night and collect the cubs before returning to the carcass. We do not know but our presence yesterday here could have hindered her movements and so we decided not to spend any further time here today. We then returned to the base camp and after lunch we split into two groups once again, some of the group (Stacey, Charlie and John) fancied their chances at some target practise with Alexander’s rifle whilst Martin, Jerome and Patrick headed off to collect the SD card from Martin’s camera trap. There were no fresh tigers prints along the track and not surprisingly nothing on the camera trap, however the snow mobile track did show tracks of wapiti, roe deer, fox, mink, sable and many mountain hare. Once Martin, Patrick and Jerome returned we saw how the shooting was going and it appeared that John was a dab hand and had a bullseye hit, Charlie scored a 9 and Stacey a 7. Then after we all got back together we all met in Alexander’s house and he showed us the maps of the reserve and talked through the last couple of years census data. This is a great way of understanding what all of the counting and tracking actually results in and how it goes towards helping the long term survival of the tigers.

Day 11 Forest Reserve Tiger Tracking This morning was colder again and was -20oC and at breakfast we were told that Dimitri had seen fresh tiger tracks along the road last night (he had done into the village for some supplies and to fix an ongoing problem with the car – all stemming from the first day and the problem on the bridge). This would be our first destination to see if we could identify the tiger and if it was still in the area. When we arrived at the tracks they were very obviously a male (mostly likely Nestor – however the identification to an individual tiger from these tracks was impossible). We followed the tracks coming out of the forest, along the road and then away again into the forest again. Around Valeri’s camp we found fresh tracks from this morning, they were walking along the road towards the camp and then a second set coming away from the camp. There were also some blood on the tracks, clearly the tiger had made a kill this morning but with the track directions we thought that Valeri’s playful puppy could have been the prey. As it turned out the dog was there bounding and yapping at us when we pulled into the cabin complex and boarded the snow mobiles. The tracks were most likely a female and eventually headed off along a frozen river and into the forest. We decided not to track the tiger into the forest, a tiger with a fresh kill is a very dangerous animal as they would overtly defend the kill site and we didn’t know how far into the forest this kill maybe. Instead we decided to trace the tiger’s pathway along the road and see if we could find if the female had cubs or if she had interacted with one of the males in the area. We checked the SD card from the camera trap on the bridge and would see if we had more photos this evening. We found a very good example of a scrape in the middle of the road as well as a large scat. Alexander collected the scat and would send this over to the university of Moscow for DNA analysis and also for isotope analysis, which would not only show the identity of the tiger and its relatedness to other tigers but also what it had been eating. From just looking at the scat you could tell that the tiger had eaten a wild boar as there was lots of wild boar bone and fur. We followed the tiger tracks further and into the forest and found where the tiger had slept before following the tracks into the forest where we searched for a kill site, we didn’t end up finding a kill and eventually split into a couple of groups. Patrick, John and Dimitri headed further into the forest and Stacey, Charlie, Jerome, Martin and Alexander headed back the way had come (all meeting up back on the snow mobile track). Along the way we did find some bait, left by poachers, they had killed a wild boar and a Manchurian wapiti (they only have a licence for wild boar), taken some of the meat and left large pieces surrounded by small leg snares. They were hoping for sable and this is outside of the season, Alexander removed some of the traps and triggered other ones and said he had a good idea who the poachers were and would be dealing with them when he writes up this report and issues it to forestry department of Khabarovsk. Whilst we were around the baited sites we noticed that the tiger had foraged the area and had dragged a haunch of the wild boar from where the hunters had set it onto the road. All of this afternoon’s walk was done on a hill we hadn’t been on before and this hill was heavily forested for the abundant cedar trees that was here during the 1950’s. This was the main area that was logged during this period when the camp that Valeri now lives in was connected to the city by railways and a population of 1,500 people lived here. There are very few trees from that period remaining here but there are some impressive trees remaining including a Manchurian walnut, this large tree is also a scent marking tree with tiger scratches from the forepaws around 3m off the ground and also some scratches from the hind paws lower down. Showing that the tiger had gripped the trunk of the tree and pulled itself up the tree in order to get higher up for scent marking. On the way back to the base camp Alexander went to make a phone call and found male tiger tracks along the phone road, however the tracks were older and we didn’t pursue these further. There was consistent snow fall for most of the day today and by the evening there was a fresh layer covering most of the ground. By sunset the snow had stopped and we headed out to the snow mobile track along the Roe Deer Brook; we would have a BBQ and camp fire here in the woods this evening. The camp fire was perfect, with BBQ wild boar, chagga tea and roasted sausages all

under the stars and in the heart of the Russian taiga forest. It was a great way to begin the end of our time in the reserve.

Day 12 Forest Reserve Tiger Tracking

This morning the decreasing temperature from yesterday continued its trend and it was -27oC and we had an problem to deal with. Last night during our camp fire Stacey had done some snow angels and a headstand in the snow, and at some point her engagement ring had come loose. So this morning Martin, Stacey, Charlie and Dimitri headed down to the Roe Deer Brook to look for the ring whilst the rest of the group headed off to search for tiger tracks and also to collect some more SD cards. The ring search was unsuccessful and in the end we decided to call in some of Alexander’s friends from Durmin who have a metal detector (they would arrive later this afternoon and despite another thorough search would once again be fruitless; Alexander would look again once the snow melts in spring and hopefully find the ring and send it to Stacey and Charlie), unfortunately the other group also failed in their search for fresh tiger tracks. John and Viktor went to collect the camera trap that was also around the deer lick sight and there were no fresh tiger tracks here either. In fact it was very quiet all over today and the only fresh tracks we found were some from Siberian roe deer. We then ended with a large meal with all of the staff in the big house, it was a great way to end our stay in the forest and Sergey outdid himself with some wild boar steaks and we said our good byes to the team tonight, this would be the last we would see of Sergey and Ivan as they would be staying on at the base camp for a couple more weeks; when we would return to Khabarovsk tomorrow.

Day 13 Khabarovsk Travelling

This morning we woke to an outside temperature of -24oC and clear skies, we breakfasted at 09:00am and then began to load up the cars before setting off north to Khabarovsk. Along the way we would be searching for tiger tracks and other wildlife as always. Along the way we stopped at a local roadside market where we could purchase some of the local produces such as Casandra berry jam and honey, to go along with presents from Alexander including Korean pine cones and some chagga (mainly for John). We then arrived at Khabarovsk at around 14:00 and settled into the hotel, we would meet with everyone this evening for our last meal together and at the hotel we met Olga (who makes all of the ground arrangements for Martin when organising a tour here). For the afternoon the group split, some people just relaxing, catching up on emails, showering and changing whilst a couple of people went for a walk around the town and down towards the frozen Amur River. Being only 10km away from China here it is possible to see China in the distant hills on the other side of the river. We all met up just before dinner and headed down to downtown to the restaurant. At the dinner we were joined by Dimitri’s girlfriend and also Sergey (the colonel) and his young son, it was a great farewell meal and afterwards we all said our final good byes to everyone. Alexander had also gone ahead and asked his publisher to print up copies of his book on the Amur tiger, a joint Russian & English venture to help raise awareness of the tiger to the local Russian people as well as internationally. Many of the pictures were taken at the reserve and many where taken by Alexander himself. John was leaving at around midnight as his flight was early in the morning so we send bye to John before the group retired to bed.

Day 16 Home Departure

Accommodation: Food: Transportation:

NA No meals were included today. Private Vehicle & International Flights

Today only Jerome and Martin were departing as Stacey, Charlie and Patrick had arranged their flights for the day after the tour finished. Today they explored the city in depth before having one last night at the hotel before heading home the next day. Jerome and Martin both left on time and without incident. Species List Siberian Tiger Winter Tour / February 2014

Mammals (* = heard or signs only)

February Common Name Binominal Name 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 1 Vole species (unknown) Arvicolinae spp. * * * 2 Siberian roe deer Capreolus pygargus * * * * * * * * * * 3 Manchurian wapiti Cervus canadensis * * * * * * * * * 4 Sika deer Cervus nppon * 5 Ussuri white-toothed shrew Crocidura lasiura 1 6 Mountain hare Lepus timidus * * * * * * * * * 7 Eurasian otter Lutra lutra * 8 Eurasian lynx Lynx lynx * 9 Sable Martes zeballina * 1 * * * * * * * * * 10 Siberian weasel Mustela sibirica * * * 11 American mink Neovison vison * * * * * * 12 Musk rat Ondatra zibethicus * † 13 Tiger Panthera tigris altaica * * (1) * * * * * * * * * 14 Eurasian red squirrel Sciurus vulgaris 1 * * * 15 Birch mouse species (unknown) Sicista spp. * * * 16 Wild boar Sus scofra * * * * * * * * * * * 17 Brown bear Ursus arctos * 18 Asiatic black bear Ursus thibetanus * * * * * 19 Red fox Vulpes vulpes * *

†Dimitri (only) saw one tiger during the night of the 10th Birds (* = heard or signs only)

February Common Name Binominal Name 7 8 9 10 11 12 12 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 1 Eurasian sparrowhawk Accipiter nisus 1 2 Bohemian waxwing Bombycilla garrulus ~40 ~15 ~20 8 3 Hazel grouse Bonasa bonasia 2 1 4 * 1 1 4 Common redpoll Carduelis flammea 1 5 Oriental greenfinch Carduelis sinica 7 6 Common rosefinch Carpodacus erythrinus 4 1 7 Pallas's rosefinch Carpodacus roseus 1 8 Rock dove Columba livia ~100 48 ~100 9 Northern raven Corvus corax 9 3 7 3 1 2 10 Azure-winged magpie Cyanopica cyanus 2 3 11 White-backed woodpecker Dendrocopos leucotos 1 1 1 12 Greater-spotted woodpecker Dendrocopos major 1 1 1 13 Meadow bunting Emberiza cioides 2 4 14 Pine bunting Emberiza leucocephalos 12 15 Common kestrel Falco tinniculus 1 16 Eurasian jay Garrulus glandarius 1 1 2 2 17 Asian rosy finch Leucosticte arctoa 2 18 Eurasian tree sparrow Passer montanus ~50 1 ~10 19 Eurasian magpie Pica pica 3 2 4 1 13 7 20 Eurasian three-toed woodpecker Picoides tridactylus 1 21 Willow tit Poecile montanus 2 23 Eurasian nuthatch Sitta europaea 1 24 Ural owl Strix uralensis * 25 Black grouse Tetrao tetrix 1 26 Naumann's thrush Turdus naumanni 1 27 Eyebrow thrush Turdus obscurus 2 1 28 Long-tailed rosefinch Uragus sibiricus 1