Snow leopard's dramatic prey hunt on Himachal's icy cliffs leaves photographer in awe

A rare snow leopard hunt near an icy cliff edge in Himachal left a photographer mesmerised, who shared a video of the encounter on social media.

A man shared a video of a breathtaking wildlife encounter from Himachal Pradesh involving a snow leopard and its prey in the frozen landscapes of Kibber, leaving social media users mesmerised.

The experience was shared on Instagram by wildlife enthusiast Andres Novales, who described the dramatic sighting as “the best wildlife moment of my life.”

Novales claimed that the encounter took place on their last afternoon in Kibber after the region had been shut indoors for two days due to a heavy snowstorm. When the skies finally cleared, the valley revealed itself under a thick blanket of snow - and soon after, so did one of the Himalayas’ most elusive predators.

“Not long after, we saw her again. The same female snow leopard we had watched a few days earlier,” Novales wrote. He explained that the leopard had left her two cubs at the bottom of a gorge before climbing all the way to the top on her own. From there, she began stalking a group of ibex grazing in the distance.

“Watching her move through the snow was unreal. Slow. Silent. Completely focused,” he recalled. The leopard managed to get very close and launched herself at the largest male ibex in the group.

At first, it appeared the hunt might end quickly. “She went straight for the biggest male. At first, it looked like she might bring him down quickly. But the ibex fought back,” Novales wrote.