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By Stefan Hunt, Assistant Producer

The red panda is a charismatic animal that’s shrouded in mystery and notoriously difficult to find, and therefore a perfect candidate for inclusion in the “Above the Clouds” episode of the Asia series.

To film this shy creature I travelled to Nepal with cinematographer Ben Harris. Following a long-haul flight from London our journey really began in Kathmandu. We boarded a domestic flight that whisked us to the far-eastern reaches of Nepal, near the border with India. From there, we embarked on a slow journey up into the Himalaya. Soon the smooth tarmac roads disappeared, and we needed a 4x4 to navigate the rough tracks that wound their way into the mountains. The bone-jarring journey saw us climb from sea level, all the way up to 3,500 metres. After eight gruelling hours, we finally arrived at our camp – a humble homestead that would serve as our base for the next four weeks.

As the sun rose the next morning we were greeted with a breathtaking scene of epic peaks and clouds hanging in the valleys below, with the views extending across to India and Bhutan. It is the most spectacular place I’ve ever been to.

Finding the red panda was not going to be straightforward. These animals have scarcely ever been successfully filmed in the wild before. Luckily, we were joined by Shantanu; to call him a red panda enthusiast would be an understatement, this guy is crazy for red pandas. He has been working for years, closely monitoring the red panda population in this area. He and his team of around twenty seasoned local trackers and guides, got to work searching the area for any signs of red panda activity.

The mornings were bitterly cold, with frost on the ground and our breath steaming in front of us, the crisp wind whipping up the valley. As the sun rose, the temperature quickly climbed. The air became hot, humid, and thick, and we went from shivering in the morning to sweating by lunchtime. The high-altitude forest was beautiful, with intricate tree cover opening up to reveal incredible views across the valley. Thickets of bamboo, dense and nearly impenetrable, stood as a formidable barrier as we pressed on through the forest. The mountain air was thin, each breath a laborious effort as we ascended the rugged terrain, pushing through the relentless bamboo. The small army of spotters were scouring the mountainside ahead of us, searching for the elusive panda. Regular stops at local homesteads for ginger and lemon tea helped keep our spirits and energy levels up.

Finally we got a call from one of the trackers and we rushed as fast as our lungs would allow across the valley. All the fatigue from the gruelling hike was forgotten and replaced with an adrenaline rush of excitement. Soon, I caught a flash of red moving in the trees. There, moving gracefully along the branch of a tree, was a red panda. The sight was nothing short of magical. It was gently picking a wild variety of kiwi from a fruiting tree and delicately nibbling at it. Time seemed to stand still, the panda was so quiet, the only noise was the wind blowing through trees.

After twenty minutes, the panda decided to move on and slowly slipped away through the forest canopy. Any attempt to follow it, despite its slow nature, was completely pointless. Hacking our way through thick bamboo and up a near vertical incline, we had no chance of keeping up. It was such an incredible wildlife experience and all the effort to find this enchanting creature suddenly seemed worth it.

We were lucky enough to see red pandas fairly frequently over the next few weeks and got to recognise specific individuals by their unique facial markings. Close to the end of the trip we decided to take a visit to a local viewpoint at sunrise to get some scenic mountain shots for the sequence.

Waking up at 4 in the morning, we were bleary-eyed and still half asleep. We began the slow drive to the viewpoint along a rough track, thrown around in the back of the Land Rover the whole way. It was completely dark outside, but I knew there was a steep drop down the side of the mountain. Any mistake by the driver would spell disaster. The headlights flashed across the road as the 4x4 hopped, skipped and jumped towards our destination.

We arrived at the top of the road in one piece, just before sunrise. An icy wind whipped across the peak, chilling us to our bones. Luckily we had packed a few hand warmers, which were a lifesaver after fiddling with tiny camera controls and handling the bitterly cold metal tripod.

Before long, the sky slowly turned from pitch black to inky blue, and the silhouette of the Himalaya began to appear. This was a truly vast mountain range, like nothing I had seen before – featuring four of the five highest peaks in the world, including Everest. As the sun continued to rise, a pink glow spread across the summits. The closest mountain was Kangchenjunga, also known as Sleeping Buddha, standing at well over 8,500 meters tall. We could see how it got its name, the profile of its peaks forms the outline of a reclining figure.

The sheer majesty of the Himalaya, the biting cold, and the gradual reveal of the mountains by the first light of dawn evoked a profound sense of wonder and of our insignificance. As the sun finally illuminated the whole mountain range, I was handed a cup of steaming tea and could finally stop and appreciate this incredible view. It was an awe-inspiring and humbling experience, and a day I definitely will never forget.