Ibex Mountain

One of the mountains just down the valley from my godmother's house, in the Aiguilles Rouges National Nature reserve has become known to my family as 'Ibex Mountain'. The locals will all tell you that if your up on slopes at 5pm the Ibex will all come out to play. I was really keen to get some photographs of this iconic species in the wild so we set out to find them!

We started our hike mid-morning climbing up beautiful forested paths and enjoying the shade for the first part of the climb! An hour or so in to our walk we heard a strange squeaking sound almost directly beside us and following this sound I discovered a new born mammal, which I think was probably a possum! It was a great start to the walk, although I decided not to take many photos because I didn't want to disturb it's hiding place! For the next few hours we were climbing in the midday sun, and it was very tiring - although much better when my dad offered to carry my camera bag! Eventually we arrived at our destination two lakes surrounded by rock faces, and a fantastic spot for local wildlife. We didn't climb right up to Lac Blanc this time but found we preferred this spot, we had the place to ourselves. 

For lunch we sat on a huge rock in-between the lakes; the perfect vantage point for me to use the binoculars to see what I could spot.    Ibex live at higher altitudes, preferring the steep rocky terrain, especially during winter to avoid deep snow, so it seemed the perfect location for them. Scanning the rocks I noticed a male Ibex sat down in the shade, and we watched him climb effortlessly up vertical rocks! Just as I was taking a few photos, my dad said he thought he saw a marmot far away on a scree-slope. We've been to the alps a few times but I'd only ever heard marmots, so I was excited for the chance to see them! Taking my camera and binoculars I decided to sneak closer, keeping down-wind of them, my focus fixed on the marmot sat on a rock eating. I was so intent on focusing on that single marmot it completely slipped my mind there could be more!!! Hearing a noise to my left, I spun in time to see one just 2m away. With a lot of patience I soon regained their trust and then spent an hour with them, following them and watching them socialise. There were 3 altogether, probably a family. They took turns keeping watch, and whenever the heard a bird of preys call they stood on their hind legs and watched above carefully! When they met one another they would greet with nose-touching which was very sweet. One of their favourite ways to relax seemed to be sunbathing, they just adored lying flat on the rocks warmed by the sun! 

On our way down we saw a lot more Ibex, including some with babies. Often you could see them licking rocks for salty minerals, and they came really close and even shared the footpath with us! Then we saw two more marmots!! We pointed them out to a few other hikers and lent them our binoculars, we all enjoyed watching them together.  It's great when nature brings people together like that... All in all it was a fantastic day with wildlife.