'It is a violent overture, like the opening notes of an opera about war, a war between humans and the land.'For many years and through many of the world's most remote regions, Wade Davis has travelled in search of the rare places where cultural diversity survives, untainted by the influences of globalisation and modernisation. The Clouded Leopard brings together the extraordinary travels that sprang from this quest.In Peru, Davis spends time with the San Pedro cult and their shamans, in the frozen north of Canada he hunts narwhal with the Inuit. In Haiti, he unravels the complexities of the Vodoun religion and way of life. He describes the systematic destruction of the forests of Malaysia - far worse than that of the Amazon - and treks to the valleys of the Himalaya, where snow leopards and blue sheep still roam.His travels emphasise the fragility of the planet yet also illuminate the places and people where the bond between landscape and spirit is preserved. Beautiful and disturbing, tragic and yet hopeful, The Clouded Leopard sends out a timely message that cannot be ignored.

AcknowledgementsIntroductionCactus of the Four WindsHunters of the Northern IcePassion in the DesertDreams of a Jade ForestThe Clouded LeopardThe White DarknessThe Sheltering SkyThe Forests of AmazoniaWhite Blood of the ForestThe Art of Shamanic HealingPlants of the GodsSmoking ToadBreaking TrailIn the Shadow of the Red CedarThe End of the Wild