On the occasion of the annual Ladakh Festival, Smart Photography, in association with Milestone Enterprise, conducted a photo tour to Leh, the capital of Ladakh, from 27th August to 5th September 2011.
The tour was very well appreciated by all the participants, who collectively clicked thousands of photos.
Ladakh is a high-altitude desert. It is remote and beautiful, and abounds in awesome physical features. La-dakh is bounded by two of the world’s highest mountain ranges: the Karakoram and the Great Himalayas.
The tour started at Manali, near the northern end of Kullu Valley in Himachal Pradesh. The Manali-Leh road is comparatively tougher than the scenic Srinagar-Leh road, since it is snowbound for almost seven months, and hence is non-functional. We engaged two Travellers (mini buses by Force Motors) and a Toyota Innova, and embarked on the zigzag journey to our final destination, 477 kms away.
Some glimpses of the Ladakh Festival
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Rohtang Pass (3,978 m /13,050 ft), just about 54 kms from Manali, was our first ‘pit-stop’. Rohtang Pass lies between Manali and Lahaul and is the last mountain pass with dense vegetative cover. It is also the busiest pass, as a large number of domestic tourists and honeymooners make day-trips to this Pass. After descending from Rohtang, we stopped at a place called Khoksar. A few kilometres ahead is Tandi, the confluence of river Chandrabhaga flowing embroiled in its own saga of love. We then arrived at Keylong, the district headquarters of Lahaul and Spiti, and home to most of the government offices and facilities in Lahaul. Ahead of Keylong at 75kms lies the Baralacha – La – Pass (4,892 m /16,050 ft) where the trail from Spiti valley falls to the southeast. This is the crossing point of the great Himalayan watershed between the rivers-Indus and Chenab. Below the Baralacha-la is a beautiful emerald lake, the Suraj Tal (Sun lake), the source of the river Bhaga. By nightfall we reached Sarchu (32 kms ahead of Baralacha- La – Pass), a sprawling valley, where the border of Himachal Pradesh and Ladakh lies. The temperature at night was almost zero degrees, but we were provided with extremely warm blankets and hot water bags. We spent the night in tents, a lovely experience one can never forget.
 Some glimpses of the Ladakh Festival |
 A brave motorcyclist negotiating a mucky bend |
Early next morning, after taking a few sunrise shots in the near-freezing temperature, we proceeded to Tanglang – La – Pass (5,325 m / 17,469 ft), the second highest motorable road in the world. After crossing Tanglang-la, we came to the Rumtse village followed by Gya. The road then followed the village stream down to the Indus at Upshi. By late evening we reached Leh.
 At the second highest motorable road in the world |
 A snow-peaked mountain along the way |
The next morning we visited the Thiksey Gompa, 17 kms south of Leh. This is considered to be the most beautiful of all the monasteries in Ladakh, belonging to the Gelukspa order. The Gompa was first built at Stakmo by Sherab Zangpo of Stod. Later the nephew of Sherab Zagpo, Paldan Sherab founded the Thiksey Gonpa on a hilltop to the north of Indus river.
 Terrible roads and traffic jam somewhere near Rohtang Pass |
Starting early the next day, we drove to Khardong – La – Pass (5,578 m / 18,300 ft) where the morning sun sets the high peaks aflame. To the north of Leh is a road which never seems to stop rising. This is the beacon Highway – the highest motorable road in the world. Khardong – la offers our gaze a forbidden valley – Nubra. Here the Siachen Glacier meets the Shayok to present the guardians of the Karakoram an expanse of greenery contrasting remarkably with the rest of Ladakh.
Our last excursion in Ladakh was to the Pangong Lake, 64 km in length, nearly 3.2 – 6.4 km in width and 13,930 feet above the sea level. The water of this lake is saline, but is not as salty as sea water. What strikes the eye first is the lovely colour of its water, especially towards the evening when it turns a rich deep blue. China holds 75-percent of the lake, and India 25-percent. The landscape on the way to Pangong was spectacular.
This was followed by a nice dinner at a well-known hotel in Leh, where we all had a good time. The next day we returned to Manali and from there proceeded back to our respective homes.
