|
Advertise Here
Ladakh - Kargil & Leh - Hills Areas
Ladakh - For more than two months starting May 99 the
world was treated to some rare close-up views on television of the stark beauty
of the Kargil region of Ladakh as it watched the Indian army pound Pakistani
troops who had illegally occupied Indian territory. In the process, the little
heard-of places - Dras, Kaksar, Batalik, Tiger Hills and Kargil, became
household names. With peace having been restored after the ouster of the
villains, you can now travel to that remote, beautiful land to discover its
mysteries; maybe, even get to visit some of the places which were the scenes of
fierce battles so recently!
Bounded by the world's mightiest ranges - the great Himalayas
and the Karakoram, Ladakh lies at altitudes ranging from 2750m
(9000ft.) at Kargil in the west to over 7600m (25000ft.) in
the Karakoram range. It is a vast maze of towering snow-capped
mountains, the largest glaciers outside the polar region, and
inhospitable wastes. It is a
region where you hardly see any trees; where the summer temperature
rarely exceeds 27 degrees C in the shade, while in winter it
plummets to an average of
minus 20 degrees; where the thin, clear air makes the sun even
sharper than at lower altitudes. So it is said that only in
Ladakh can a man sitting in the sun
with his feet in the shade suffer from sunstroke and frost-bite
at the same time!
Ladakh occupies an area of 98,000 sq. kms. (as big as South
Korea or Iceland) and has a thinly spread population of barely
1,35,000. All
habitations
are along water courses including the Indus, Zanskar, Dras
and Suru rivers. With an annual rainfall of barely 5cm (two
inches) Ladakh depends on the snow
melt for almost its entire water supply. So, the Ladakhi farmer
prays for the sun to shine for watering his crops. Usually
his prayers are answered, as the
sun shines for more than 300 days in a year, and he grows giant
sized cabbage, cauliflower and radish!
Buddhism reached Tibet from India via Ladakh
and, even today, central and eastern Ladakh are predominantly Buddhist. The
region is dotted with Buddhist monasteries built on the highest mountain tops,
many of them seeming to cling precariously to the cliff-side. Western Ladakh is
largely Muslim.
Kargil And Leh - Lying at an altitude of
3350m (11,000ft) amidst starkly beautiful mountains, which
gradually merge into an oasis of green fields, is Leh,
ancient capital and now the principal township in Ladakh. It has a population
of about 10,000 and offers a fascinating glimpse of this secluded
land
steeped in religion.
Forty kms south of Leh lies the Hemis Gompa (monastery),
the biggest, best known and wealthiest in Ladakh, built in
1630. It is the site of a major
annual festival held in summer to celebrate the birthday of
Guru Padmasambhava. During the festival resident lamas perform
masked dances in a re-enactment of
the magical feats of the Guru.
Kargil (2704m), the second
largest town in Ladakh, lies on the banks of the Sum river
204 kms west of Leh - virtually the mid-point on the Srinagar-Leh road.
It is the junction of the
ancient trading routes linking Afghanistan, Tibet, Central
Asia, Sinkiang,
Kashmir and
Himachal
Pradesh. With the growing interest in the mystique of the Himalayas
as well as adventure tourism in the last few years, Kargil has grown in
importance -
indeed it is the ideal base from which to avail of Ladakh's many
opportunities for adventure.
Tourist Attractions The breathtaking harshness of the Pangong Lake, the largest brackish lake in
Asia; the serene Tso-Moriri Lake, a haven for rare bird species; the
villages of Dah and Biama, home to the colourful Drok-pas, a
rapidly dwindling tribe of pure Aryans; and the vast, unimaginably rugged and
forbidding landscapes of snow and mountain, are the popular attractions of the
region.
However, Ladakh's greatest attraction lies in the many exciting
opportunities it offers for adventure activities. You can go
on short, daylong treks to isolated villages or for tough mountain
treks lasting
upto three weeks in the convoluted terrain of the Zanskar range. River
rafting options are available in plenty on the Indus and its major
tributaries - easy stretches, professionally guided runs and
the relatively challenging routes suitable only for well organised
white-water expeditions.
Popular mountaineering destinations in the region are
the Nun-Kun Massif and the Zanskar Group. These have a large
number of peaks over 6000 m including
Nun (7135m) and Kun (7087m), all accessible from Kargil.
Getting There Leh can be reached by air from Delhi,
Srinagar, Jammu and
Chandigarh. However, the far more exciting way of going to Ladakh is by
road.
The traditional land approach from Srinagar is along the historic
Zoji-la motor road which follows the ancient trade route
to Leh, once the caravan centre of Central Asia; this road
traverses almost the entire
inhabited part of Ladakh. The other, more recent approach is
from Manali (in Himachal Pradesh) along the northern extension
of National Highway 21.
Whichever one you take, you get to see the most awesome and
spectacular sights enroute - mountain desert, amazing wind-eroded
rock towers, deep gorges, or
barren, uninhabited, dusty plains covered with scattered boulders
in a lunar landscape. The most exciting part is when you go
over the 3505m high
Zoji-la Pass, when motoring from Srinagar, or the 5325m
high
Taglang-la (and several others), when travelling from
Manali. Taglang-la is the world's second highest motorable
pass.
Caution - The lowest
altitude in the Leh region is around 2750m (9000 ft). So going by road also
helps you to get acclimatised gradually as your journey takes you higher and
higher. When reaching by air you have to waste atleast the first day of your
holiday just resting for acclimatisation, which is a must for preventing acute mountain sickness.
|
