Ladakh - Tours in India

The land of endless discovery, heaven on earth, roof of the world, top of the world – are just some of the terms used to describe Ladakh. It is indeed a land like no other.

Spread over an area of 45,000 sq miles the passes include the worlds’ highest and the mountains include the Karakoram, Great Himalayan, Zanskar and Ladakh ranges. Ladakh is neighboured by Tibet in the east, Kashmir in the west, Lahaul and Spiti in the south and the Xinjiang in the far north. Ladakh was at the strategic crossroad of important trade routes with Tibet and Central Asia till the 1960s when the Chinese closed the Tibetan borders with Ladakh. Leh, the capital of Ladakh in fact means ‘junction’ besides its other literal meaning – ‘paradise’ – which it actually is. Geographically Ladakh is divided into five distinct regions. Changthang or the northern highlands constitutes of high pastures and is home to the nomadic changpas and lies contagious to Tibet. Zanskar is made of towering and precarious peaks and is snow bound for most part of the year. Nubra lies across the worlds’ highest motorable pass and is on the way to the Siachen glacier. Batalik lies along the Indus and is contagious to Pakistan and is home of the Brokpas – the purest race of Aryans on earth. Then is Leh, which is a valley lying on the junction of all other regions.

The earliest recorded history of Ladakh points it to being a part of the Kushana Empire in the 1st century. In the 8th century, Ladakh was invaded by the Tibetan expansion pressing from the East. After the break-up of the Tibetan empire in 842, Nyima-Gon, a representative of the ancient Tibetan royal house founded the first Ladakh dynasty – Nyima-Gon’s which had its centre well to the east of present-day Ladakh. Continual raids on Ladakh by the plundering Muslim states of Central Asia lead to the weakening and partial conversion of Ladakh into two distinct region. Sengge Namgyal (1616–1642), known as the ‘lion’ king made efforts to restore Ladakh to its old glory by an ambitious and energetic building programme by rebuilding several gompas and shrines. Traditionally Ladakhis have depended largely on agriculture and sheep rearing for their livelihood. Over the past few decades army has provided with many employment opportunities to the locals and over the past decade tourism has helped Ladakhis to provide with sustainable means of employment. Ladakhis, most of whom are Buddhists, are a hard working lot and consider all visitors to be friends. The small yet strong Hindu and Muslim population is equally friendly and like everyone else in Ladakh, open up their hearts and hearths to make you feel at home.

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