ADVENTURE LADAKH

Catch an early flight from New Delhi to Leh over the Great Himalayan Range with the stretch of the high altitude dessert below us. Pick up from the airport and transfer to the hotel. The rest of the day is spent in acclimatization walks in the markets of Leh. Overnight in the hotel.

Today we visit Leh Palace, Hall of Fame and then head to Shanti Stupa which is a Buddhist white-domed stupa on a hilltop in Changspa. This helps us getting acclimatized to the high altitude. We return to the hotel for the night.

This day is for taking in the sights of Leh and to use this as an opportunity to acclimatize further. We visit Hemis Monastery, Thiksey Monastery and Stok Palace. Hemis stands on the western bank of the Indus River. The monastery boasts of a very rich collection of ancient relics. The Hemis Monastery also serves as the venue for the annual Hemis Festival. Thiksey houses one of the largest Buddhist statues, the 15-meter tall Champa, the Buddha of Future. Thiksey is one of the most frequently visited and most photogenic monasteries in Ladakh. About a hundred monks live here.

After breakfast we take a short drive to Zinchen, a small village near Leh. We further walk up to our campsite at Rumbak. Camp overnight.

We then follow the main trail on the left of the Rumbak Nala leaving the Rumbak village behind us. We enter a valley leading to the south and proceed to the village of Yurutse. After and 3 hour walk we reach the first base camp of Ganda La. The climb is long and we seem to be doing a series of climbs ascending gradually. We ascend a hill to reach our campsite. Overnight in tents.

Our high point on the trek. From the base we have a gradual ascent before the steep climb to the top of Ganda La. From the pass we get a fabulous view of Mt. Stok Kangri and the Stok La range in the south east, while the Zanskar range is on the west. We descend steadily along the Skiu nalla to reach a small village called Shingo with a beautiful campsite. Camp overnight.

We continue to descend the Skiu nallah. This walk is through a narrow gorge with willows and shrubs of wild roses. We walk all the way crisscrossing the nallah till we reach the Skiu village on the banks of the Markha River. We can choose to camp near Skiu Village.

From here the walk is quite easy and it is a more relaxed day as we leave the high passes behind and walk along the river to reach Chilling which is the starting point of the rafting run. Camp overnight.

After breakfast we do a rafting run down Zanskar River The exciting rapids make the rafting run interesting. Our run ends at Nimo and we break for lunch. Post lunch we visit Alchi Monastery which is a World Heritage Site also this is the only monastery on flat ground. From here we drive to Leh. Evening is free to rest. Overnight stay in a hotel.

We prefer this one rest day at the end of the trek so that we can always make use of this extra day as a contingency day in case of any delays, due to flight cancellation or any delays on the trek due to bad weather. Alternatively one can make use of this extra day to visit Khardung La pass (5,602 m / 18,380 ft) the highest motor-able pass in the world. Another option is to try a bit of mountain biking. Overnight in a hotel.

We drive to Leh airport and as we take off we look down on stark beauty of Ladakh, our minds filled with everlasting memories of our trek.