Ji ‘Leh’ zara, say three friends back from road trip of lifetime

Nagpur: “The journey is more beautiful than the destination, and we can only encourage everyone to visit Leh-Ladakh at least once in their lifetime, as it is heaven on earth.” said three Nagpurians who recently completed a road trip to the region. Manish Bagalkote, Anirudhh Hazra and Pankaj Patwardhan were speaking at a Traveller’s Adda seminar moderated by Sachin Jahagirdar.
The three spoke of their 14-day adventurous road trip to Leh-Ladakh, starting by car from Chandigarh. Their first destination was Manali, where they took a halt for two days and then left for Leh. They conquered the Umling La pass, known as highest motorable pass. They also visited the most popular Pangong Lake in Ladakh. At Hanle Marshlands, known as paradise for wildlife, and all three being wildlife enthusiasts, the friends concentrated on capturing glimpses of some of the endangered species like Tibetan Gazelle, Upland Buzzard, Red Billed Chugh, Black Necked Crane, Himalayan/Tibetan Wolf, Red Fox, Kiang and Palla’s Cat. These sightings are possible near Tso Kar lake, which is at 14,860 feet, and has two lakes – one salt water and the other sweet water.
The friends also visited Milkyway at Hanle and indulged in some stargazing. They also visited the Hanle Observatory at over 15,000 ft altitude, which is one of the world’s highest sites for astronomical observation, where TATA and now NASA are conducting observations into the origins of the universe.
Bagalkote said, “Life is a journey that must be travelled, no matter how bad the roads are. However, the BRO (Border Road Organisation) has done an immense amount of good work and made travel by road very easy and smooth in this region.”
He also asked travellers to ‘climb high and sleep low’ with regard to altitude, to take full and good experience of this beautiful region. Among the other unforgettable places visited by them were the confluence of rivers Indus and Zanskar, where the waters are purple and blue, Sarchu plateau with its commercial camping and insane wildlife. They said that the ever changing colours of the mountains are something to be seen and picturesque beyond mesmerising.
(Reporting by Kratika Patni)