Ladakh Wildlife
Ladakh is a mysterious land shrouded in myth and legend. Much of its ancient history is known only through the mythology of its people, as its written history is of very recent origin. Known for centuries as the 'land of passes' (La-pass; Dacha-land), Ladakh was discovered by Fa-hian, who traveled across its inhospitable terrain in 399 A.D. , as 'The land where snow never melts and only corn ripens'.

Its landscapes are forbidding by any measure. Snow-swathed mountains rise to several thousand feet above one of the most elevated plateaus on earth. A treeless wind-swept country, much of Ladakh can be termed as mountainous, Arctic desert, where everything is parched by the rarefied dryness of the atmosphere. Scattered here and there, a few narrow fertile valleys provide a clear sparkling air. The limpidity of the atmosphere, in fact, gives the night sky a unique clarity, so full and bright with stars that one feels transported to some ethereal setting, far removed from Earth. For endless years, before man had even discovered this remote land, several hardy animals and birds lived together here in an exquisite equilibrium. Circumstances have now changed, as they have almost everywhere else on the subcontinent. Today, Ladakh's flora and fauna are threatened and protection is vital if the ancient ecosystems are to survive the trauma of modern man. This mysterious "land of passes" (La-pass, Dakh-land) stands at a height 4,600 meters in the outer Himalayas with its peaks, ranging from 5,800 to 7,600 meters forming the most striking feature of the area.

The Himalayas, higher than the mightiest mountains anywhere in the world, are clearly the result of a process of folding-a moment of the coastal plates by which one drifting piece of land overrides another. When two such drifting continental pieces collide and wrap, the resultant wrinkles form mountains. This Himalayan massif is believed to be the result of such a collision between the Indian and Asian plates (geologically a comparatively recent phenomenon). Consequently, much of the high altitude Himalayan fauna is typical of both the oriental and Palearctic regions.
Ladakh's most striking feature is nakedness of the country. Lying as it does to the North of the main Himalayan range, most of Ladakh falls in the Palearctic rather than the oriental region. Ladakh possesses virtually no natural forests, though along riverbanks and valleys some greenery does exist. The lower mountain slopes are sparse but higher up, near the snow line, wild rose, willow and herbaceous plants have successfully colonized the slopes. This is the alpine zone. While soil, wind, precipitation and exposure are important determinants in the arrangement of specific life, the temperature differential due to altitude is by far the most important factor. Because of the decrease in the temperature, vegetation becomes more sparse and stunted as one ascends the slopes.

In this extremely harsh environment the untrained eye would hardly see any evidence of wildlife at all. Animals, which have adapted to the rigorous conditions however, thrive on the minimal vegetation, poor shelter, rocky terrain and bitter cold. Nevertheless, most creatures, notably the ungulates, do migrate to lower regions in winter while others, like the brown bear and marmots, choose to hibernate. Ironically, at this altitude many animals suffer from "mountain sickness" because of the lack of oxygen! Their bodies however, seem to adopt to this condition, as the number of red blood corpuscles increases along with blood acidity. Most large mammals have a unique devise for protection against the cold-- a highly insulated shaggy coat. They, therefore, have less need for shelter from the elements. This perhaps why more species of goat and sheep live here in open country than anywhere else on earth.

Hemis Festival
Tours and travel to the Ladakh region gives you a chance to be a part of the Hemis festival that is celebrated at the Hemis Gompa located at a distance of 45 kilometers from Leh, the capital of Ladakh. The Hemis monastery was constructed in the year 1672. This two-day festival is celebrated to mark the birth anniversary celebrations of the Buddhist guru Padmasambhava. This festival is one of the most important Tibetan Buddhist Gompa festivals in Ladakh and is celebrated with a lot of pomp.

During this festival the lamas and monks perform sacred mask dances that depict the destroying of evil forces and the celebration of good over evil. Lamas offer contradictory explanations as to the meanings of these dance performances. Special musical instruments that is the three-meter long brass trumpets are played during these dance performances.

This festival has a special cultural significance, as this is one time of the year when almost all the families from the nearby villages visit the monastery for this festival. This festival serves as a forum for rural families to socialize. Men wear colorful cummerbands and women wear bright headdresses and lots of jewelry.

Kashmir Hub offers details about the time and duration of the Hemis festival along with relevant information on tours and travel packages to the Hemis Gompa in Ladakh, Kashmir, India.

Dosmoche Festival
Dosmoche, the festival of the scapegoat, is celebrated with fervor at Leh. Falling in the second half of February, Dosmoche is one of two New Year festivals, the other being Losar. At Dosmoche, a great wooden mast decorated with streamers and religious emblems is et up outside Leh. At the appointed time, offerings of storma, ritual figures moulded out of dough, are brought out and ceremonially cast away into the desert, or burnt. These scapegoats carry away with them the evil spirits of the old year, and thus the town is cleansed and made ready to welcome the new year. Spituk, stok, thikse, chemrey and Matho all have their festivals in winter, between November and March. Likir and Deskit (Nubra )time their festivals to coincide with Dosmoche.

Losar
Losar -this spectacular festival celebrates the Ladakhi/Tibetan new year. Festivities last for 2 weeks during December or January,depending on the Lunar calander . All Ladakhi Buddhists celebrate it by making offerings to the gods, both in gompas and in their domestic shrines. The festival is marked with ancient rituals,the stage fights between good & evil, chanting and passing through the crowds with fire torches. The dance of the Ibex deer and the dramatic battles between the King & his ministers add to the joyous atmosphere. Full of music,dancing and merry-making ! This important festival changes location & dates every year.

Sindhu Darshan
Sindhu Darshan Festival, as the name suggests, is a celebration of river Sindhu, also known as the Indus. People travel for a Darshan and Puja of the River Sindhu (Indus) which originates from the Mansarovar in Tibet. The Festival aims at projecting the Sindhu river as a symbol of multi-dimensional cultural identity, communal harmony and peaceful co-existence in India. Whilst promoting tourism in this area, this festival is also a symbolic salute to the brave soldiers of India who have valiantly fought the odds at Siachen, Kargil and other places.

It is also an opportunity for people from around the country and overseas to visit the beautiful regions of Leh and Ladakh. Celebrated first time in the year 1997, the festival is organised annually at Leh in the month of May-June by the Government of Jammu and Kashmir with the support of the Ministry of tourism and culture, Government of India. The festival is kaleidoscope of Indian culture and showcases an exciting array of performing arts being brought together at an exciting place. As part of the celebrations, various groups from different states in India bring water from the other mighty rivers in the country in earthen pots and immerse these pots in the Sindhu river, thereby mingling the river water with other waters of the land.

Ladakh Travel Tips
Ladakh is a land like no other. Bounded by two of the world's mightiest mountain ranges, the Great Himalaya and the Karakoram, it lies athwart two other, the Ladakh range and the Zanskar range.

In geological terms, this is a young land, formed only a few million years ago by the buckling and folding of the earth's crust as the Indian sub-continent pushed with irresistible force against the immovable mass of Asia. Its basic contours, uplifted by these unimaginable tectonic movements, have been modified over the millennia by the opposite process of erosion, sculpted into the form we see today by wind and water.

Yes, water! Today, a high -altitude desert, sheltered from the rain-bearing clouds of the Indian monsoon by the barrier of the Great Himalaya, Ladakh was once covered by an extensive lake system, the vestiges of which still exist on its south -east plateaux of Rupshu and Chushul - in drainage basins with evocative names like Tso-moriri, Tsokar, and grandest of all, Pangong-tso. Occasionally, some stray monsoon clouds do find their way over the Himalaya, and lately this seems to be happening with increasing frequency. But the main source of water remains the winter snowfall. Drass, Zanskar and the Suru Valley on the Himalaya's northern flank receive heavy snow in winter; this feeds the glaciers whose meltwater, carried down by streams, irrigates the fields in summer. For the rest of the region, the snow on the peaks is virtually the only source of water. As the crops grow, the villagers pray not for rain, but for sun to melt the glaciers and liberate their water. Usually their prayers are answered, for the skies are clear and the sun shines for over 300 days in the year.

Ladakh lies at altitudes ranging from about 9,000 feet (2750m) at Kargil to 25,170 feet (7,672m) at Saser Kangri in the Karakoram. Thus summer temperatures rarely exceed about 27 degree celcius in the shade, while in winter they may plummet to minus 20 degree celcius even in Leh. Surprisingly, though, the thin air makes the heat of the sun even more intense than at lower altitudes; it is said that only in Ladakh can a man sitting in the sun with his feet in the shade suffer from sunstroke and frostbite at the same time!

Leh Ladakh Map