Ladakh, a tourist destination

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Ladakh,a tourist destination

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  prepared by Sonam Gurmaith

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Content

1. Introduction
2. Brief History
3. Geography
4. Climate
5. Flora and Fauna
6. Costume and Jewellery
7. Economy
8. Transportation

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Introduction

• Ladakh popularly known as the Land of high
  passes is a region of India in the state of
  Jammu and Kashmir that currently extends from the
  Kuen Lun mountain range to the main Great
  Himalayas to the south, inhabited by people of
  Indo-Aryan and Tibetan descent.
• It is one of the most sparsely populated regions
  in Jammu and Kashmir and its culture and history
  are closely related to that of Tibet.
• It has a population of about 260,000 which is a
  blend of many different ethnic groups,
  predominantly Tibetans , Monpas and Dards.
• It has two main districts , Leh and Kargil.

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• Most Ladakhis in Leh District are Tibetan
  Buddhists ,  while most of the people of Kargil
  District are Shia Muslims.
• The principal language of Ladakh is Ladakhi, a
  Tibetan language.
• Traditionally, Ladakhi had no written form
  distinct from classical Tibetan, but a number of
  Ladakhi writers have started using the Tibetan
  script to write the colloquial tongue .

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Brief History

• In the past Ladakh gained importance from its
  strategic location at the crossroads of important
  trade routes , but since the Chinese authorities
  closed the borders with Tibet and Central Asia in
  the 1960s, international trade was discontinued
  after then .
• In the 1950 s when Jammu and Kashmir became a
  part of India , Ladakh also came under India .
• Since 1974, the Government of India has
  successfully encouraged tourism in Ladakh.

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Geography

• Ladakh is the highest plateau of state of Jammu
  and Kashmir with much of it being over 9,800 ft.
• Contemporary, Ladakh borders Tibet to the east,
  the Lahaul and Spiti regions to the south, the
  Valley of Kashmir, Jammu and Baltistan regions to
  the west, and the southwest corner of Xinjiang
  across the Karakoram Pass in the far north.
• The Indus River is the backbone of Ladakh. Most
  major historical and current towns  Shey , Leh ,
  Basgo and Tingmosgang are close to the Indus
  River.
• Before partition, Baltistan, now under Pakistani
  control, was a district in Ladakh .
• The mountain ranges in this region were formed
  over 45 million years by the folding of the
  Indian plate into the more stationary Eurasian
  Plate.
• The peaks in the Ladakh Range are at a medium
  altitude close to the Zoji-la (5,0005,500 m or
  16,00018,050 ft) and increase toward southeast,
  culminating in the twin summits of Nun-Kun (7000
  m or 23,000 ft).

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Climate

• The major regions of Ladakh experience heavy
  snowfall in winters and remain cut off from the
  rest of India for several months in the year, as
  the whole region remains cut off by road from the
  rest of the country.
• Summers are short, though they are long enough to
  grow crops.
• The summer weather is dry and pleasant.
• Temperature ranges are from 3 to 35 Degree
  Celsius in summer and minimum ranges from -20 to
  -35 Degree Celsius in winter.

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Flora and Fauna

• Vegetation is extremely sparse in Ladakh .
• The fauna of Ladakh has much in common with that
  of Central Asia  in general and that of
  the Tibetan Plateau in particular.
• Exceptions to this are the birds, many of which
  migrate from the warmer parts of India to spend
  the summer in Ladakh.
• There are about 200 snow leopards in Ladakh of
  an estimated 7,000 worldwide.
• The endangered Tibetan antelope, known
  as chiru in Indian English, or Ladakhi tsos, has
  traditionally been hunted for its wool (shahtoosh
  ) which is a natural fiber of the finest quality
  and thus valued for its light weight and warmth
  and as a status symbol .  
• The hair of the Tibetan Antelope is so fine that
  a shawl of this fabric can be pulled through a
  mans ring , thus they are sometimes called
  ring shawls .

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The endangered black- necked
Crane
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Snow
Leopard
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Ladakhi
Urial
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Ladakhi Argali
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Tibetan
Antelope
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Costume and Jewellery

• Ladakhi costumes have an identity of their own.
• The gonchas and tsulmas  worn by men and women
  respectively act as graceful backdrops for the
  multiple ornaments worn by both men and women.
• The Ladakhi perak, the most important piece of
  jewelry worn by married women, has religious and
  ritualistic symbolism embedded within it and it
  is the most visible signature of Ladakhi identity.

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Economy

• The economy of Ladakh rests on three pillars the
  Indian Army, tourism, and civilian government in
  the form of jobs and extensive subsidies.
• Agriculture , the mainstay only one generation
  ago, is no longer a major portion of the economy,
  although most families still own and work their
  land.
• For centuries, Ladakh enjoyed a stable and
  self-reliant agricultural economy based on
  growing barley, wheat and peas and keeping
  livestock, especially yaks , cows, dzos (a
  yak-cow cross breed), sheep and goats.
• The principal crops are barley and wheat.
• Rice was previously a luxury in the Ladakhi diet,
  but, subsidised by the government, has now become
  a cheap staple
• Two items grown for export are apricots and
  pashmina shawl . .

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Apricot
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Transport

• There are about 1,800 km of roads in Ladakh.
• Ladakh was the connection point between Central
  Asia and South Asia when the Silk Route was in
  use. The sixty-day journey on the Ladakh route
  connecting Amritsar  and Yarkand in China through
  eleven passes was frequently undertaken by
  traders till the third quarter of the 19th
  century.
• In present times, the only two land routes to
  Ladakh in use are from Srinagar and Manali.
• Travelers from Srinagar start their journey from
  Sonamarg, over the Zoji la pass (11,320 ft) via
  Drass and Kargil ( 9,020 ft) passing
  through Namika La ( 12,100 ft) and Fatu La
   (13,500 ft).
• This has been the main traditional gateway to
  Ladakh since historical times and is now open to
  traffic from April or May until November or
  December every year.

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• The other route is the high altitude Manali-Leh
  Highway  from Himachal Pradesh  
•  There is one airport in Leh, from which there
  are daily flights to Delhi and weekly flights to
  Srinagar and Jammu.

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Ladakh
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The Beautiful Thiksey Monastery in its Morning
Glory
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Pangong Tso Lake
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• Thanks!!!!!