The rich and fertile valley of Nubra was open to tourists as recent as 1994 and thus most parts of it remain unexplored and unknown – still a mystery to the outside world. At a lower altitude than Leh, it has warmer climate and is greener as well.
Beginning our trek in Leh, the capital of Ladakh at 11500 ft, we spend 4 nights in to get ourselves well acclimatised and the days are spent rightfully visiting monasteries, monuments, taking short hikes before beginning the trek. We then embark on a trek very few have been on. We first drive to the famous turquoise blue lake of Pangong at 4268 m is one of the largest lakes (120km) of which only 1/3 rd of the lake lies in India as the rest of the lake lies in Tibet and return to the village of Durbuk from where we begin our trek on a path taken by shepherds when the Shyok river gets too high to cross in the summer.
We will cross the Nebuk la (5440m) and descend to the Shyok valley ending the first half of the trek in the village of Hotong. We then drive to Hundar before continuing on our trek through a lovely gorge and highland pastures up the Sniu Sumdo valley – an area visited only by the locals who bring their sheep and yaks here for grazing. The pastureland is rich here as it is fed by the numerous mountain streams. After climbing Ajangilung ( 6060m) and some more unnamed peaks here, we cross Lasermola ( 5150m) to descend down the Phyiang valley ending our trek in Phyiang from where we drive to Leh.
