The Route from Nubra Valley to Pangong Lake (Via Wari La)

A small request to all: Enjoy nature, enjoy your travel but please don’t spoil MOTHER NATURE. Refill bottles, don’t throw plastic in water bodies or roads. Dispose your garbage at proper place. Cheers!

Nubra valley, is a very common and known to all destination in Ladakh. One needs to cross Khardungla (37kms from Leh) at 18,380 feet followed by Khardung , Khalsar, Disket, Hunder, Turtuk on the left or Khardung, Khalsar, Panamic on the right.

If you want to take the road from Nubra valley to reach Pangong lake directly, there are 2 beautiful routes there for you without coming back to Khardung La.
Disket – Khalsar (after a few kms towards Khardung take left and follow board towards Agham).

Just after crossing Agham bridge you can see 2 routes. The route on left is to Shayok which opens up at Durbuk on Chang La – Pangong lake road. From Durbuk, Pangong lake is about 40kms. But this route is under heavy construction this year (2013), with river Shayok taking over the roads at many places making it a very difficult choice for motorbike riders. However, a good 4 by 4 with a risk taking driver must try this route.

If you take right after Agham bridge, you will start ascending towards Wari La, a very secluded pass in Ladakh. It is very common not to spot any vehicle or locals on that route except road construction workers . After you descend Wari La, keep moving towards Sakthi (or Serthi as on sign boards). From Sakthi, take left towards Zingral and follow the road to Changla – Tangste – Lukung – Spangmik (on banks of Pangong lake).


So here is your route:
Disket – Khalsar – Left after few kms from Khalsar to follow road to Agham – Right after Agham bridge – Tangiyar – Wari La – Sakthi (or Serthi as on boards) – Zingral – Chang La – Tangste – Pangong Lake.


The above route near to Wari La involves good amount of off roading with almost no road and a lot of water streams on the way. I am sure, any motorcycle rider will love this route. It is amongst my favorite trails in Ladakh as there are very less people, almost zero tourists, not at all developed, no roads, less Dhabas, no BSNL signals, no shops, no villages. Only you with some wild mules, horses, yaks, sheeps and a few distinct birds of Ladakh and the adhoc mountains with blue sky in background and cold water streams under you on the path or trail leading to Wari La.

If you are a rider and still haven’t covered this route, don’t think twice, just add these beautiful 4 hours under your belt. If you need to know more about this or have any doubt, ask me. Cheers!
Some pics:

This is just after Agham bridge

Wari La - The mighty pass

Pangong Lake

 

The route from Tso Moriri to Manali-Leh highway

A small request to all: Enjoy nature, enjoy your travel but please don’t spoil MOTHER NATURE. Refill bottles, don’t throw plastic in water bodies or roads. Dispose your garbage at proper place. Cheers!

If you are looking for the route from Tso Moriri to Pang (On Manali-Leh Highway), you have arrived at the correct post.

From Karzok (village on banks of Tso Moriri), take the road back towards Upshi, until you reach village Sumdo. From Sumdo, take left and follow the trail. After you have crossed around 100kms (it took me 3.5 hours on my motorbike from Tso Moriri to Tso Kar), you will see a beautiful blue colored lake known as Tso Kar.
So if you want to touch Manali – Leh highway from Tso Moriri without going back to Upshi and Tanglangla, here is your way:

Tso Moriri (Karzok) – Sumdo – Tso Kar (105kms)

Tso Kar – Debring – More plains (20kms). Take left on touching More Plains

More plains – Pang – Lachung La – Nakee La – Gata loops - Tanglang La – Sarchu – Baralacha La – Zing Zing Bar – Patseo – Jispa Camp – Darcha – Keylong – Gramphoo – Rohtang La – Manali.


One can chose to stay at Darcha or Keylong for the night, if coming from Tso Moriri via Tso Kar.

Alternately, for those in Leh, looking to do a nice circuit, here is your route:
Leh – Upshi (left from here) – Mahe checkpost (right from here) – Sumdo – Karzok (village on banks of Tso Moriri)– Sumdo (left from here) – Tso Kar – Debring (right on More plains) – TangLang La – Rumste – Upshi – Leh.
It is doable in a day, but my suggestion is to halt at Tso Moriri and enjoy the pristine, untouched beauty of Tso Moriri.


If you need to know anything on this route, let me know and I will help fellow travelers. Cheers.
Below is a pic of Tso Moriri :

 

Getting Permits (Inner Line Permits) in Leh

Year 2014:
Few rules have been changed in Ladakh, please find below changed rules on permits and motorcycling rentals:
1) Motorcycling Rental:

 

 

2) Permits: Indian citizens can use govt. authorized phot ids to several restricted areas without need of permit like to Nubra valley and Pangong lake. But do check this point once in Leh for confirmation. :)


I often come across people who ask me the process of getting Inner Line Permit from Leh for traveling to Nubra valley, Pangong lake, Tso Moriri and other areas in Ladakh.
Though the guest house owners and travel agency guys in Leh can get one for you but they charge 100-200 Rupees extra for a permit. Besides, for me, it is really easy to go to DC office and get a permit for myself. This post is intended for those who want to secure an Inner Line Permit for themselves by their own.

> What is Inner Line Permit in Ladakh and why is it needed?
Inner line permit is a document which is required by each traveler to go to certain places in Ladakh bordering China, it is a written permission letter by District Commissioner (Leh) Office for travelers to visit certain restricted places for travelers.

Inner line permit can be procured from DC Office, Leh, opposite to Polo Grounds. Below is the step wise description of how one can get it easily.

1) Go to photostat shop just on the road ahead of DC office. Ask the guy there that you need forms for getting yourself permits. He will give you a few forms that you can fill there itself with his help. You need to clearly mention the places you intend to visit like Nubra Valley, Pangong lake, Tso Moriri etc. and your name, address and father's name in one form for all your group.

2) Go to DC office, on left side there is a room. Just at the first counter give the filled form, duly signed by you, to the guy. He will go through it and if there is some change that needs to be done, he will tell you.

3) After he approves, he will forward it to next counter and you will be asked 120 Rupees per person as fee for permit. You will give them the fee.

4) After collecting fee, the person will forward your form to next counter and you will be asked for Rs 20 as Wildlife Protection fee, which you will give.

5) Then the form is forwarded to last counter (all counters in row), and the person will call you by your name and collect Rs 200 as environment protection fee which you will give. This Rs 200 is introduced from year 2013 onward.

6) You will get the permit, signed and stamped by DC office - Leh. After getting this permit you go back to photostat guy and get 8-10 copies of this permit and keep all copies with you. When you visit any place and you are asked by army/ITBP/police for your permit, you give them a copy there for their records.


This is a simple process, involving 350 Rupees to get an Inner Line Permit for an Indian citizen.
For foreigners, an extra form with photostat copy of passport is required in addition to above steps.

I hope you get the process and find this useful. If you still have any doubts in the process, do ask.

Cheers and enjoy your trip.

Pangong Lake to Tso Moriri

A small request to all: Enjoy nature, enjoy your travel but please don’t spoil MOTHER NATURE. Refill bottles, don’t throw plastic in water bodies or roads. Dispose your garbage at proper place. Cheers!
The best village to stay on banks of Pangong lake in my opinion is Spangmik, a beautiful drive of 7kms along the lake.
From Spangmik (Pangong Lake) to go to Tso Moriri, one has options - either to retrace back to Karu, drive to Upshi and take the road to Mahe from Upshi and right from Mahe to Karzok village on banks of Tso Moriri.
The second option, that is more secluded, more remote, more beautiful and with less roads, with less eateries set up for tourists, along the Chinese border is the road via the village Maan, Merak.


From Spangmik to Maan to Merak. After you cross Merak you will see Pangong lake deviating left. There is no road, no signboard present there. You just need to take the path a little towards right after village Merak. You will see a bridge on left, don't take it.

If you reach this point, you are on WRONG WAY. GO BACK AND TAKE LEFT ROAD

 Be on right side path and continue following that road. You will reach this place:

Distinct path seen on top of plateau, keep following

After you reach this place, go straight and you will reach Chushul village. Make sure you are not following road to village Parmar from there, else you will again get on wrong road to Tangste via Parmar.

At Chushul, get friendly with army guys. They will give you some instructions about not taking the road left even accidently :) as China border is near. From Chushul, keep going straight. The first village after 31kms is Tsaga village. There is one ITBP post named as Tsaga post. After Tsaga, you will reach Loma post. If you take left from Loma post (prohibited), you will reach very close to China. There is only one day in an year when you can go to Loma village - The birthday of Dalai Lama. From Loma, in night you can see China and the lights at Chinese post. Except that one day, for all other days, you will take the straight road from Loma and reach Nyuma. Nyuma is a comparatively bigger village with only 1 tea stall. So after Spangmik, Nyuma is the place where you will get tea and Maggi to eat. In between, there is absolutely nothing, so make your arrangements.
There is BSNL network working in Nyuma and a diesel fuel station (which remains closed most of the time).

From Nyuma, go straight, there is a bridge on left. Don't take it, get on your right side and cross Nyuma military base. Keep going straight to reach Mahe(another in Changthang area. From Mahe Check post, take left for Sumdo. From Sumdo, again left and reach an unidentified lake, straight from there and you reach KArzok on banks of Tso Moriri. There are options of homestay (not really clean), take your tent or stay in the tent accommodation there at lake side. 

This route from Pangong lake to Tso Moriri will require you have extra permits.
2 at Chushul, 1 at Tara, 1 at Loma, 1 at Mahe. So 4 extra copies of permits are required, in addition to 1 being checked at Karu and 1 at Tangste.
So from Leh to Pangong lake to Tso Moriri, you will require 7 copies of your ILP (Inner Line Permit).

And don't forget to mention in your permit places like Nyuma, Chushul and Tsaga.

If you go from Leh - Khardungla - Nubra - WariLa - Sakthi - Changla - Pangong lake - Tso Moriri route, you will require 9 copies of you ILP. So don't hesitate in taking photostats of your permit and extra fuel for 
your trip. If you have any queries on this route, leave a comment and I will get back to you. Cheers and enjoy your trip.

The beautiful way from Maan Merak to Chushul along Pangong lake

Tso Moriri Lake