Kashmir-Nature’s Own Ad...by Shahid Mehraj Rather.: Driving Manali to Leh.

One obviously will consider the start not from the place one starts but from Manali. Starting from Manali one will first hit the Rohtang pass around 2hrs drive from Manali. The Rohtang pass is at an altitude of 3979 meters. On way to the pass one can stop over a couple of place to enjoy the view of temporary watefalls created due to snow melt. The image below is one such place;-

Temporary waterfalls

On way to the pass one can enjoy quite a few stop overs as there are many dhabas and tea stalls lining the road at prominent places.

Reaching the Rohtang may make you pass through a few snow tunnels too; where the road has been cut out through large chuncks of snow slides.

As one gets near the Rohtang pass the road is really bad with slush and melting snow water logged on the road at many places but then it must be the same on allmost all roads at such height. On the Rohtang pass itself one can enjoy sledging on the snow slopes and a hot lunch too yet for the travellers preferring solitude the place is crowded with tourists and looks like a mess. I preferred to drive straight across the pass. The pic below shows the Rohtang pass;-

It is a crowd here.

Once you cross the Rohtang, one has to go down a steep gradient into the Lahul valley. I had my lunch once I touched the valley floor. It was less crowded.

On my way down into the Lahul valley I found more waterfall but these ones had more water gushing in them in comparison to those on the way up the rohtang. Again these are snow melt sourced but they are worth stopping over for a snap. The one show below is just 15 minutes down the Rohtang on the Lahul side;-

Its just 15 min.s down the lahul side.

After my lunch I headed straight towads Keylong ; the district headquarter of Lahul. On the way to Keylong the landscape gradually starts to change but the actual change of landscape into an arid desert starts only after one crosses the other pass called the Baralachala. The road to Keylong is under construction. Althought most of it is OK to drive but sometimes one may have to cross a gushing stream which may have cut the road at some place. Hence a four wheel drive vehicle should be the preffered mode of transport when you choose to do this travel. Below is a pic of a stream which had washed the road away with its current;-

Need to cross it carefully. Better survey it first.

Crossing the strip I drove straight to Keylong where I stopped for a snack. Reached Keylong about 5pm, having started at Manali at 10 am. Keylong is a small town with a few hotels, a small bazaar fitted into a small lane through which hardly two vehicles can cross each other. For most of the travellers headed to Leh, Keylong inevitably become a night halting place. Accomodation is usually availabel but can get scarce during peak tourist season. I personally prefer to camp in my back packing tent at some less crowded place by the side of some fresh water source. At one hours drive from Keylong falls a place called Juspa which had a single but good hotel,named Hotel Ibex. This is a place definitely very less crowded than Keylong and definitely the landscape in Keylong gives a claustrophobic feeling while as Juspa makes you fell exactly the opposite. I personally stopped at a green patch of land on the roadside near a small stream in my small backpacking tent, just 150 meters before the Hotel Ibex. The pics

Hotel Ibex Juspa

below shows the patch where I camped and the Hotel Ibex.

Next day morning the I started off from Juspa early morning and on the way I stopped over at Darcha to rectify a punctured tyre.

My night camping place.

This small market place of Darcha is a good place to enjoy ones breakfast of parathas and tea. Furtheron one actually looks forward to the next big pass one is headed to named the Baralacha la. La in the local language means a pass, so the name of the pass is baralacha. The uphill gradient taking you to the Baralachla has a funny name. It is called the Zingzingbar gradient. This is one of the two names I did not need to memorize for its uniqueness. Once one it up the Zingzingbar one reaches the Baralachala. The Baralacha pass has a small lake of sorts; obviously sourced by the snow melt but it is pretty. The pass is usually covered in snow but the road is surpringly the best strip on has travelled yet from Manali to this place. I was surprised to see it fully macadamised. Once one crosses the Baralacha la one reaches a stop over on the otherside of this pass. Now this is another surprising name. Although it is a camp of seven or eight teastalls in makeshift tents, yet it is named as The Bharatpur City. Below are a few pics of the zingzing bar, the lake at baralachala and what they call the City;-

The ZingZingbar road.

Lake at Baralachala.

City. Do you see the tents?

On the farther end of this picture is the Baralacha pass. The road gets better as one goes up the zingzingbar. At baralachala it is macadamised and smooth. By now I think this strip will also have been completed.

The altitude is 4890 meters and the snow is a permanent feature but the quantity must be less after peak summer months. I passed through this place on 7th of June 08. By Aug. the snow must be almost 25 percent of this.

Try to trace the 8 or 9 tents in the centre of this picture. They call it Bharatpur CITY. I believe this is a misnomer. I laughed a lot on my first sight of this city. Believe me they have a large board announcing the name.

As on travels on the landscape really changes into a desert. Now on can see vast stretches of sand and sandy cliffs. This is the last stretch of the state of Himachal Pradesh and further on one will enter the state of Jammu and Kashmir( the paradise on earth). The actual landscape of world coldest desert opens up to you only after you leave Himachal Pradesh and enter Jammu and Kashmir. On this stretch one more intersting name made me laugh and it stuck to my memory as a strong glue. The name is Twing Twing Bridge. The picture of the milestone announcing the name is below:-

say the name 4 times. I bet u wil laugh.

Beyond the Baralacha the landscape is impressive and one can see quite a number of wilderness camps. These camps are good and if you have the time it is worth it to spend a day in one of these. The vast expanse of wilderness generates a feeling of awe even in the most ardent city life enthusiasts. Further on one has to cross a number of land marks; the most important being another pass named the Lachunla at an altitude of 4800 meters, the ghata loops which is an uphill gradient and the road is a combination of around 24 hairpins bends, the Nakila pass at an altitude of 4700 meters, the breathtaking landscape as one nears the police post of Pang, the 60 km stetch of plain desert surrounded by multicolored meadows full of Yak and the final pass called the Tanglangla at an altitude of 5280 meters having the distinction of being the worlds second highest motorable road after which one reaches Upshi a town just 25 kms from the famous city of Leh.

To describe this landscape in words needs wordsworth to be reincarnated hence please enjoy what all best my camera could catch as I am just a bit lesser than Dear Wordsworth;-