Ladak- Tsomoriri Lake

Tsomoriri Lake at a height of 14000 ft. is a beautiful lake in Rupsho Valley surrounded by snow capped mountains. It extends 15 miles in length and 3 to 5 miles in width. The water is salty and clear. On the south-west bank of the lake is Korzok village inhabited by very friendly people. There is a 150 years old monastery which was founded between 1851-1861. The main statue in the Gumpa is Shakyamuni Buddha.

Changpa Nomads :

The nomadic people set their camps in the summer on the banks of the lake. They live in a big tents with all the indigenous basic necessities. They are the most outstanding feature of the region , who can be seen moving from one place to another, grazing with herds of goats and yaks. Some Tibetan nomad families get together on 6th July every year to celebrate the birthday of his Holiness Dalai Lama which goes for a week at a small lake a few kilometres from Tsomoriri.

Rupshu’s barren hills support a sparse population of wild life. Ibex and marmots are found in Rupsho valley. The Lakes are breeding grounds for numerous species of birds. Chief among them are the bar-headed goose, found in great numbers on the Tsomoriri, the great crested grebe, the Brahmini duck and the brown headed gull.

Yayatso :

Yayatso is a small beautiful lake at the feet of snow covered mountain, with rare variety of birds, wild life and Changpa Nomadas grazing their herds of sheep and goat. The road leading to the Lake passes through Mahey Gonpa, one of two monasteries belonging to Karmapa school of order. The monastery was extended with large prayer hall, classrooms for learners, library and kitchen. The monastery remains always open for visitors. The unpaved road beyond the monastery towards north western side, goes to the Nunnery Gumpa from where one can cross a small pass to reach Yayatso. Picturesque view of the lake can also be enjoyed from the higher ridge of the pass on the left hand side. There are occasional visitors for the Lake as the road beyond Mahey Bridge is closed for general tourists. The check-post might get shifted up to Mahey Gumpa in future, so tourist can visit Mahey Monastery and the Lake in the days to come.

How to reach at Tsomoriri Lake :

One can reach Tsomoriri in two ways. The first circuit follows the Manali-Leh road over the Taglang-La up to Debring, a chang-pa camping place, from where it goes towards east on a track across the basin of the twin Lakes Startspuk-Tso (fresh water) and the Tso-kar (Salt water), then over the polokangka-la (about 16,500ft) to Sumdo in the Puga Valley near the site of old sulphur mines, and lastly over a roller-coaster track to the head of the Tsomoriri and on to Korzok village. Last 20 km long stretch goes along the lake.

The alternative route goes through the Upshi, follows the upstream of river Indus, as it snakes its way through a gorge between the Ladakh and Zanskar ranges, up to the village Chumathang, where there is a hot spring. At Mahey, some 17km. further, the road crosses from the north to the south bank of the river Indus crossing a bridge, then follows the upstream of Puga nala to join the first circuit at Sumdo.

My experience :
Even today when I think about Ladakh with my eyes closed, pictures of barren mountains of different colours, double humped camels, wavy sand- dunes, majestic lakes and colourful monastaries come across as a slide show. To speak about lakes in Ladakh although one must start with Pangon lake for its dominant size, Tsomoriri does not lag far behind. If Pangon is the King of lakes then Tsomoriri is surely his queen.
Tsomoriri is 216km. from Leh city. We had to start early. We crossed Upshi, Shey, Thiksey monastery and Karu village. From Upshi one way goes to the Manali and the other leads to Tsomoriri via Mahipul. There are many tea and food stalls in Upshi. We took our breakfast here.

River Indus

Bridge over river Indus

The unique beauty of the nature in this route started unfolding itself after three or four km from Upshi. Saffron coloured barren mountains accompanied us most of the times, with the river Indus flowing through the feet of these mountains. River Indus appeared as a beautiful slim young lady dancing her ways down the hills. On this way river Indus was calm and quiet. The attraction of river Indus was so intense that we often stopped and stepped down from car to touch her. But she was playing hide and seek with us. Sometime river Indus fled far away from us but in the next moment she came within whispering range. Spectacular foot bridges made of stones and braches and twigs were seen on the river Indus for the use of local people. Green agricultural lands were seen on both the banks of the river Indus.
 

Nice valley

On the way to Tsomoriri we crossed Likche and Hima to reach a vast valley. It was a wonderful place. In this route beauty of mountains was so much breathtaking and unique that no one can predict what would be revealed in the next moment. We stopped at a vast valley which was surrounded by colourful mountains. On our way to Leh we crossed several beautiful valleys. 43km. long moore valley was the longest. But this U shaped valley on the way to Tsomoriri although a small one, barely 2 km. long was quite unique in appearance. We got down from the car to enjoy few minutes’ walk in the nature. Pebbles were scattered on both sides of the road of this U shaped valley. Crystal clear greenish blue river Indus was flowing calmly following the outline of the valley.

Maheypul

Chumathang

In Maheypul the road got diverted in two ways. One way followed Indus river to go to Pangoan Tso. We turned right to reach Rupsho valley. Marmot, an endangered spices of this valley welcomed us. We took our lunch on road side at Chumathang inside our vehicle. Chumathang is famous for a medicinal hot spring. People from all parts of Ladakh come here for treatment.

Thunsungkaru

4km. from Smudo driver Namgial seemed to have lost his way in a large sandy valley. Even he could not find a single trace of tyre mark in the sand. He confessed that he was coming to Tsomoriri for the first time. We were completely at a loss and couldn’t understand what to do. We stopped there for half an hour to look for someone to get right direction but we couldn’t find any one. Afternoon started settling down slowly as the sun turned yellowish. Fear of uncertainty was slowly gripping us. Namgial started slowly driving the car and after half an hour we reached a sand dune having a beautiful small lake on the lap of a barren mountain standing in the midst of the valley. Although Namgial could identify the Lake as Thunsungkaru but still he couldn’t locate the right way to reach Tsomoriri. We got so much scared that we were in no mood to enjoy the beauty of the lake as well as that of the valley which were truly splendid. We were preparing our mind for a night stay inside our vehicle in this lonely valley totally cut off from rest of the world where night temperature would surely go down below freezing point and where snow leopards might try to catch us for a stupendous dinner. Suddenly two black spots appeared in the horizon approaching towards us. We were overwhelmed with joy and started following those spots like a military radar. Our joy was short-lived as Namgial suddenly said that they could be mountain dacoits. We stepped into our car and locked the doors although we knew that we could not escape in that way. We were completely exhausted mentally and were preparing ourselves for any eventuality. After some time the two spots appeared as two vehicles, but they suddenly stopped. We couldn’t understand what was happening. As one of the cars started turning back Namgial said that those cars thought us as mountain dacoits and were preparing to escape from us. We instantaneously jumped out of our vehicle and waved whatever we had in our hands to draw their attention. Seeing few female members in our team they could gather courage and started approaching us. Those were two jeeps with Japanese tourists. Finally we reached Tsomoriri following those vehicles and reached Korzok village. We got spellbound at the beauty of the Lake Tsomoriri. Deep bluish water of the Lake looked like a vast inkpot full of blue ink. We stayed at Lake View Guest House almost on the banks of the lake in Korzok village. There were few and basic accommodation available in korzok village. The position of the Guest house was undoubtedly extremely beautiful but facilities available were bare minimum. Even no room had attached bath . Few Luxury costly tents were available. One can enjoy the beauty of the Lake with birds flying over the Lake or Brahamani duck floating .
In the next day on our way back from Tsomoriri we again saw Thansunkaru, but this time in relaxed mind. Ibex and marmot seemed to have come to bid farewell to us.

Evening view of Tsomoriri

Evening view of Tsomoriri

In morning on the bank of Tsomoriri

Morning view of thansungkaru

Morning view of thansungkaru

Ibex

Marmont