Mesmerising Leh Ladakh - a cold desert of lakes, landscapes, Sindhu River - Tsomoriri lake experience

 

A NIGHT IN TSOMORIRI LAKE - LADAKH IN A TENT

by Pankaj thakur (Self experience))

a beautiful blue saline lake situated at 4500 mts above sea level. it is nearly 220 km from leh, and takes 5:30 hrs to reach. a little towards the direction of manali, its not as frequented lake by tourists in comparison to pangong lake. its a very quite and serene place. very little crowd. we enjoyed our night halt close to the lake in a tent that we carried along with us.

best time to travel: mid-may to mid october

about leh: leh usually is hotter during the daytime, but the temperature drops drastically after the evening.

if  travelling by motor-bikes to tsomoriri  from leh, you are advised to start your journey a little early in the morning, and if by car leave at around  10 or 11 am.

reaching the lake: you have to cover significant distance to the lake by walking as vehicles are not allowed to ply beyond certain point.
since it is near to the line of actual control, you need to get inner line permit to visit tso lake, both as an indian as well as a foreigner.
there is only a couple of cemented accommodation available around the lake in the form of homestays and the facilities like electricity, medical aid, hot running water, western toilets etc. are luxury in itself. 

I advise people to carry oxygen cylinder while travelling to places such as these.

the lack of oxygen makes survival difficult if your body is not properly acclimatized to its high altitude and hence, one need to plan his/her journey extremely carefully so as to avoid acute mountain sickness. so, even though you might feel tempted to include tso moriri in your trip to leh ladakh, it is important to plan your trip to this high altitude place properly.

you can reach tso moriri from leh by road via upshi – chumathang – mahe route. tso moriri lake is also connected from pangong lake directly by chusul – tsaga la – loma – mahe route.

You can also find some homestays in Nyoma village and a guest house in Chumathang. Both Nyoma and Chumathang are much warmer than Tso Moriri lake in winter months.

ROAD CONDITIONS AND PREFERRED VEHICLES

The higher ground clearance vehicles are preferable and 4×4 ones would definitely be helpful especially between Pangong Tso and Tso Moriri via Man – Merak – Chusul – Nyoma (Changthang) route.

WE ARRIVED AT 5 PM IN THE EVENING

It was nearly getting dark, we arrived at Tsomoriri . We had to pitch our tents before it was dark. We chose a site close to the lake and started our work in haste.

Next day early in the morning we stared our return journey to Manali 

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FOOD TIME 

FOOD TO EAT  LITTING FIRE, GETTING FOOD READY

EVENING AT THE LAKE Pithcing Tents 

A LONG NIGHT

We had our dinner ready, by 8.30. We had our dinner, with a few pegs of scotch to keep ourselves warm. The menu for today was chicken garebi with rich. It was really cooked well and tasty. It was June month we travelled,  the days were usually long. But this night in our tents was proving to be very long. The lake breeze and air whistling sound could very clearly be heard

FOR BIKERS, CARRY AS MUCH FUEL 

You need to make sure you carry fuel for about 550 – 600 KMs because you will be covering Leh – Pangong Tso – Nyoma – Loma – Tso Moriri – Leh without any other petrol pump. And if you want to exit Ladakh through Manali – Leh Highway from Tso Moriri then also carry petrol/diesel for about 650 – 700 KMs as the next petrol pump will be available at Tandi. Otherwise, you need to come back to Karu or Upshi, refill and move back again towards Manali – Leh Highway.