Description Ladakh, India

Ladakh - is a small Buddhist province in the western Himalayas with some of the highest mountains in the world. Ladakh was opened to tourism only in 1974. Ladakh is part of the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir. Literally, "La" means a pass, "Dakhil" - country. It was once passed the Great Silk Road, and Buddhist pilgrims founded monasteries on its way from India to Tibet. His second name - Little Tibet, Ladakh was due to its similarity to the culture and the nature of Tibet.

Ladakh is part of Jammu and Kashmir in northern India. Ladakh consists of two regions - Leh and Kargil. In the west, Lech borders with Pakistan, in the north - with China. The region consists of Leh Leh town and 112 inhabited villages.

Ladakh - is India's highest plateau, with elevations ranging from 2750 meters above sea level in Kargil to 7672 meters in Sasir Kangri. It shares borders with two mountain ranges, the Karakorum - in the north and the Great Himalaya - in the south, as well as the overlap of two parallel mountain ranges - and Ladakhskim Zanskarskim ranges. Ladakhsky Ridge does not have high peaks, on average, its height is 6000 meters, height nekotoroh passes below 500 meters.

To the north of the Ladakh range is warm and fertile valley of the river Nabra, stretching to the foot Krakoruma. It is a road from Leh Pass Kardung-La (5600 meters), which is the most high-mountain road pass in the world. Valley Nabra with the valley of the river called Shiok Nabra.

Between the ridge Zanskar and Great Himalayan mountain range is a region called Zanskar - so extensive and significant that her name is often mentioned along with characteristics for the Ladakh region in general. Surrounded on all sides by high mountain ranges, over the centuries it has been isolated from civilization, preserving its power and its history. Having all the altitudinal belts - and fertile valleys, and alpine pastures - allowing its inhabitants to exist quite independently.

Zanskar river, collecting water several major tributaries and many smaller, leaves the valley through a narrow and deep gorge, propylene her Zanskar Range, and flows into the Indus River below Lech. Direct wheeled road from Zanskar in Ladakh is not the only way of communication - a roundabout road through the pass Penza-La (4400 m) and Kargil in Kashmir. Much of the communication is still carried out by well-established for many centuries the caravan trails leading to Ladakh, Lahol and south-western foothills of the Himalayas.