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ROUNDABOUT
Magical heights
HUGH AND COLLEEN GANTZER
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Situated at 14,450 ft, the glacial lake of Pangong Tso in Ladakh is bewitchingly beautiful.
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Photo: Hugh and Colleen Gantzer
Shifting shades of blue: The Pangong Tso.
When it snowed in the mountains, last evening, the rising roads became impassable. At four this morning, however, we were woken by birds singing in the preternatural dawn of the highlands: there was a glimmer of light in the sky. A little later, as t
he sun raced through the narrow, willow-lined streets of Leh, we saw silver rills shimmering down from the virgin snow of the high peaks. We crossed our fingers hoping that we might, we just might, be able to do the 160 km drive up through the mountains, over the top, and down to the legendary, blue, glacial lake of Pangong Tso.
Legendary reputation
At an elevation of 14,450 feet — official heights in Ladakh are given in feet — Pangong is legendary. Shamanistic lamas use its shifting shades and flights of birds to predict forthcoming events. Then there is the oft-repeated story of the Monster of Pangong. We’ve pinned that down to the fact that 66 per cent of the lake is in Chinese territory and the PLA has been rumoured to surface near its lakeside hamlets, distribute goodies and pamphlets, and submerge again. Mini-submarines can easily be mistaken for marine monsters!
Moreover, we learnt that the terrain spreading down to the lake, resembled the high-altitude deserts of Tibet. That, as much as the mysterious, glacial lake, lured us.
We left our hotel little after dawn. The thaw had set in and the chortling gush of ice-melt streams filled the chill air. We rumbled into fourth gear and, at a yellow Border Roads’ marker, stopped. We were still on the Leh-side of the range, but there, below us, was an incredible eagle’s eye view over a valley, meandering for 25 km between the lions’ paws of the rising mountains. The terraced fields were stacked in tiers, each demarcated by its low, dry-stone, walls. The fields nearest us were green with young barley. Gradually, however, as the terraces rose higher, and deeper into the mountains, the Summer green gave way to an Autumn sere and then, Winter frost glittered on them. Three seasons in a single valley on the same day!
Rugged ways
Other little secrets began to emerge as we crossed the snowy ridge of the mountains through the 17,800 ft Changla Pass and began to descend. A herd of furry black yaks grazed on the stunted grass of a frigid meadow around an electric-blue, tarn fed by melting fields of snow. Below them was an encampment of yak herders. They are a friendly people whose shaggy beasts give them all they need: hair for their tents, leather for their shoes, milk, meat, butter and a fair income for their frugal needs such as borax for their gur-gur tea, tea leaves, parched barley and utensils. We were now at about 16,000 feet which is as high as these Changpa nomads come. But though they share this rugged terrain with the goatherds, they claim to be a different people separated by centuries of divergent customs and traditions.
The tents of these wanderers were encircled by low walls of rocks, their long-haired goats finding sustenance in this arid land. Because of the cold, the goats grow a thick undercoat of fur-like hair. This yields the valuable pashmina wool: soft, warm and very expensive. We tried to get close but were warned off by vigilant, snarling, amber-eyed dogs.
Hidden life
Now that our eyes had learnt how to pick out life hidden in the scattered boulders we began to spot other animals. Marmots, like fat, brown terriers, squealed and sped into their colonial burrows. Scurrying partridges looked like uniformed choristers recently embroiled in a scuffle: they had black circles around their eyes. We also flushed a pair of Woolly Hares nibbling on shoots of grass exposed by a melting rug of snow.
We were now at the broad, flat, bottom of the valley and the great mountains had stepped back on both sides. A broad stream flowed slowly along its shallow bed and there were large stretches of sand eroded down from the treeless mountains. We spotted two creatures grazing at the fan-like edge of one of these sand-slides, where it met the lush green of the flood-plain. At first the animals looked like horses from one of the encampments. But as we got closer we realised that they were Kiangs: the rare Asiatic Wild Asses of Tibet. They had probably migrated down in quest of food. Later we were given another explanation by a Ladakhi guide. He felt that they could have been chased down into the valley by a hunting snow leopard who gave up the chase because he would be conspicuous in this sandy terrain.
Startling beauty
Then, as we climbed again, a cleft in the mountains opened, and we saw it. There, like a large glittering sapphire set in the claws of the Himalayas, shone the brilliant, blue, gem of the Pangong Lake. We raced forward, drawn by its incredible beauty. It grew and grew, a coruscating crepe de chine stretch of cerulean blue, split by a sandbank thrusting its tarnished silver tongue into the lake. And, rising out of the far bank, were bare mountains of dusty grey and wood-ash crowned with capes of white snow. As we drove closer and closer to its pebbly shores, flocks of white gulls rose and wheeled over the water, their reflections causing ripples of light over the surface of the lake. But they were not the only birds in this high place. Bar-headed geese raised their necks and honked at us in alarm. Ruddy Shelducks waddled out of the reedy banks and launched themselves into the water, quacking softly to encourage their ducklings to follow.
We stood for a long time at the edge of this magnetically beautiful sheet of water. Clouds drifted across the sky, making the lake seem almost alive as if its muscles were rippling, just below its skin. There were no oracles here, or monsters or other “ghoulies and ghosties”.
It would have been sacrilegious to seek them in such a high and magical place….
Quick facts
Getting There: By Air to Leh and then by road. Taxis available from Leh Taxi Stand for day excursion from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. However, overnight stay at Resort Pangong Tso is recommended.
Tel:1982-260176/9419179907.
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