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To protect the ecology of the Rohtang Pass, the Himachal Pradesh High Court has directed the Chief Secretary to constitute a committee and also come up with a concrete proposal to reduce vehicular traffic to Rohtang near Manali.

The order was passed by the green Bench comprising Justice Deepak Gupta and Justice Sanjay Karol on a public interest litigation where in the main grievance of the petitioner was that everyday on an average 4,000-5,000 private vehicles make a round trip from Manali to Rohtang that causes a lot of pollution in the area. Sometimes it takes 6-7 hours to travel the short distance of about 50 km between Manali and Rohtang. The Bench observed that there the increasing traffic to Rohtang was causing damage to the environment. To reduce the traffic in the area, the Bench suggested that only public buses should be allowed to ferry tourists to Rohtang so that private vehicle did not travel this distance. Another suggestion given was that to restrict the number of tourist vehicles allowed to visit Rohang Pass. The Bench said if necessary, fees could also be levied in this regard.

However, the Bench clarified that while considering these proposal the committee shall ensure that the right of the people of Lauhal Spiti were not affected in any manner. This matter was brought to the notice of the court through a letter addressed to the Chief Justice by one Sanjay Kulshethra where he had urged the HC’s intervention for conserving the glacier of the Rohtang Pass, which is being affected by automobile-induced environment pollution. While treating the letter as a petition, the Bench had directed the Chief Secretary to submit a status report in this regard on or before December 16.

SOURCE: tribuneindia.com

The legendary abominable snowman of the Himalayas remains camera-shy, but a Japanese team has made a breakthrough, discovering what the lead researcher says are yeti footprints. "Myself and other team members have been coming to the Himalayas for years and we can recognize bear, deer, wolf and snow leopard prints and it was none of those," Yoshiteru Takahashi told AFP upon his team's return from a 6-week mission.
 

"The footprints were about 20 centimeters long and looked like a human's," he said of the 8-inch imprints.
Their claim has been declined by experts by saying that it looks human !

 Hi,

Anybody care to join Sundarban tiger Reserve from 2/9 to 5/9/2010? Any latest info / help for going there on own (without any tour operator)? Also New Cooch Behar / Jaladapara / Buxa from 6/9 to 9/9/2010 - any helpful info other than available on the net?

Trekbharat

Mr. Ajay Dhamdere of Pune- is going to publish a new dimension book on treks of Sahyadri mountains. Not a detailed what and where to go…but through eyes of a trekker- what he sees and where he should head to.

ABOUT AJAY DHAMDERE:  A multi dimensional personality. Climber, trekker, musician and photographer he is main spine of himadventures for operations in SAHYADRI MOUNTAIN RANGE. He has done Advance Mountaineering Course.

We will coming back with details as soon as it comes out from Publishers desk !

Korzok Village

Changthang district plateau, Lakdah , Himalayan India 

These horses were returning to Leh after a week’s trek guiding tourists around, popular trekking routes consist of treks around Changthang plateau doing the popular Tsokar to Tsomoriri route.

Not many travellers know that their trekking horses usually come from around Leh instead of around Changthang plateau. The horsemen would bring their horses to Tsokar, meeting the tourists who usually commute there with the jeeps.  There are not enough trekking horses around Tsokar or Tsomoriri to cater for the large number of tourist treks during the peak season. Horses are expensive and not many villages around the Changthang plateau can afford to have that many horses living in their property. Only those around Leh would be able to possess four or more horses especially if they are connected to the tourist trade.

They usually take 5 days to reach their trekking destination before embarking on the  trek. A typical tourist trek takes a further 7 days from Tsokar to Tsomoriri Lake. After which the horses return to Leh 5 days later.

Arduous work for these horses and for their owners, still better compared to the people around the much poorer region of Changthang plateau who live on subsistence farming and breeding pashmina goats. In my previous post, I did mention that Pashmina goats are usually bred around Changthang region and not in Kashimir.