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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.

Location: Located in Kullu region of Himachal Pradesh
Area: 765 sq km
Famous For: Musk Deer, Snow Leopard and wild sheep like Bharal, Ibex etc.
Activities: Trekking and camping

Introduction:
Great Himalayan National Park, one of the picturesque region of Himachal Pradesh is a place to go for tryst with the hidden treasures of nature. This scenic national park which lies in the Seraj Forest Division of Kullu district, is hemmed in on three sides by towering peaks of Himalayan mountains. Stretches to an area of 765 sq km positioned at an altitude between 1500 to 6000 m above sea level.

To protect the alpine, glacial, temperate, and sub tropical forests, this area has attained the status of a national park in 1984. The glaciers available in this park is the main source of four rivers namely Tirthan, Sainj, Parvati and Jiwa Nala, flowing East to West and mingling into Beas river.

Officially known as Jawaharlal Nehru Great Himalayan National Park, this protected area is haven to a endless array of faunal species. (375 species). So, far 31 species of mammals, 181 species of birds, 3 species of reptiles, 9 species amphibians, 11 species of annelids, 17 species of mollusks, 127 species of insects belonging to six orders, 68 resident bird species and 50 migrant species are identified.

Some of the best visible animals within the park are Leopards, Himalayan Black Bears, Brown bears, Himalayan Thar, Bharal, Ibex, Langurs, Rhesus macaques etc. If you are lucky enough than you will get to view Snow Leopard, which are resides in the upper snow fringes of the park.

Attractions In and Around:

In the absence of an all-purpose foreign registration office (FRO) at Bhuntar, the HP police and tourism department grope in the dark when it comes to monitoring foreigners in this infamous haven of hashish smuggling.

Regulation under the Foreigners’ Act remains poor as hoteliers do their best to defy mandatory C-form compliance to gulp down 10 per cent luxury tax.

The tourism department coughs up figure painting a rosy picture of tourist arrivals, mainly foreigners. But it turns out to be a “repetition of tourists reporting at different destinations” that mismatches with the C-form compliance, registration and luxury tax collected by the Excise and Taxation Department.

This “mismatch” is proved by what the police and tourism officials say about Kullu district. Manisha Nanda, Special Secretary, tourism, said 15,522 foreigners visited Kullu in June this year.

But KK Indoria, SP, Kullu, said the police had received only 2,955 C-forms in June and 5,797 C-forms in July from guest house owners and hoteliers.

The case of the missing Israeli tourist Amichai Shtainmetz highlights this laxity. He stayed at guest houses at Kasol, Kalga, Kheerganga before he disappeared on July 21 from Kheerganga ashram, but his name neither figures in the mandatory C-form nor at the FRO in SP office, Kullu.

Nanda admitted mismatching but claimed compliance was increasing and was reflected in collection of luxury tax.

Excise and taxation officer, Kullu, Sunil, said Rs 4 crore had been collected as luxury tax from hoteliers, guest houses and tents in Kullu district this year till July.

After cross-checking, state excise and taxation commissioner RD Dhiman said luxury
tax collection for the first quarter was Rs 2.44 crore in Kullu as against last year’s
Rs 2.2 crore.

As part of its efforts to restore the lost glory of the “Queen of Hills”, the Forest Department will revive old walking trails, water bodies and undertake plantation of ornamental species along with landscaping to promote eco-tourism.

Having already launched its “Revival of deodar trees in Shimla” project in association with 11 voluntary organisations on August 8, the Forest Department is now considering expanding its ambit to cover other components as well.

To restore the old-world charm of Shimla, thrust will be on undertaking maximum possible plantation whether it is that of the majestic deodars, colourful hydrangeas or other herbal plants which are fast dwindling.

“We are considering making an action plan where these 11 voluntary organisations will be involved in other tasks such as developing water harvesting structures like ponds and restoring old walking trails,” said Rajesh Sharma, DFO, (Shimal Urban). Many of these trails have been identified and listed by the Tourism Department.

Another area which will be taken up is restoration and developing of walking trails of the British time which are practically lying abandoned.

There are plans to restore these and develop them from eco-tourism point of view by fixing names of plants, especially herbal, and listing its uses and benefits.

Some of these old trails near Tara Devi, Viceregal Lodge, Glen and Jakhu area
were very much in use during the British time as there were very few roads and
hardly any vehicles.

“These old trails are dotted with British time reminiscences and have a history associated with them, which still evokes a lot of interest in foreign tourists, especially those from England,” said officials.

In fact, quite a few foreigners come here looking for places and houses where their forefathers lived during the days of the Raj.

A MUMMY of a Tibetan Buddhist monk, believed to be about 500 years old, has been found in India's northern Himalayan state of Himachal Pradesh, the Hindustan Times.com website reported.

It backed up its claim by publishing a picture of a wizened human sitting in a hunched, meditating position draped with a shawl.

The mummy, identified as that of monk Sangha Tenzin, was found inside a tomb at Ghuen village in the cold and remote Spiti district of Himachal Pradesh, about 6000 metres above sea level, the report said.

Ghuen villagers have known about the mummy since 1975, when an earthquake struck the region and brought down a part of the tomb, it added.

However due to the remoteness of Ghuen, in a desolate mountainous area close to India's border with China – restricted to the public and under the control of the paramilitary Indo-Tibetan Border Police – the mummy's existence has remained under wraps.

However, a Hindustan Times staffer managed to get access and took photographs of the mummy, it said.

Victor Mair, a consulting scholar at the University of Pennsylvania, Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, was quoted as saying the mummy was at least 500 years old.

According to the report, the mummy is remarkably well preserved for its age. Its skin is unbroken and there is hair on the head.

Mair said this was partly to do with the extreme cold and dry air of the region.

"Slow starvation in the last few months of his life reduced the body fat and shrunk parts of the body that would have been liable to putrefaction."

The report did not say where the mummy is now being kept.

Ghuen village is about 50km from the Tabo monastery, believed to be the oldest surviving Buddhist establishment in the region.