Leh : Khardungla and Nubra Valley (Diskit Monastery, Hunder Sand Dunes)

November 07, 2019

Leh : Khardungla and Nubra Valley (Diskit Monastery, Hunder Sand Dunes)

After our own exploration of Leh on bike on Day 2, we started our journey to Khardungla by car on Day 3. This was when we first experienced snow and changing landscapes all through the journey with snow, sand dunes, beautiful rivers and greenery. You would need an Inner Line Permit(ILP) to visit Khardungla and Nubra Valley, which would be taken care by your travel agency. The road goes round and round to the higher altitude of Khardungla and then descends to Nubra Valley. This is when the motion and altitude sickness medicines would come handy, if you are prone to them. But any on-road journey in Ladakh is way too beautiful to worry about anything.

Brace yourself like Ned Stark, because "Winter is coming"...which translates to..wear your thermals and extra jackets, gloves and scarves to keep calm and warm.

Khardungla:

Khardungla is at 5359 mts(incorrectly claimed as 5602 m and as the highest motorable road) and it is 39 KMs away from Leh. There are couple of checkpoints en route. It is the gateway to Nubra Valley and Siachen Glacier.

You would gradually see snow as you ascend. I was squealing in joy by seeing all the snow all around..till I stepped out of the car. The snowfall was intense and the strong wind only aggravated it. My ears were ringing and my hands were numb despite the gloves. I persisted and tried to make a snowman, but after making a small heap of snow, I gave up. Prepare well with enough winter wear so that you can enjoy the snow and white view all around you for longer duration.

Khardungla

Nubra Valley:

From Khardungla, you would descend to Nubra Valley. The snowy landscape of Khardungla is gradually replaced by the most beautiful Shyok river and greenery around it among the snow capped mountains. Nubra Valley is the home to Diskit Monastery and Hunder Sand Dunes. Nubra is a cold desert with surprisingly changing sceneries from river streams to sand dunes.

Diskit Monastery:

I loved Diskit Monastery not just because of the 33m Maitreya Buddha statue which stood tall against the white and brown mountains, but also because of the amazing view of the Nubra Valley it provides. I was shivering all through because of the high gusty cold winds.

Diskit Monastery

Maitreya Buddha

Nubra View from Diskit Monastery

Camping:

After Diskit Monastery, we finally reached our camp(DE Nubra Valley) by noon. Don't imagine an actual camp with a sleeping bag in a tent. The camps in Leh are something between a camp and a hotel room with a bed and an attached washroom. A stay at Nubra Valley supposedly will let you see a number of stars. But I was unlucky that on that particular day, it was cloudy and it drizzled many times, so I was obscured from the view of any stars. Your camp will probably switch off all the lights to maintain zero light pollution - which is also scary when you sleep and can't even see the outline of the tent in pitch darkness. Also, it gets quite cold in the night and you will be shivering despite all your "Winter is here" wear.

We made our trip to Hunder Sand Dunes in the evening.

DE Nubra Camp

Camp View

Hunder Sand Dunes:

Hunder is famous for it's sand dunes and the very cute Bactrian camels(double humped) who always seemed like they were amused by humans. You can go for a camel ride.