one of the most spectacular and impressive range in
the world, is fastly becoming the most visited adventure
zone of the world.Traverse through the Great Himalayan
Range and appreciate the sheer geographic diversity
- from the verdant, forested valleys and tropical
jungles of Arunachal having amazing wildlife and the
flowering meadows carpeted with rare orchids, to the
rugged terrain of the Trans Himalaya that extends
to the Tibetan plateau.
The trans-Himalayan region proper is encountered in
Ladakh, the northernmost part of the Indian Himalayas.
Before the district of Kargil was carved out of it,
Ladakh was the largest district of India. It is bounded
to the north by the Kunlun and Karakoram mountains
and to the south by the Zanskar ranges. Mountain ranges
run parallel to each other in the southeast and the
northwest. The famous Silk Route passed through Leh,
meaning 'oasis', which is the district headquarters
of present-day Ladakh. Until recently, caravans rested
here before and after crossing the dangerous passes.
The highest pass traversed through the Karakoram is
at 5,628 metre (18,464 feet). The confluences of the
Indus River and the Shyok, Zanskar, Nubra and the
Drass rivers are in Ladakh. The landscape is almost
lunar and the climate extremely arid. It is here that
the Himalaya begins to taper down and merges into
the Hindukush skirting the heartland of Asia.
Although the Himalaya can be traced to the Arakans
and Arunachal in the east, its majesty is truly encountered
only when one reaches Bhutan and Sikkim. The 8,682
metre (28,483-foot)-tall Kanchenjunga overshadows
all else in Sikkim. This beautiful mountain is considered
sacred by Hindus and Buddhists alike and its name
translates as the ' Treasure of Five Jewels'. It is
the third-highest mountain in the world.
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