The average tourist to Ladakh usually begins by taking a tour of Leh, the capital and prime town of Ladakh. It invariably ends the sightseeing the monasteries, justly famous, of Shey, Sankar, Phyang, Spituk and Hemis. Some might include Alchi, Likir and Lamayuru. Few if ever trek to interior villages, venture north to Narbu valley or visit the Zanaskar region.

Yet, the last few years have seen an increase in tourists to the western flank of Ladakh, which comprises several valleys. Chief among these are Drass, Suru, Mulbekh and Zanskar. Lying immediately east of the Greater Himalayan wall and drained and formed by the west most tributaries of the Indus river, these constitute present-day Kargil district.


This region once formed part of the erstwhile kingdom of Ladakh. In fact, it was the first to be inhabited by the early colonists of Ladakh - the Indo-Aryan Mons, the Dards of Central Asia and itinerant Tibetans. Also, its valleys, by virtue of their proximity to Kashmir, Kishtwar, Kulu and Gilgit-Baltistan served as the initial receptacle of the cultural waves and ethnic movements that emanated from across the Greater Himalayan wall.

As the area receives abundant water from rivers originating in the Greater Himalaya, the undergrowth here is more luxuriant than in eastern Ladakh. The upper Suru valley, in particular, is famous for its grassland, which attracts a large number of Bakarwal herdsmen from the Jammu hills.