After hitching a ride with a big 1512 Tata
truck back to Leh we headed off for the Tsarap and Zanskar rivers
the main focus of our time in India. We were now a team of nine
joined by Andy Milton and Shalabh. The Tsarap River has its
source in Tibet where lazily meanders across the border into
India then cuts through the Greater Himalaya. On the plain between
the Greater Himalaya and Zanskar mountain ranges at Padum it
is joined by The Doda River to form the mighty Zanskar. Now
with a volume of around 150 cumecs the river heads north cutting
directly through The Zanskar mountain range and surges through
deep impenetrable box canyon surrounded by 5500m peaks. With
the current water levels we planned on six days to cover the
180 miles from where the river leaves the main Leh to Manali
to its confluence with the Indus are Nimu.
The drive from Leh to the get on took eight hours taking us
back over the Tanglang La (5317m) but thankfully due to our
time already spent in Ladakh we were not affected by the altitude
this time. We camped that night by the river not far from the
road and eat our supposedly “luxury” meal before having to go
lightweight carry four days food for the trip to Padum in the
boats. The night was clear and cold, but we were stoked that
our Outdoor Design bivi bags kept us so warm as we lay out watching
the shooting stars. Meanwhile Tom S was stoked his Terra Nova
tent came with a “vestibule”!
Our first day on the river dawned bright and sunny, but not
long after getting on the water the clouds came in. At 4300m
the air temperature was very low and the Tsarap’s waters were
barely above freezing. We drifted along trying to stay as dry
as possible, keeping our hands out of the frigid waters and
sheltering them from the wind under our buoyancy aids. The river
slowly meandered away from the road into the mountains and with
the path marked on the map being fairly none existent we were
now in with no option of turning back.
After lunch the sun came out and the whitewater picked up with
some interesting short class four gorges. After 40km we arrived
at our first campsite an amazing spot on a river beach at the
Zara Chu’s confluence. Its clear blue water, a sharp contrast
to the Tsarap silty grey, provided us with drinking water.
The next day we paddled a further 30km through some very impressive
canyons, the river was tamer but a relentless upstream wind
chilled our hands to the bone so we were very glad to see Phuktal
Gompa our rest for the night. Arriving mid-afternoon we had
plenty of time to look around this Buddhist Monastery. Claimed
to be 2000 years old the centre of the Gompa is a huge cave
which houses the prayer hall and a spring, the reason for the
Gompa location. Built literally into to the cliff face the Gompa
clings precariously to the side of the canyon. We slowly looked
around and watched the young monks going about their daily classes
which included some rather noisy and physical debating rituals.
Next morning there was a mix of excitement, apprehension and
annoyance among the team. Today was to be the most challenging
water of the trip but mysteriously in the night Tom S boat had
somehow made its way to the opposite river bank ops… So followed
a day of great whitewater, although with slightly more flat
than we were expecting. Upon joining the main valley we met
several pony trains, rather amusingly our boats seemed to spook
the ponies and soon a pack of wild ponies were charging down
the river bank taking the occasional pack pony with them, much
to the ponymens annoyance ops!
After a nice lunch lazing in the sun on yet another beautiful
beach we had the mammoth portage around the rather heinous Reru
falls. Andy decided he rather take his chances on the river
than the sharp rocks at is edge and put in just below the four
river wide holes to run the middle section of the rapid. A few
more people joined for the run out with comments of:
“That’s the biggest green wave I’ve ever seen!”
“It wasn’t very green when it broke on my head.”
Ah
Getting into to the rhythm of this hardcore expedition boating,
we spent another night on a beach just before Padum, paddled
some rather large rapids next morning before breakfast and re-supplied
in Padum before camping again just before the entrance to the
Zanskar gorge. Padum is a fairly uneventful town apart from
Andy’s claim to it selling the best samosas in the world. Of
course the rest of us know these can actually be found in Kargil,
but Andy failing to paddle the Dras doesn’t know this. We had
cabbage for dinner. Tom had previously on several occasions
made it very clear that being 87% water cabbage is a very inefficient
in terms of calorific value per gram (he’d done calculations).
Though he took it quite well when he discovered he had being
carrying a cabbage hidden behind his footrests for the last
four days!
