Manali-Leh Highway : Guardians of the Cold Desert - A Glimpse into Nomadic Life

This is the second post in the Manali Leh Highway series. In the previous post, you read about the life of Shepards living in the mountainous regions of India. Today in this post I will share information about a nomadic tribe living in Ladakh region known as 'Changpa'.

Yaks of the Changpa people can be seen grazing in the Maure Plains

There is a human community of Tibet origin called Changpa or Champa. This community is found in Changthang area of Ladakh state located in the north of India. Apart from Ladakh, Changpa are also found in Manipur, Assam and Sikkim. According to the survey conducted in 1989, about 4.5 lakh Changpas live in India. These people are Banjara tribe who can be seen roaming from one place to another. These people live their lives considering themselves favorable in the cold desert plateaus like Ladakh.

Changpa tribe lead their life in this type of tents

Changpa woman can be seen washing clothes outside the tent

Changpa work mainly in summer to collect income for the whole year. The main sources of income for them are sheep and goats and yaks. Curd, butter, paneer and ghee are made from their milk and sold in the market. They get good money by selling pashmina obtained from goat. The life of these goats is so strong that they can survive even in -40 degree temperature. Changpa goats are believed to provide the finest pashmina in the world. Apart from animals, Changpa people also do farming, but Ladakh is a very cold place, so very little farming is done here, but today farming has become easy here due to modern equipments and greenhouses. Cabbage, onion, potato, carrot, beans and peas etc. are mainly cultivated here.

The Changpas use their horses and donkeys to transport the lambs of the Pashmina goats from one place to another

In 2018, I went to Changthang Valley, this valley starts just after crossing Pangong Lake. Then I saw this tribe for the first time. Being so far away from the road and the city, I was stunned to see their life. He had made his camp more than 200 km away from the city. When I reached here, he welcomed me with great love and called me to his tent. He gave me Ladakhi salted tea and later also gave me food.

Then I met this tribe in 'Maurey Plains', where these people were living in tents with their yaks and other animals. While talking, I came to know that he has 1500 sheep and goats and yaks. And the biggest challenge of these people is the wild animals who take away their goats. They have their own vehicle to come and go from one place to another. They have a Tibetan Mastiff dog to fight with leopards, seeing which I felt that it would really kill any animal that comes near it and eat it raw.

Very strong wind blows in 'Maure Plains', the height here is 4650 meters. Tornadoes keep on forming here due to strong wind. You can also see dust flying in the sky in the photos. Tanglang La Pass is 24 km away from here, whose height is 5319 meters, because of this pass, the weather here is always bad, and snow falls anytime. Same happened with me, I was drinking tea and it started snowing. Snowflakes were blowing very fast with the wind. I managed to take only one photo.

This is where I end this second post of the Manali Leh Highway series. I hope you liked it and if you have read till the end then I would like to know if you have ever met any such tribe who are nomads.

Snowfall is the only photo I have, you can see the snow is falling and the goats are eating grass

Disclaimer: All photos are clicked by me (@himalayanwomb), All photos are clicked with Canon 77d, Photos are edited in Lightroom. This blog has been written in Hindi and translated into English, for which the help of Google translation has been taken. And yes I proudly say this post is AI free.