Day 1 & 2 : Leh

• Transfer from Leh airport and check in at The Pal or similar in the Leh, followed by a day of briefing, acclimatisation to high altitude and rest. Acclimatisation on day 1 is key to ensure we enjoy a smooth trip in the following days of travel.
• Depending on how well we acclimatise, we head out post breakfast (with packed lunches) to explore the Indus Valley landscapes, monasteries, and some of the wildlife that we may encounter enroute during our drives. We will spend the evening exploring the ancient silk route market at Leh and visiting the beautifully designed Central Asian Museum.

Day 3 & 4 : Drive to Uley, Explore

• Drive to Snow Leopard Lodge, Uley (2h) located to the north of the Indus River in the Sham region of central Ladakh. This is fantastic country for Ibex and Urial and a great hotspot for snow leopards. Explore the wildlife around Ulley with specialist snow leopard trackers. Though the focus of the trip is not really on finding the snow leopard, the cats are around and with the expert trackers, the chances of spotting one are always high.
• We will spend the two days at Ulley exploring the valleys by vehicle and foot, birding along streams and marshes, taking in the local flora blooms and also visiting the unique monasteries at Mangyu and Ridzong located off the beaten track. The village of Uley is also an area of focus here, with 5 houses spread across a broad valley at the headwaters of the Uley Chu. Life here takes one back to how Ladakh would have been before the advent of modernisation. Nights at Snow Leopard Lodge.

Day 5 : Drive to Sakti, Chemday Monastery, and Explore

• After another morning out in Ulley, we head back towards Leh, but this time we continue further towards the village of Sakti, a prominent trading town in the times of the Silk Route. Here we arrive at our homestay in the village from where we explore the high pastures around Wari La, a pass at around 17000 ft. These slopes in recent years have proven to be one of the best places to look for Woolly Hare, Weasels, Snowcocks and if lucky, even the Eurasian Lynx. The wildlife here is relatively undisturbed as the Wari La road sees a lot less traffic as compared to the more popular passes like Khardung La and Chang La.
• We will explore the slopes around Sakti in the evening till nightfall before we return to the homestay for dinner and rest. If time permits, we can even visit the Monastery at Chemday, a former trading post between the herders of Changthang and the farmers from the lower valleys of Ladakh.

• Day 6 : Drive to Hanley
  We spend the next morning exploring the Wari La landscape till breakfast after which we head out towards Hanley, a village located in the eastern exteme of Ladakh near the borders with Tibet. This drive (6 hrs) will take us through a long and winding Indus River gorge before opening out into the Changthang landscape, a vast open plateau with rolling hills, marshes and wind swept valleys. We follow the Indus River till Nyoma (passing the sulphur springs at Chumathang enroute) before branching away towards the marshes at Hanley. The drive may seem long but this is one of the best ways to take in the landscape that the Pashmina herders roam with the large flocks of sheep and goat; and also seek out wildlife that call this landscape their home.
• We arrive at our homestay in Hanley, located in the heart of the marshes. Arrive, settle in, and if time permits, we can head out for a short exploration of the Hanley landscape until nightfall.

Day 7 & 8 : Explore Hanley Marshes and surrounds

• The two full days at Hanley will be spent exploring the marshes, the high plateau at Kalaktaltal and the landscape around Norbu La. The focus here will be on understanding the ecology of this vast hotspot, finding the apex predators like Pallas’s Cats and Tibetan Wolves, and also looking for the specialist birds that visit this landscape to breed during the summer months. We will also be visiting certain habitat niches to look for rarer mammals like the sandfox, Tibetan gazelle and if lucky, even the Tibetan Argali, one of the largest wild sheep in the world.
• Apart from the wildlife, we can also visit the encampments of the nomadic herders, understand their wandering lifestyle in these harsh conditions and see for ourselves what it takes to sustain a flock of goat and sheep in the high slopes of Eastern Ladakh.
  Hanley is also known as a dark sky reserve and gives us great opportunities to observe the night sky if we head out post dinner for a short drive away from the village.

Day 9 : Drive to Leh via Tso-Moriri

• We drive back to Leh today, but on a different route, that takes us through the backroads beyond Hanley before emerging out towards the Tsomoriri basin. The vast blue waters of this lake make for one of the most iconic vistas in all of Ladakh. We spend sometime exploring the banks of the river before continuing on towards Leh for one last night.
• We arrive at Leh in the evening, giving us an option to rest and repack for the journey home, or if time permits, another visit to the market for a last walk and some shopping.

Day 10 : Fly out

End of Journey

Note that day-wise plans are subject to change based on weather conditions and wildlife activity. Final decisions on the day’s schedule will be made by the guides on the ground, based on their expertise and real-time assessment.