Posted by Shivam Singh
On 12th October, 2021
What is your dream trip, which you want to do at least once in lifetime?
Ask this question to yourself or any Indian who loves to travel. 70-80% people will give same answer.
“A Road-trip to Ladakh“.
Considered as one of the most scenic and dreamy road-trips in India, showcasing all the beauty of the nature: blue skies, glittering lakes, long & straight black tarmac roads, rugged snow-clad mountains, high altitude passes:- all this with an unpredictable weather.
Ladakh was hidden somewhere in my dreams, which started bubbling after TripVaani evolved at the beginning of 2020.
As Covid-19 shattered many of my plans wrt TripVaani in all the ways possible, this trip also, I thought to do with just 2-3 friends.
But next year onwards, definitely I will plan to take bigger groups to beautiful off-beat destinations. Invitation to those will be shared on Facebook page.
Pre-requisites
-Permission and budget approval from wife
-Convincing my close friends to accompany on the trip
-Creating a tentative route plan including number of days
-Arranging leaves in office
The first requirement was easily approved, thanks to my lovely and always supportive wife 🙂
As soon as I got approval for this trip in July-2021, the first call went to my friend “Prabal Agrawal” who immediately agreed to the plan.
This followed a call to Sharad Mehrotra, who was our 3rd partner during last year’s (2020) successful Kinnaur Roadtrip, and then to Vaibhav Tiwari. Hearing the feedback from both, me and Prabal understood currently only we two are there.
I started working on the route map, Prabal was given the task to understand the Inner Line Permit (ILP) requirement.
Date was decided as 1st week of September for two weeks (4th – 18th Sept).
Gathering information from google, understanding road conditions and creating a 14 days route plan covering all the major spots was proving a big task for me, but ultimately a tentative plan was created by 20th Aug, keeping in mind multiple important factors.
Initially, below plan was made and later Hanle was skipped and Karu was added (full details will be shared in further day to day blogs).
Route Planning
By road from Delhi, there are two entry points to Ladakh, one via Manali and another via Srinagar.
Via Manali, route is 300 km shorter but some people may feel a little discomfort (Acute Mountain Sickness) due to sudden increase in altitude after Manali.
On the other hand, Srinagar route- due to its slow and gradual increase in altitude gives you much more time to get used to the environment.
Another major difference- although longer but the Srinagar route is much more smoother and peaceful compared to the Manali route. The stretch between ‘Bilaspur to Manali’ and ‘Sarchu to Pang’ is currently in a mess since many years.
Considering all situations, overall both route takes almost similar time.
Our recommendation will be to take Srinagar route to enter Ladakh and exit via Manali. The same we planned and completed.
Inner Line Permit (ILP)
One good news is that September-2021 onwards, Indian tourists are no longer required to take online permits in advance (and get it stamped at DC office in Leh) to visit several protected areas of Ladakh.
Earlier you had to pay for the permits of every protected area on a per-day/per-person basis, which is scrapped now.
But please note, you still have to pay a fee which includes the Environmental Fee, Red Cross Fund and Wildlife Fee (450 rupees per person).
You can do the same on https://www.lahdclehpermit.in/ . Carry enough hard copies of the print-out, as the same will be required at various check-posts.
Things to Carry
Ladakh as a travel destination is very different from the rest of the regions in the country. You have to be very careful with the things you carry while on a roadtrip here. One missing item may lead you in trouble and stuck at a place for long in search for help.
We missed not one, not two… but three important items which at the end wasted lot of our time and energy. You will soon come to know about them in further blogs especially the one for Pangong Lake.
I will list down some major items which you should not forget in any case (travelling via car).
– Battery Jumper Cable
– Towing rope (plus you should know the towing area in your car or how to tow your car)
– Tyre Puncture Kit
– Tyre Inflator
– Car Jack (your car must already have it but test it before starting journey)
– Fuel Can 20 Ltrs (mandatory for petrol cars or cars with less mileage)
– Oxygen Can (mandatory if travelling with old age people or kids)
– Torchlight
– Sunscreem (if you don’t like tanning)
– Postpaid Mobile Sim (Jio or BSNL)
– Medicines as per your need
– Camphor (keep smelling to avoid altitude sickness)
– Cash
– Glucose, dry fruits, chocolates (as your appetite may reduce due to AMS)
Apart from the above, the rest of the items is as per your need. Few items which we took are listed below:
– Power Bank
– Camping Stove & Butane Gas
– Folding Chairs & Stool
– Gimble, Go-pro, Tripod, Selfie-stick
– Light & Heavy Jackets
– Instant Food Items & Water
– Ready-Mix Tea Packets
– Tent, Sleeping Bags & Yoga-Mat
This planning required several rounds of discussions, online researches. We booked no hotels in advance as we kept our route plan tentative.
Purchased a DJI Gimble to make clear videos with no jerks while driving (proved a fantastic purchase).
Dates were decided as 4th Sept to 18th Sept. We kept tents, sleeping bags, yoga mats, folding chairs & stool, camping stove & gas, enough food items & water for some extra fun.
Got my car Tata Nexon serviced two days before the trip. The plan was to spend the night before on 3rd Sept at Prabal’s home in Gurgaon so that we can start early on 4th.
All done to Get-Set-Go!!!
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