The Himalayan mountains are ecologically sensitive, culturally rich, socially vibrant, yet politically ignored.
The wildlife that inhabit them are crafted intricately by the process of evolution, responding to extreme altitudes and temperatures. The Hanle valley in eastern Ladakh near the Indo-China border is one such eco-sensitive region. It is bestowed with a variety of unique and threatened wild animals such as the Pallas’s cat, Tibetan sand fox, snow leopard, and black-necked crane, among others. It is part of the Changthang Wildlife Sanctuary.
Located at about 250 kilometres from Leh, the capital town, Hanle is an idyllic valley at an average altitude of 4,500 m above sea level. It is inhabited by Changpa nomadic herders, who rear sheep, pashmina goats, horses and yaks, and use the rangeland’s resources ingeniously, following a rotational grazing system to promote plant regeneration.
The grasslands of Hanle | Photo Credit: Tsewang Namgail
I have fond memories of the low hills and shallow vales of this until-recently obscure valley. In the early 2000s, I had studied the Tibetan gazelle, an animal that earned the epithet ‘ping-pong ball’ because of its bouncing gait while running. Back then, domestic tourists needed an Inner Line Permit and foreigners were simply not allowed, except in rare cases.
Dark skies and observatories
That has changed. In 2020, the Border Roads Organisation built, arguably, the world’s highest motorable road crossing Umling La (19,300 feet). Today, this attracts thousands of tourists, especially bikers. And a myriad small hotels, guest houses and homestays have mushroomed to accommodate them.
Bikers at Khardung La pass | Photo Credit: Getty Images
Speaking of development, over two decades ago, in 2001, the Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA) set up an astronomical observatory in Hanle to survey celestial bodies. Over the years, IIA expanded its project, and several other institutes, including the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, installed telescopes to study gamma rays. Given the potential of the valley as a star-gazing site, it has also been declared a Dark Sky Reserve, a site where the nocturnal environment is exceptional — the first of its kind in India.
Being close to the Indo-China border, Hanle is also a strategically important area from a defence standpoint. Several military outposts have been established here after the recent skirmishes between the Chinese and Indian forces.
Rash bikers and irresponsible tourism
Recently, the valley rose to prominence for other reasons. One of them: the increased sighting of the Tibetan sand fox. People also started seeing the Pallas’s cat, nicknamed the world’s grumpiest cat, on a regular basis, along with the black-necked cranes.
The wild animals, however, are at the receiving end of these developments. Some threats, such as plastic garbage, are insidious, while others, such as the proliferation of stray dogs, have immediate impact. Reports have suggested that dogs prey on the eggs and chicks of cranes, which suffered a drastic population decline in the last decade or so.
The dogs also chase other wild animals, including the Pallas’s cats, Tibetan sand fox and bar-headed goose, depletes the prey of the snow leopard and wolf, and spreads diseases. They even hybridise with the Tibetan wolf, thereby diluting the latter’s gene pool.
Snow leopard | Photo Credit: Dhritiman Mukherjee
Meanwhile, irresponsible tourists ride roughshod over pasturelands, destroying the topsoil, which takes hundreds of years to form, given the minimal moisture and organic content in the soil. These, in tandem with global warming and water scarcity, severely compromise the rangeland health, threatening the existence of the nomads in the region.
Some go off-road to chase wild animals, or drive their SUVs into water bodies to assess the performances of their vehicles. Blaring music and glaring headlights disturb the animals. And furthermore, rash driving leads to fatal accidents, killing many wild animals on the spot. The Pallas’s cat is especially vulnerable, because the roads run along cliff bases, bisecting the cats’ habitat.
A Frankenstein monster in the making?
Tourism in the region might soon turn into a Frankenstein monster. Government efforts to promote rural tourism haven’t been well thought through. For example, one of the criteria for receiving homestay certification is a flush toilet. Responding to this, people have been on a flush-toilet construction spree without understanding the ecological implications. With a lack of septic tanks, all the sewage flows into the ground. This exposes the villagers to waterborne diseases.
Construction work near Zanskar river for the Shinku La tunnel, which will provide all-weather road connectivity to Ladakh | Photo Credit: PTI
Traditional dry-composting toilets, which use minimal water and generate much-needed manure for the agricultural fields, are being discouraged. The irony is that Ladakh is aspiring to be an organic state, but the organic manure is being flushed down the sewer. Organic fertiliser is brought in from far-off places such as Haryana in trucks, which spew massive amounts of carbon that settle on glaciers leading to their rapid melting.
Retreating glaciers are already affecting water availability in the region. Springs in the interior parts are drying up, and more and more villagers and wild animals are coming down to the Indus River for water. Adding to the problem is campers along the river. They wash their kitchen wares and dump organic matter in the water, leading to an explosion of invertebrates, which, in turn, depletes dissolved oxygen. The warming temperature then affects the quality of water.
These are just some of the ecological issues besetting the people and wild animals of the Changthang region. They need to be attended to and resolved swiftly, if we want to have better destinations for tourists, better living spaces for nomadic herders, and better habitats for the wild animals.
The writer heads the Snow Leopard Conservancy India Trust.
