Rumbak Revisited

31 January 2018, Hemis National Park, Ladakh, India

On this day we went back and revisited the village of Rumbak.

This is the route across the frozen river to the first house. There are two considerations here. First, the ice needs to be thick enough to walk on and second, it can be slippery and you don’t want to fall over. You can see footprints on the ice towards the right. In general you find a flat place to cross, watch the colour and consistency of the ice and if necessary, you can throw some handfuls of dirt on it. Disconcerting at first but almost normal after a while.

I wanted to get some more pictures of the fascinating inscribed stones.

And in some places there can be a lot of them.

Inscribed stones and a stupa (or chorten).

A row of stupas (inside the village).

A stupa was originally used to house the remains of the Bhudda. Later this became sacred texts and images, or the stupas were simply sacred in their own right as a supporting object for meditation. Stupa is the Sanscript word, Chorta the Tibetan and Dagoba the Sinhalese. In China, Japan and Korea, the stupa developed into the pagoda.

Stupas and residences.

One of the residences that also doubles as a homestay.

There were maybe four of these, mini-stupas surmounted by blue sheep skulls and other “sacred” objects, and coated by what may be an iron oxide pigment. I didn’t ask about the significance of these but I wonder whether they are to keep malign spirits out of the village and represent the pre-Buddhist Bon religion, whether rolled up as part of local Bhuddhism or separate.

More engraved stones.

This is I think a common redstart on the engraved stones. It is actually out of focus, as with all the bird images in this post, but hopefully I can get away with it at this size.

The shed and some of the houses in the background have animal feed on top, to prevent them being prematurely devoured.

This is the Eurasian magpie, bactriana subspecies, unrelated to the Australian Magpie.

I had wanted to get some photographs of them but they do not hang around when a camera is pointed at them so I sat down on a vantage point near the village and waited.

This is a Tibetan snowcock, which I had previously seen but also been unable to photograph.

They are quite different in colouring to the Himalayan snowcock I mentioned in an earlier post. They are in the pheasant family and though they can fly, they seem disinclined to do so in most circumstances.

There was something interesting the magpies in this small gulley.

Hello!

Mmm. That bag looks interesting.

Are you still here?

Ahh. Lunch!

Blue sheep skulls on top of a shed.

Skull, inscribed stones, stupa and house.

Down below the camp, at the main river. The platform is covered by inscribed stones and I presume it qualifies as a stupa.

A frozen mini-waterfall in the village near the camp.

And the wider view.

Glimpses of Snow Leopards

Mar26

30 January 2018, Hemis National Park, Ladakh, India

We knew when we signed up for the tour that there was no guarantee that we would see a snow leopard. It was also not a good year for the purpose because there had been unusually light snowfall so the snow and the snow leopards were much higher and further away than usual. However, this was the day when we found the missing “S” and “W” to turn “No Leopards” to “Snow Leopards”.

We were just emerging from our tents for breakfast after our first night in the new campsite at the head of the Rumbak valley when the cry of “Snow Leopard!!!” rang out from the small plateau about thirty feet above us. So we grabbed cameras and raced up there (relatively speaking and perhaps inadvisedly, given the altitude). Three of our guides were up there with spotting scopes and we were able to take turns to look through them and see snow leopards. There was a mother and two cubs and she was conducting a learning exercise in “how to hunt blue sheep”. One of the cubs ran at the blue sheep too soon though, so the blue sheep ran away. I didn’t see that but I did see a snow leopard run across my vision as I was looking through a spotting scope.

Here is an image containing a snow leopard (towards the top left corner) courtesy of expedition photographer and doctor Andrew Peacock (For his photography see footloosephotography.com). He is using a high resolution full-frame Canon camera, a 600mm lens and a 1.4x teleconverter for a focal length of 840mm. I estimate from Bing Maps and Google Earth that the snow leopard was about two kilometres away. If you want to see it more clearly, click on the image.

In theory I could have got an image nearly as close albeit with a smaller, lower resolution sensor and not quite so stellar a lens but my lens was damaged and wouldn’t focus for far distances.

We could see more clearly through the spotting scopes which had a much higher magnification than 840mm, probably equivalent to 3000mm and perhaps 4000mm. At other times through the scopes I saw blue sheep, golden eagles and a bird with a white head and black body that was described as potential food for the golden eagles and was probably a Himalayan Snowcock.

There were also more distant snow-capped peaks visible from where we were viewing the snow leopards.

This is a red-billed chough (not actually in focus at larger magnification). It is similar in appearance to the white winged chough that we have in Australia (and in the reserve out the back from where I live) but they are only distantly related.

After lunch we took off seeking more snow leopard sightings. From a similar viewpoint to where we views the snow leopards, here are some ponies returning to Rumbak village.

Another stone pen.

Ancient wall and mountain view.

Footprint of a Tibetan wolf.

Where I have circled in red is either another snow leopard or probably the same one, though we are up a different valley and several kilometres from out first sighting. This is at 560mm or a full-frame equivalent of 780mm, so the snow leopard is a long way away. This is taken with my lens so it is out of focus. Even so, at 1:1 I can just make out, though blurred, a head and ears above the rock line and a body and legs below. You will not be able to see this even if you click on the image for a larger view.

A plant struggling to survive though covered by the icy river.

Apart from the snow leopards, there were also dramatic views available of mountains and coloured rocks.

This one has a chimney so it is clearly an old house and associated pen.

Moving Camp

Mar24

28 January 2018, Hemis National Park, Ladakh, India

It was decided that we should move camp up river to the mouth of the side valley that heads to the village of Rumbak. This afforded different opportunities to look for snow leopards and offered better vistas.

One gas bottle to be loaded on the right side of a pony.

Another one coming up…

… to be loaded on the left side.

And off they go…

They know the way…

…and in any case there’s only one path.

Crossing the river over a small bridge

Now behind the ponies (who walk faster than us), we pass by the frozen waterfall again.

And I pause for some images of the frozen river.

A Buddhist flag on a trackside stupa…

… and more of the inscribed stones.

It’s a couple of hours walk and we’re getting close now. A view towards the end of the main valley.

Jools crossing the ice at the frozen stream beside our destination with the camp starting to take shape in the background.

The tents are now up and we’re starting to get organised inside them.

After lunch we take off again in search of snow leopards. There are other structures than the tents around.

Maybe all but at least some of these were dwellings because some have chimneys.

Most appear not to have been in use for a long time.

We are heading off towards the end of the valley.

This is the side valley to the left.

Some more blue sheep are visible though they are not really in focus due to the damage to my long lens.

Snow leopard paw print!

Heading back now, there is a row of ancient stupas above the ridge to the left.

Another old stone shack.

… and a last view towards the mouth of the valley.

Frozen River

Mar22

27 January 2018, Hemis National Park, Ladakh, India

We headed off for the ridge where we had searched the distant mountain sides for snow leopards on the first day. When we were almost there, the spotters told us no snow leopards were visible so we kept on going up the valley. This became a day when I was mainly looking for macro opportunities.

I was struck by some of the patterns of lichen on the rocks.

… and the variety of colours as well as patterns.

This is the large stone pen I had photographed from a greater distance on the first day.

A few people ventured further than we did up the distant valley to the left and found four snow leopard paw prints at a place with a commanding view where one had stood and searched the vista for blue sheep.

A section of the dry stone wall at the pen.

A bush bearing red buds.

The buds appear to be rose hips so it must be a wild rose.

Leaves and shadows. The stream actually had running water here (rather than ice).

Pebbles on the bottom distorted by the running water.

Ice and dry vegetation.

Back in camp for lunch.

The dining tent is the big green one on the right. Ours is the light coloured one second from the left. The long drop toilet is in the background with two compartments was very modern as it had rickety seats over the holes.

After lunch I ventured out looking for shapes in the frozen river with my macro lens.

Ice pig.

Perhaps a face.

Blue Sheep

Mar19

26 January 2018, Hemis National Park, Ladakh, India

Far up on a mountainside we spotted some blue sheep, also known as bharal. Not to be confused with the red sheep of Voltaire’s Candide. This is the female.

And this is the male.

Blue sheep are the main food source of snow leopards so this was an indication there may be snow leopards around.

An hour later, we are in a side valley and you can see a bit of the floor of the main valley in the distance. I think the blue sheep were on the other side of the main valley.

We are 3,500 to 4,000 metres high. Walking uphill is very slow in these conditions. If you try to go at all quickly you soon have to stop and recover. It is better to walk very slowly and keep going.

You can also see the track across the scree slope to the ridge here on the far left of the previous image. A bit later, when a few more people were there, Jools and I set off across the scree slope to join them. Half way across they waved us back. There was just a narrow ledge and no room for any more.

Back at the resting point, there was the remains of an old structure, too small for a house. I decided it looked easier to get down to the valley by going on further rather than going back the way we came. I didn’t find anything of particular interest further on in that valley though.

Crossing the ice in the frozen river of the main valley is a delicate task, especially the first couple of times.

Remarkable details of a flag on a stupa.

More blue sheep, from a valley on the other side of the main valley. Their coats look a bit more blue here so you can see how they get their name.

I had a few equipment problems. In particular, my long zoom lens fell three feet to the ground off my monopod at one point. It seemed to be working but images from the longer end of the zoom range are not sharp (including the shots of the blue sheep in this post). It is now in for repair.

I also had problems with both cameras (Fuji X-T2s) due to the cold weather. One showed some strange looking images in the viewfinder (eg monochrome plus blue) but this did not affect the RAW files so the camera was still usable and it returned to normal when I reset it when I got home. The other one got stuck on particular shutter speeds from 1/320 to 1/800 sec which was a bit more inconvenient. Fuji fixed that under warranty when I got home.

I was not the only one with equipment problems in the extreme conditions. One photographer’s Nikon D850 stopped working entirely.

Distant mountains in the late afternoon light.

Rumbak

Mar15

25 January 2018, Hemis National Park, Ladakh, India

On the second day, we walked further in to visit the village of Rumbak.

On the way, behind the prayed flags and white silk, we encountered a frozen waterfall.

A closer look.

In the last post, Robert Hayes asked me what the white silks are for. The short answer is a kind of offering to gain merit and I found an article that explains the significance of silk in Buddhism in great detail.

A detail of the waterfall.

Some of the prayer flags were frozen into the ice below the waterfall.

The river we were walking along was also mainly frozen.

The view from a rise at the side valley leading to Rumbak. We are looking down the main valley. There’s another village some distance off in the end valley to the right but we didn’t visit there.

Tea is on the way. We received wonderful service from our support team, mainly villagers from Rumbak.

Here is Rumbak in the distance, a man and a horse walking in. There are more houses than this but they are spread out and not all visible at the same time from the trail in. There is also a small stupa on the hill behind the houses (click on the image to see this better). There are Buddhist monuments on many small peaks.

On the stupas in front of these houses are many carved stones. Traditionally during the long dark hours of winter, women weave cloth and make clothes while men carve stones.

Some of these houses, such as this one, offer home stays (but we were camping).

A stupa and some ruins at the back of the village. Note the zigzag walking trail on the mountain behind the stupa.
.

Ruins of an old house, perched on the edge of a cliff that appears to have eroded away, from a time when houses were further up the valley.

People have lived in Rumbak for a long time.

Looking to the end of the valley.

Looking down on the village as we walk back from the stupa shown above.

We were offered tea in the village’s ceremonial hall. The main purpose of this room is for events that all the village gathers for such as marriages and births. This is the kitchen part of the room, with a stove and many brass pots, different ones for specific social events.

A last view of the mountains at the end of the valley, past the stupa we visited.

Looking up-river on the trail back to camp. The stupa is decorated with a flag and the skulls of blue sheep or bharal.

A distant mountain in dramatic late afternoon light.

Walking In

Mar13

24 January 2018, Hemis National Park, Ladakh, India

We are in the cars and heading towards Hemis National Park, where we are to camp for eight days.

On the way we pass a bridge festooned with prayer flags and banners.

We stop at a cairn near the side of the road festooned with prayer flags and white silk.

Our drivers are conducting a ceremony to bless our trip with good fortune.

Down below in the Indus River, a bank of ice has formed around a gravel bar.

Even before getting into the National Park, the view is wild and barren.

… and the mountains are majestic.

I stopped to take a picture of this footbridge which I surmise has seen better days…

… when some of the ponies came wandering down the road.

These are to take our bags from the cars to our camp.

It was not a long walk to the camp and here is the yak Tashi hanging around near the kitchen.

All the catering and organising is done by villagers from the nearby village Rumbak. We are beside a small river and here a hole has been made in the ice for our water supply.

A dramatic rock headland towers over the camp.

After lunch, we head off to look for snow leopards and encountered some of the ponies along the way.

We climb up to a ridge and some of our guides search for snow leopards in the mountain sides with spotting scopes. This is a view from there showing a large stone pen in the valley below.

We didn’t see any snow leopards though earlier we passed a spot where a snow leopard had rubbed against a rock, marked the spot and left an indistinct paw print. I didn’t think to take an image though it would have been fairly prosaic.

Nonetheless, we enjoy the play of the late afternoon light.

Rivers and Mountains

Mar11

23 January 2018, near Leh, Ladakh, India

This is the journey to Alchi and Liker Monasteries (preceding posts) and back to Leh.

This is Spituk Monastery (or Spituk Gompa), just on the outside of Leh.

We stopped for a while at a vantage point. This is the mighty Indus River. Ice surrounds its banks and clumps of ice float downstream.

I didn’t notice it at the time, but at far right in the river is a stone pylon and flattened metal structures. There may be the remains of another pylon to its left. This appears to be the remains of a bridge. If so, the river at some time must have wiped away not merely the bridge but the approaches to it on the far side of the river. Perhaps there can be radical floods associated with the spring melt (It’s a rain shadow area).

At some time someone, perhaps a truck, probably on an icy road, has gone straight through the barrier and down the cliff.

Looking at the river below, against the sun. It’s a long way down.

You may notice what seems to be a walking trail to the left of the ice-lined river. This is in fact a canal, bypassing the river. A nearby tributary runs through a copper bed and poisons the water for cattle.

Looking up, the mountains merge into blue abstract shapes.

A short distance later, we stopped above the confluence of the Indus and Zanskar Rivers. This is a bridge over the Indus leading to the Zanskar Valley. In fact it’s two bridges. A larger new one is being built on top of the old one.

Zanskar was a relatively independent Buddhist kingdom between the 10th and 15th centuries and the area remains Buddhist.

Prayer flags over the Indus.

This is the confluence of the rivers. Indus below and the Zanskar joining it from above.

Again, from further back.

Round a corner and the road heads towards the village of Nimmu below.

Stupas and a prayer wheel on the edge of Nimmu.

A view of the countryside, taken from the car.

Roadside workers, an image snatched from the car.

Following the lead car, nearing Alchi Monastery.

On our way back now, this is the picturesque Buddhist Monastery above Nimmu Village.

Down below our vantage point, a cow seems to want to come inside.

Moving the goalposts.

Further on, many locals, probably families from a military base, are playing ice hockey on a frozen river.

I think it’s the puck on the end of the stick of the woman at the left.

Dramatic views of the mountain landscapes through the car window, as we drive on.

Likir Monastery

Mar9

23 January 2018, Likir Monastery, near Leh, Ladakh, India

We are on the road between Alchi and Likir Monasteries. Stupas are not uncommon beside the road.

This double one appears to be fairly new (or else has been restored).

Can you see the building? What is it doing way up there and seemingly built on a scree slope? There’s a road down below it but a lot further down and a zigzag foot trail down to the road. It appears to be a kind of a duplex with two doors and two windows (click if you need a larger view). The roof appears to be damaged so it appears to be derelict. I think we can eliminate a farmhouse or a tourist hotel. Perhaps a meditation hideout?

More stupas beside the road.

And we’re approaching it…

Likir Monastery.

Some of the local boys in front of the general store/ sweets shop.

The giant Buddha from below.

Likir is a very old monastery, dating to the time of King Lhachen Gyalpo (c. 1050-1080). It has 120 monks and also administers Alchi Monastery, which we had just visited.

Items and views walking around the monastery.

A stupa with a view.

Terraced agricultural land below the monastery, waiting for the Spring melt.

I think this is one of the meeting halls or Dukhangs, containing ancient paintings and sculptures but not allowing cameras.

We were invited to join the villagers in prayer. This is an old woman leaving as we arrive.

… and a young boy standing beside the door.

Inside with the villagers at prayer.

I attracted a certain amount of attention with my long white beard. Not perhaps what they expect from a Westerner.

Outside, many of the villagers were sitting in the afternoon sun (but it’s still below 0ºC).

… and a last view of Likir Monastery as we depart.

Alchi Monastery

Mar8

23 January 2018, Alchi Monastery, near Leh, Ladakh, India

Room with a view.

View from a toilet as we walk into Alchi Monastery.

Alchi Monastery is on a rugged steep site and the Indus passes by below.

Looking back along a whole line of prayer wheels on the way in to the monastery.

Alchi Monastery is one of the oldest monasteries in Ladakh, said to be built by Guru Rinchen Zangpo between 958 and 1055. This building is the Sumtseg, built in the early 13th century. It contains three giant Bodhisattvas, around four metres tall, along with other figures and remarkable ancient paintings.

Unfortunately photography is not allowed in the Sumtseg but it is allowed in these stupas which date to the late 13th century. There are various ancient paintings that you can see as you look up at niches inside them.

Residence? Meeting hall? Don’t know.

More stupas.

This tree is said to be the staff of founder Guru Rinchen Zangpo. The story goes that he planted his walking stick in the ground here. When he came back, it had sprouted so he determined that this was a suitable site for a monastery. This would imply the tree is around 1,000 years old.

Murray Foote

Tag Archives: Tibet