Notes on this tour:

This tour ran successfully in 2010, and I am keen to run it again, with a few tweaks and improvements. The region of Ladakh is fantastic: atmospheric and culturally fascinating. We had a full tour last time, and everyone managed to get some stunning pictures.

I have changed a few things on the tour. Most notably, we now detour from the Leh-Manali Highway to visit the remote Tso-Moriri Lake. This is a beautiful region, with a lot of wildlife The Snow Leopard and Tibetan Wolf are said to roam here! This also allows us to visit the remote Korzok Gustor festival.

Last year we visited the Tak Thok Tse Chu festival, which was a highlight of the trip, but at only a few hours drive from Leh, had a lot of tourists visiting. The Korzok Gustor is much more remote, so there should be fewer tourists and more pilgrims!

The accommodation that we will be staying in is a mix of Intrepid Original style (clean and comfortable, but simple) and camping! Because of the remoteness of many of the places we are travelling in, some of the accommodation may sometimes be a bit more rough and ready, but it does mean that we will be able to travel to some more out of the way places!

When camping we will have at least three staff with us, in addition to the three drivers and the tour leader. They will put up the tents, and cook the food! On our last trip the food was excellent! We will have a roomy dining tent and also a couple of toiulet tents! We are also provided with warm water for washing and a comfortable camping mattress, so whilst not exactly glamping, it is pretty comfortable! We will have a couple of invertors with us, so that we cancharge batteries from the vehicles as we drive.

It has to be said that the tour cost has worked out higher than you might expect for this style of accommodation, but this reflects the greater cost for travelling in this region (as well as the cost of having a professional photographer and tuition on the trip)! Included in the trip price is an internal flight from Delhi to Leh. I have also specified our own transport for virtually all of the tour: including the trip from Leh to Manali over the Leh-Manali Highway. This is one of the highest motorable roads in the world.

Private transport is very expensive in this part of the world, but when travelling through such stunning scenery, the last thing that you want to be doing is to be stuck in the back of some creaky local bus. This might be great for anecdotes, but believe me, it is rubbish for photography! Having our own vehicle will allow us to stop for portraits, landscapes and also any matters of a more prosaic nature!

We also drive to Delhi, which means that you will spend your last night on the tour in a hotel, not on a night train or in a terrifying night bus!

By the very nature of this tour, we cover a lot of distance in vehicles. This will often be slow and arduous, but is a fantastic way to see and experience the countryside. This region is more than just the sum of the towns. Most of the people live in remote regions and by having our own vehicles we will be able to get a true flavour of the region. You should be prepared for some long, but atmospheric journeys on the road!

I will obviously tailor the photographic tuition to include the mechanics of shooting a road-trip; shooting a photo-story and the practicalities of situations that we will encounter.

The times when we are camping will allow us to experiment with photographing at night by moonlight, photographing star trails and also make it easier to be in place for photographing the sunrise!!

This tour will be travelling through some difficult territory, and much of it will be at altitude. It will be a more physical trip that others which Steve has run, and a reasonable level of fitness and mobility will be required. If you are concerned about this, please contact Steve to discuss your situation.

In the past, the Intrepid trip price included a local payment, payable in cash at the beginning of the trip. This is no longer the case, and the quoted price is all that you will have to pay for the tour!

The Intrepid India office has estimated that you will need around US$300 spending money on the tour, for meals etc. not included in the itinerary. Obviously if you are into buying lots of souvenirs or drinking lots of beer this will be higher!

Note: the land arrangements are arranged by Intrepid Travel, and you will be covered by their industry bonding, but they will be provided by travel company who are based in Ladakh, giving them far more experience in the region. This is the same company that currently handles land arrangements for existing Intrepid tours in the region, and they meet all of the Intrepid Travel requirements for quality and responsible travel.