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Startsapuk Tso

Startsapuk Tso

Leh & Ladakh

State
Leh & Ladakh
Type
Other

Startsapuk Tso is a freshwater lake (about 438 hectares) adjoining the saline Tso Kar in the Changthang wetland complex of southern Ladakh, forming the northwestern boundary of the Rupshu plateau.

Startsapuk Tso is known for

Ramsar wetland (with Tso Kar)freshwater high-altitude lakeRupshu plateau boundarymigratory bird habitat

A short history

Startsapuk Tso and Tso Kar together were designated India's 42nd Ramsar site in December 2020, recognising the combined complex as a critical high-altitude wetland. [Source: business-standard.com - Ladakh's Startsapuk Tso, Tso Kar lake complex added to list of Ramsar site]

Why Startsapuk Tso matters

As the freshwater counterpart to the saline Tso Kar, Startsapuk Tso is part of a Ramsar-protected wetland system supporting migratory birds along the Central Asian Flyway.

When to go

June to September

How to reach

Located adjacent to Tso Kar in the Rupshu plateau, reached via the Leh-Manali Highway through Miru, roughly 160-250 km from Leh.

Startsapuk Tso guide & itineraries

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Leh

Leh

Leh sits at 3,500 metres and the single most important thing about it is that you cannot skip the first two days. Fly in and you arrive from sea level in ninety minutes. Spend the first forty-eight hours doing almost nothing — walk slowly, drink far more water than feels reasonable, no alcohol, no trekking. People who ignore this lose a week to altitude sickness or end up on a flight out. Coming overland from Manali or Srinagar acclimatises you properly, and if you have the days it is the better arrival. Once you are adjusted: Thiksey monastery at dawn for the morning prayers, which visitors are welcome at and which almost nobody attends. Hemis is grander but further. The Indus valley villages between Leh and Nimmu are where you see how people actually live at this altitude. Pangong and Nubra both need inner-line permits, arranged in Leh in a morning, and both are long hard drives. Pangong as a day trip is a mistake — twelve hours in a car for an hour at a lake. The road season is roughly June to September. Outside it the passes close and Leh is reachable only by air.

Hemis Monastery

Hemis Monastery

Hemis belongs to the Drukpa (Dragon) lineage of the Kagyu sect, and it is set back in a mountain canyon on the western bank of the Indus, roughly 45 kilometres south of Leh. It is the largest and wealthiest monastery in Ladakh, and the most influential. The buildings are traditional Tibetan monastic architecture on a large scale: whitewashed stone walls, timber windows painted in fine detail, and wide flagstone courtyards. Below is a museum holding centuries of gold-plated statues, sacred thangkas and old weapons.

Diskit Monastery

Diskit Monastery

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