The Ladakh plateau

Ladakh, India Located between the massive summits of the Himalayas and Karakoram at an altitude of nearly 5,000 metres, the landscape in Ladakh is lunar-like. Andreas Stuckl / age fotostock

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East of Kashmir, the Zoji-La, 11577 ft high, indicates the separation line of the waters, between the Kashmir and Ladakh. From Kashmir's verdant plains, you switch to Ladakh's arid and dry landscape. This country, called "small Tibet" is a huge plateau constantly switching between mountain passes and valleys, passing from 6561 feet to a little more than 16400 feet. Characterised by a mineral landscape, the Ladakh is surrounded by the Zanzkar high range in the south and in the north, the Karakoum mountain range with Rimo's really high summits (24228 feet) and Teram Kangri (24487 feet). Indus River and its affluents supply the valleys with water and develop, in certain places, oasises, like the Nubra valley. In the east, lakes like Pang-Gong Tso's salted lake (14107 ft) are surrounded by tops of more than 21325 ft high, forming the border with Tibet.