Himalayan Range

one of the most spectacular and impressive range in the world, is fastly becoming the most visited adventure zone of the world. Traverse through the Great Himalayan Range and appreciate the sheer geographic diversity - from the verdant, forested valleys and tropical jungles of Arunachal having amazing wildlife and the flowering meadows carpeted with rare orchids, to the rugged terrain of the Trans Himalaya that extends to the Tibetan plateau.

The trans-Himalayan region proper is encountered in Ladakh, the northernmost part of the Indian Himalayas. Before the district of Kargil was carved out of it, Ladakh was the largest district of India. It is bounded to the north by the Kunlun and Karakoram mountains and to the south by the Zanskar ranges. Mountain ranges run parallel to each other in the southeast and the northwest. The famous Silk Route passed through Leh, meaning 'oasis', which is the district headquarters of present-day Ladakh. Until recently, caravans rested here before and after crossing the dangerous passes. The highest pass traversed through the Karakoram is at 5,628 metre (18,464 feet). The confluences of the Indus River and the Shyok, Zanskar, Nubra and the Drass rivers are in Ladakh. The landscape is almost lunar and the climate extremely arid. It is here that the Himalaya begins to taper down and merges into the Hindukush skirting the heartland of Asia.

Although the Himalaya can be traced to the Arakans and Arunachal in the east, its majesty is truly encountered only when one reaches Bhutan and Sikkim. The 8,682 metre (28,483-foot)-tall Kanchenjunga overshadows all else in Sikkim. This beautiful mountain is considered sacred by Hindus and Buddhists alike and its name translates as the ' Treasure of Five Jewels'. It is the third-highest mountain in the world.