Hundar’s Double Humped Camels
Bactrian camel (Camelus bactrianus), between Hundar and Diskit, Shyok Valley, Baltistan, Ladakh, India
Bacterian double – humped camels are Hundar’s only attraction. Non-natives to Ladkah, these camels were used on the trade route to Central Asia. In the 1940s, after the borders closed in this area of the world, the creatures got stranded in Baltistan.
Now they are at the mercy of Indian tourists. Camel rides around the small dunes are the big hype among Indian families. For us the big attraction was to watch the spectacle: getting on the camels, coping with the animals and filming each other is accompanied with a lot of shouting and shrieking. Later, the teachers at Bodgang School told us that the 16 poor creatures are not treated well by the person who owns them. So we did not mention that we also could not resist going for a ride…
Bactrian camel (Camelus bactrianus), between Hundar and Diskit, Shyok Valley, Baltistan, Ladakh, India
Other oddities to us were the vast army camps throughout the valley. So out of place in what seems in the middle of nowhere. We even passed a good seized airport set in the middle of the valley floor. You hardly ever see a living soul (maybe a guard) in any of them and you wonder if they all hide from the heat or if these are Potemkin Villages.
Despite various attempts we could not find the spot where the supposedly turquoise colored Nubra and muddy colored Shyok River merge. Maybe it needs to be a certain time of the year to make it look like the incredible pictures in our guidebook…
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