Travelling the Himalayas Without Wrecking Them

Ladakh is a cold desert that gets under 100 mm of rain a year. Every bucket of water in your Pangong camp was trucked in or pumped from a stream that villages downstream also use.

The single biggest thing a traveller can do is carry a refillable bottle with a filter or purification tablets. A single group of six can otherwise leave behind fifty plastic bottles in a week.

Waste does not decompose at altitude and there is no municipal collection past Leh. Carry your wrappers, batteries and sanitary waste back down with you — our vehicles keep a dedicated waste bag.

Stay in registered homestays rather than large concrete hotels where you can. The money stays in the village, and the food is better anyway.

Photograph people only after asking, and never hand out sweets or money to children — it teaches begging in communities that were never built on it.

Pay drivers, guides and camp staff properly and on time. Fair pay is the least glamorous part of responsible travel and the part that matters most.