Hanle Night Sky

India, Ladakh Tourism, Mountains By footlooseinme Dec 26, 2024 No Comments

After a long gap, I am finally publishing my post on Hanle Night Sky—my penultimate post on my ongoing Ladakh series – all thanks to my procrastination. The preliminary purpose of my Ladakh tour this time was astrophotography. But Nature had some different plans for me. While I was at the desired location at the desired time the clouds played the spoilsport. On the other hand, after overcoming some major hurdles while we were on our way to Leh we were blessed with the sparkling night sky (at the wrong time and the wrong place). (Read my previous post to know what went wrong.) Our last resort was Hanle Night Sky.

The drive from Leh to Hanle was smooth and relaxing after all the previous ordeal. This time we were with our trusted friend Dorjai Namgyal. This was probably the most relieving factor in our journey. (Read my first post on the Ladakh series to know more about him.) His calm and composed nature while driving gives us a sense of safety every time. Through the stunning vistas and silky roads, we reached our destination soon.

The road and the river running side by side on the way to hanle — The road and the river running side by side on the way to Hanle

The Hanle scene was different this time. A lot of construction work was in progress – in other words, there was a lot of busyness and a lot of chaos. What used to be a sleepy little village a few years ago is now a bustling town, with a lot of machinery and a lot of makeshift or permanent structures.

The river in its glory on the way to Hanle - Hanle Night Sky — The river in its glory on the way to Hanle

Our stay was booked at Hanle House where we stayed while on our previous visit to Hanle. (Read about my previous visit to Hanle.) Hanle House has changed too, it is a two-storied building now with an increased number of rooms and occupancy. Now the Hanle House is within a walled compound and is a big homestay that can be compared to a decent Hotel.

The ancient Hanle monastery with the backdrop of the rolling hills

After a refreshing butter tea, we went for a walk in the locality to look for the changes in the past couple of years. Padmadidi, (our host and the lady of the house) introduced us to the naturalist neighbour who hopped in for some personal work. He knew the location of the Palas Cat sightings that we enquired about. He said a couple of months ago, the mother cat gave birth to three kittens. One got killed in the ongoing road work process and since then the mother with the other two kittens moved to an unknown location.

A herd munching on the green pasture - Hanle Night Sky — A herd munching on the green pasture

Hearing this heart-wrenching news we felt bad and didn’t want to bother the family by searching for their new location. We continued on our previous trail and discovered many new homestays and lodges around the area. Now Hanle is a popular tourist destination in Ladakh just like the other spots. All thanks to the Umlingla Pass! Hanle is the nearest settlement to stay to visit the highest motorable pass – the Umlingla Pass.

Previously people interested in star gazing or night photography used to visit here for the Hanle night sky. These days the number of stargazers in Hanle has reduced and the number of Umlingla Pass enthusiasts has increased exponentially. We were the only Hanle night sky enthusiast among the boarders of the Hanle House. The others were bikers from different parts of the world in quest of adding the feather of Umlingla Pass on their cap (oops Helmet 😀 ).

While we were leisurely walking through the green pasture, the setting sun played a lovely trick and the hue around turned golden. The pasture looked even more appealing while the surrounding hills blushed in the warm hues. The fiery Sun from the back of the faraway mountains smiled wide and bright spreading its warm hue. Now the hills in front of us turned magical and we were in a wonderland. In pursuit of the Hanle night sky, we were blessed with an incredible day sky – a show of vivid light gliding through the mountains.

We returned back to our house and waited for the Hanle night sky being sceptical as the sky was dramatic with clouds dancing in patterns. Still, with great hope, we waited for the lights to go off. To our shock and amazement, we found that these days there is no dark Hanle night sky. There is always light – either from some home or from the construction work site or some moving vehicle. We were highly disappointed.

Star trail while waiting for a clear view of the Milky Way - Hanle night sky — Star trail while waiting for a clear view of the Milky Way

We came to Ladakh for astrophotography and Hanle night sky was our only resort so I captured a few images of the Milky Way but none was near to satisfactory. Disheartened and dismayed we returned back to our room for a restful night.

Reading this Hanle night sky post, I assume my readers can guess about my next post which would be on the highest motorable pass – the Umlingla Pass. We went to Umlingla Pass the next day, which I will share with you in my next post. After we returned we were waiting for the nightfall and our last chance to capture the Hanle night sky.

We were not very hopeful as the weather deteriorated and it was raining on the other hill that lit up the previous evening giving us a wondrous show of lights. Still holding our hopes we waited for the nightfall but the Hanle night sky disheartened us yet again. We waited and waited and then went to sleep to rise at 3 AM to check out the Hanle night sky. There was no change in the Hanle night sky. I did capture a few shots finding some less cloudy pockets.

On the way back to Leh we visited the Chumathang Hot Spring

All my expectations were marred and the primary purpose of our Ladakh trip remained unfulfilled. We could not achieve our aim but made lovely memories and experienced some enthralling moments. We returned back home with content and happy souls and with a reason to visit Ladakh again. 😀