Tso Moriri (Leh-Manali Highway)

Tso Moriri is the less visited cousin of Pangong Tso which gained popularity in recent times because of it’s appearance in ‘3 Idiots’, the Bollywood movie. Moriri Lake is almost 6 hours drive from Leh. The drive to the lake is as or more beautiful than the lake itself. The roads are part built and part broken, but we did not get the time to focus on the road since the surroundings were mind blowing.

On our way, we stopped over at one of the most romantic parks we had seen. It is not anywhere to be located on Google Maps but surely has a name - ‘RaniBagh’. The trees were tall and the leaves so yellow. It reminded us of the old Bollywood movies. I am sure a few of the old movie songs were shot here when the actors and actresses used to dance around the trees in most of the songs.

The colours around us were just magical – the mountains, the trees, the grass, the water and the road. It seemed like a fairy land where it was just the two of us. Lack of cars on the road were an indication of how less traversed these roads were.

Clicking pictures with our faces away from the lens is just our thing. We believe that the person looking at the image focuses more on the person than the beauty around if the subject is facing the camera. We tend to get most of our pictures clicked this way, and we are just not into editing the photos beyond a point.

We spotted a few stallions next to the narrow roads leading to Tso Moriri. There is another small lake on the way, called ‘Kyagar Tso’. No one stops by these lesser known places but believe me, it’s not always the places which are famous that are good. These lesser known places are the real gems which remain untouched and hence more beautiful.

​The last stretch of our drive was right next to the lake, with no roads but just gravel. We planned to spend the night on the shores of the lake at one of the home-stays. There are plenty of them in the town of Karzok near Tso Moriri but we heard a lot about the Goose Homestay on multiple forums and hence we headed straight to that. What makes a homestay good or bad is it’s hosts and as soon as we reached, we knew why a lot of forums talked about the ‘Goose Homestay’. 

​It was -1 degree C when we reached and nothing would have made us happier than a hot cup of coffee. No electric heaters are available in remote places like these and the most warm place in the house is the kitchen. There is always a kerosene stove lit up in the kitchen with water boiling. This water is used for anything and everything in the house, from drinking and preparing food to washing your hands. The boiling water and the heat from the stove also keeps the kitchen warm.

Next morning, we woke up to this view from our room. Absolutely clear and blue sky, cottony white clouds, sparkling clean water in the lake and the freshest air anyone can inhale.

A drive to Tso Moriri is so memorable that even today, I dream of being next to the lake and waking up to this view. It’s a place bookmarked to be visited again whenever I get a chance.

The Juice:
1. If you have to choose between Pangong Tso and Tso Moriri, choose the former if you care more about the destination and the latter if the journey matters more to you.
2. Kyagar Tso and Tso Kar are two smaller lakes near Tso Moriri. When visiting Tso Moriri, stop by them as well. These are the less visited ones, but worth a pitstop.
3. There are few hotels as well in Karzok, but there is nothing better than staying in a homestay and interacting with the locals here. They are super helpful and hospitable and would tell you stories a hotelier can’t.