Ladakh offers some great Expedition style boating on the Zanskar (III-IV), the Tsarap Chu (IV-VI) and the Upper Indus (IV) and the Indus from Upshi (II), as well as some grade III rivers in the Nubra Valley and some unexplored creeks coming off the Zanskar range and the Himalayas onto the Tibetan Plateau.Most of the area is rarely traveled and the arid landscape is dotted with Buddhist monasteries which do offers some great festivals between June to August. The rivers are mainly snow melt fed and need the summer months from June onwards. By end of June the rivers do pump most of the water which is good for the Indus and the Zanskar. The Tsarap is best paddled with less water, say mid August onwards.

The Zanskar: Starting Point for the Zanskar is usually Padum or Ringdum. There isn’t much of White Water there, so a direct drive to the Karsha Monastery and putting in at the bridge below Karsha would be possibly best for a self supported kayak trip.

To get to Padum, it is best to drive via bus or jeep to Kargil and then get a bus or truck to Padum. If u leave Kargil at around 0500 pm, u would make it to Padum in one day. Which depends on the driver itself and how much he wants to be in Padum. The Fare for the Truck is about the same as the bus but, the bus will definitely take 2 days, is crowded and will take extra charge for your boats.

The Tsarap Chu: Starting Point is usually Sarchu (when coming from Manali) or Brandy Nalla (coming from Leh). This river trip lasts for 3-4 days and will lead you directly into the Zanskar, so a joint trip is great and u can easily restore your supplies in Padum. The Tsarap needs to be fully self supported and should not be underestimated. The starting Point is in 4300m and you should be properly acclimatized before starting.

So better stay 2 days in Sarchu (pretty boring tented camp) before you put on. All gear and food (noodles and vegetable can be bought in Sarchu to inflated prices) has to be brought from either Leh or Manali, so make sure you didn’t forget anything, as up there nothing is available. Once on, you will only see some small farming huts and the first real ‘village’ is the monastery at Phuktal. After that there are some settlements, but it is hard to get food or supplies there.

The Indus: Can be paddled all the way down to Kargil and onwards (not advisable because of the Situation in Kashmir) and on some hair rising rapids down onto the Pakistani plains (even less advisable due to the situation in there). Anyway, the Indus offers some good class IV water all the way to Upshi from the starting point in....just drive up until the army stops u where the restricted area starts. After Upshi the river is mainly Grade II (one overhead dam which is best carried, even while some flows might allow to run it) all the way past Leh to Kargil where then some Grade IV rapids will await you.

The others in Ladakh
There are some rivers in the Nubra Valley which are basically meandering, quite Grade II-III rivers. The rivers joining the Zanskar from the Zanskar Mountain Range are some raging powerful creeks with some freezing temperatures...Many of them continuous but maybe worthwhile a consideration for a group of Expert Paddlers.