Turtuk

Turtuk lies at about 2,900 metres in the Shyok valley near the western end of Nubra, and its people are Balti, speaking a Tibetan language and following Islam, with a culture closer to Baltistan than to Buddhist Ladakh. The village was opened to visitors only in 2010, which is why it feels different from the rest of the valley: stone and mud lanes running between houses, irrigation channels through apricot and walnut orchards, terraced barley, and natural cold stores dug into the rock where families keep food. A small royal house museum records the Yabgo line, and the Karakoram peaks stand at the head of the valley.

History

The earliest known inhabitants were the Brogpas, a Dardic people believed to have come from Chilas, who lived here until around the 13th century, when two warriors, Chuli and Yangdrung, came to Turtuk; most of its people today descend from them. They followed the Bon religion before Islam reached them through the Sufi preacher Syed Ali Shah Hamdani, Turtuk is believed to have remained an independent principality until Raja Gulab Singh of Jammu, a vassal of the Sikh Empire, took the region in 1840 and ended the Balti kingdom of the Maqpon dynasty, and the village was opened to tourists in 2010 (Wikipedia, Turtuk).

The main sights

• The Balti village - stone lanes, channels and terraces on the hillside.
• The apricot orchards - fruit drying on roofs in late summer.
• The rock cold stores - natural cellars cut into the stone.
• The royal house - a small museum of the Yabgo family.

When to go

June to September, when the road is open and the apricots ripen; winter closes access. The valley is warm by Ladakhi standards in summer, being lower than Leh.

Good to know

An Inner Line Permit is required. The drive from Leh takes most of a day over a high pass. Accommodation is homestays and small guesthouses. Photography of residents should be asked first.

Nearby

Diskit and the Hunder dunes lie east; Leh is southeast.

Key facts