Pangong Tso Lake, which gained immense popularity after the much acclaimed film Three Idiots, has spiralled up tourism in Ladakh region, in turn, threatening the local wildlife and habitat.

Sharada Balasubramanian

Between Leh and Pangong Tso Lake lies Changthang Wildlife Sanctuary where a small patch of green grass is the habitat of Himalayan Marmot, the longest hibernating mammal in the world. Here, tourists stop by to see the Marmots, and much against the wildlife norms, feed them biscuits.

“Tourists do not listen to us when we tell them not to feed the Marmots,” says a local travel guide.

Sharada Balasubramanian

Marmots, which are usually confined to burrows most of their life, wander freely in this region, and quite unusually, are not taken aback when humans approach them closely. This is dangerous, as these burrowed animals could face increasing threat from predators, if they are outside constantly, waiting to be fed by humans.

Tourism: A spoiler?

Ladakh’s image through Bollywood, advertisement campaigns and rise in social media exposure, along with high disposable income among domestic tourists spiked tourism here, according to a paper titled ‘Mass Media and Film Induced Tourism in Leh District’.

From a mere 527 tourists in 1974, when Ladakh was just opened to tourism, the numbers increased to 43,821 tourists in 2006. Tourist numbers surged to 1,79,491 in 2011, according to the tourism department, Leh district. In 2014, 1,81,301 tourists visited this region, of which 1,21,996 were domestic tourists.

Sharada Balasubramanian

The year 2011, in particular, witnessed a sudden rise in tourism, thanks to 'Three Idiots'. Considering 2009 as the base year, there was 194.38 % increase in domestic tourist arrival numbers at the end of 2011, showing the film’s impact on tourism in Ladakh.

“This is the side effect of tourism. We have this habit in our country. Wherever we see wild animals, we want to feed them, whether it is monkeys or marmots, but this will disturb the animals”, says Jigmet Takpa, Chief Wildlife Warden, Jammu & Kashmir Wildlife Department.

A local tour guide says that the marmots in other regions run to the burrows in the vicinity of humans. The stark difference in the natural behaviour of the animal in the presence and absence of humans is quite evident here.

“Wherever the road has gone, animal habitat has been impacted. The tourists pay no heed to signboards or instructions that clearly tell them not to feed wild animals,” says Takpa.

“We have about 30 guards to overlook this, but we cannot line them up everywhere. The masses have to be educated.”

This area is large and spread out, which makes the task of following every tourist, humongous. The forest department, local travel companies and NGOs face a daunting task every year during the tourist season.

The tourist menace does not stop with just feeding the marmots. People even dump garbage into their burrows.

Unending Garbage menace

The 160-km drive from Leh to Pangong should ideally be just dotted by glaciers and beautiful landscapes. However, between this drive, one can see plastic wrappers, alcohol bottles, strewn all over the route. The tourists throw these out of their vehicle windows, least bothered about its impact on the local environment.

Color Odyssey/representational image

The lake is much revered by the locals, and has remained clean and untouched; however, today, it is not uncommon to see litter near the lake. Tourists even take their vehicles around the lake, threatening the local environment. Yaks ply around the lake area for people to have a joy ride. All this was non-existent. Let’s also not forget that Ladakh is a home to the vulnerable Black Necked Crane which breeds only in these high altitude lakes.

Tourists camping in the lake area litter liberally. The local people also raise concern about the increasing number of bikers visiting this region, though it economically empowers them. A homestay operator in Pangong Tso tells that 350-400 bikers visit the area every day during peak tourism time, and there are not enough garbage disposal mechanisms in place. After the season, the homestay operators have to carry the garbage littered by these tourists back to Leh.

Sharada Balasubramanian

“After the season, we have a major clean up session, and in one season we collect at least 250-300 bags of garbage and bring it all the way to Leh, says Tsewang Ringzin, field assistant at WWF.