Leh Ladakh Pashmina Apricot High Altitude Chang Tang Plateau

Leh district in Ladakh is India's highest and most sparsely populated district — occupying the Indus river valley and surrounding Himalayan ranges at 3,500m+ altitude. The Changthang plateau (5,000m+) in eastern Leh district is the source of the world's finest pashmina (pashm) fibre, produced by the Changthangi breed of goat herded by nomadic Changpa pastoralists. Leh's Indus Valley agriculture grows apricots (dried ladakhi apricots with GI potential), buckwheat (paba, flour staple), barley, and peas on irrigated terraces fed by glacial meltwater. Leh's Buddhist monastery complex — Hemis, Thiksey, Diskit, Lamayuru — represents the Vajrayana Buddhist heritage of the Tibetan plateau cultural zone. The district is also India's most famous overland adventure route destination.