Ladakh has often changed names, all of which give a good description of the conditions prevailing in the region: Ladwags-land below the mountain passes; Bladwags: land of the lama; Maryul: the red country; Muah Ris bSsor Gsum: land to the west of Tibet. In the West it is sometimes referred to as Moon country and Little Tibet. Rather a long list of names for an area of 59,000 square kilometres having one of the lowest population densities in the world: 2 inhabitants per kilometre, 59,000 square kilometres of rocky desert, apparently inhospitable mountains, a world of bewitching silence, framed in a parallel fashion by two of the most imposing mountain ran ges, the Karakorams to the North, the Himalayas to the South.

If you fly from Srinagar, Delhi or even Jammu, you discern, hidden in this bewildering corridor of immensity, some green patches, some clusters of life. They seem to have been placed near young and powerful rivers, the Shayok, Siachen, Zanskar and Indus, to contrast harmoniously with the austere magnificence of the Ladakhi landscapes

Ladakh has a rich landscape, peopled with different ethnic groups. The source of the Indus is in Tibet and it enters into Ladakh through Chantang, the region of the Changpah nomads. These are fiercely independent people, proud of their wanderings in th e Himalayas. Most of them are Tibetan refugees, living on the raising of yaks, sheep and particularly goats whose wool, treated in a special manner.

Ladakh is truly a self-sufficient land, producing all that it needs except tea", says Major Gompertz in Magic Ladakh. This self-sufficiency is based essentially on an economy of small agricultural communities dependent on glacial torrents which, in wild and joyous tumult, come and meet the large Himalayan rivers. Desert conditions have forced the farmers of these celestial lands to develop unique irrigation systems.

Canals draw water from far inside the mountains to guide them towards the fields which have been terraced to facilitate the work of the precious liquid. They sink into the rock, forming labyrinths stretching over several kilometres, a challenge to man, taken up 1500 years ago. The Ladakhis cannot develop the production of yak cheese as is done in Nepal for their herds are too small. Products made from fresh milk are therefore important. Each family owns some goats, cows and dzos (yak-cow). The herds follow the mountain paths and return in the evening to the quiet villages, or they move to new pastures for a summer between sky and earth.