Glamping" or glamorous camping is the buzzword in vacationing these days…Outdoorsy locations, proximity to nature and a sensory experience, which engages the mind and body and panders to the adventurous soul… What’s not to like?

Enter Camp Chamba Thiksey in Ladakh, the great Himalayan desert. A spectrum of vibrant colours, centuries-old monasteries, cobalt blue lakes, high-altitude passes and nomadic tribes shepherding their Pashmina goats across an arid landscape rimmed by snow-swathed. Can it get any more idyllic? Apparently not. And this is where the exclusive campsite run by The Ultimate Travelling Camp (www.tutc.com) is located Rs at a vertiginous 12,000 feet.

I landed in Leh from Delhi after a short flight and proceeded straight to Thiksey, located a mere 30 minutes away. En route, my ATV whizzes past the glutinous Zanskar river and furrowed, dun-coloured mountains crowned by picturesque gompas (Buddhist monasteries). The TUTC campsite Rs a settlement of about 20 luxurious tents Rs is ensconced within riotous fields of flowers and overlooks the blue-tinged Nubra mountains. The Thiksey monastery smiles down upon the camps like a benediction.

"Julley!" two beautiful Ladakhi girls kitted out in traditional finery and enormous necklaces of coral greet me at the reception marquee. I’m offered a delicious Himalayan herb tea after which the resident doctor measures my BP. "Take it easy for the first day," he cautioned. Apparently, the camp takes its guests’ acclimatisation process very seriously. Maladjustment at this height can result in AMS, or acute mountain sickness, resulting in pounding headaches, vomiting, high BP, even death.

My personal butler Newton leads the way to my tent (a misnomer, if you ask me) outfitted with a four-poster wooden bed, leather strapped chairs, a bureau, ensuite bathroom, copper washbasin, Baroque chandeliers…Invigorated after a hot shower and froth-topped cappuccino, I amble across to Thiksey’s charming villages with chubby-cheeked Ladakhi children looking on curiously.  Women farmers are busy working in the barley fields, their heads covered in the afternoon sun. "Ladakh is perhaps the only place in the world where you can get frostbite and heatstroke both in the same day. So appropriate clothing is imperative," my guide Namgyal, a local Ladakhi youth, explains.

In the water-scarce region, nourished only by snow and glacier melt, barley is a prized grain used to make tsampa (roast barley flour) and chhang (barley booze). I admire the unique Himalayan flora and fauna Rs indigenous herbs and plants, and birds like the Himalayan magpie and margot scampering about in the bushes. A hot meal of thukpa and momos is waiting for me at the camp’s restaurant overlooking poplars and Ladakhi willows. A feast for the eyes and the palate!

Responsible Tourism

To stimulate the local economy, TUTC, which believes in responsible tourism,  also runs a slew of programmes in Thiksey for community engagement as well as employment generation. "The Ladakhis build pathways, plant trees and bushes each season and grow vegetable gardens at our camp. All extra produce is given to the monastery and villages. We hire local women to our gardens and for folk performances. Local youth are groomed to work as guides," the camp’s general manager Ravi Thakur said.

The entire camp runs on solar power. All types of wastes (dry and wet) go through a unique dispenser with an inbuilt pollution control system. The sewage treatment plant, with grease traps for the kitchen, recycles the waste water for re-use in gardening and manure for the orchards.

Great emphasis is placed on the safety and security of guests. All tour escorts are locals and have been handpicked and well trained. The campsite also boasts of an in-house paramedic with a fully functional Medical Inspection Room, 24-hour security cover, dedicated butler for each tent, daily turn down services and in-house laundry services.

The camp also organises local immersive experiences. One evening, I nip up to the mystical 15th century Hemis Monastery, Ladakh’s richest and most powerful, for evening prayers. Rows upon rows of wizened monks are intoning their prayers, the hall full of sonorous chants, the cloying smell of incense, striking gongs and clashing cymbals. Hemis’ interiors flaunt murals and statuary of numerous bodhisattvas. Outside, colourful fluttering prayer flags transmit their spiritual messages even as prayer wheels, spun clockwise, release good energies.

Several of the world’s best-known gompas (Buddhist monasteries) can be found in Leh atop peaks of bloodless rock overlooking irrigated pastures. These repositories of Tibetan Buddhist scrolls, centuries-old thangkas and giant statues of the Buddha, are where the religious leaders or "rinpoches" preach, enlighten the community and do philanthropic work.

Another local excursion took me to the Hall of Fame Museum, which salutes the heroes of the Kargil War. The place commemorates the army’s role in Ladakh Rs from helping with cloudburst relief in 2010 to the high-altitude bloody battles fought with Pakistan during the 20th century. There’s also a 30-minute documentary introducing the 1999 Kargil War. An attached "Adventure Park" combines assault course and archery range.

Located on the Leh Highway, the museum also offer an interesting peek into the tough life of our intrepid soldiers at Siachen, who routinely brave minus 50 degree C temperatures  Their shoes, the freeze-dried food they consume after heating it using Hexamycin tablets, their many-layered clothing, the tough terrain they inhabit…was not only an eye-opener but made me misty eyed. It is thanks to the soldiers’ selfless sacrifices that we’re able to enjoy our independence and security I mused to myself.

Respect

Camp Champa Thiksey offered me an enchanting holiday to not only discover Ladakh and its beautiful people, but an opportunity to rediscover myself in a nirvanic setting, meet gurus from the far reaches of the Himalayas, picnic in picturesque spots and best of all curl up in my cosy "tent with a view" with a good book and coffee on my side…lost luxuries these in a maddening world beset by sundry distractions.