Tso Moriri (as seen from the perspective of Arva, our Mavic 2 Pro)
My diary entry for the 27th of August 2019 begins with “Today was my favourite day in the field by far”. We had arrived in the small village on the shores of Tso Moriri the previous evening and I took to the place immediately. Wherever I stood, I could see the deep blue of Tso Moriri stretching across for miles. We were lucky to have found a sweet old couple’s home to stay in, and had already gulped down several cups of the butter tea they provided us with.
The kitchen in our homestay in Korzok, with a thermos full of hot butter tea.
We began the day at 7.30 am with a drive around the north-western portion of the lake stopping at various points to conduct our surveys. After a drone flight along the lake shore, we documented the garbage, and then used our Trident to conduct transects along the lake bed. Tso Moriri was the first lake at which we found clear water, which allowed us to collect some breathtaking footage using the Trident. Since we didn’t have any other travel planned for the 27th, we were all able to take turns to operate the Trident and it was just fun to be able to use it in such a special place. Besides, who can get over this view?
Varaha, our Trident, returning to shore after an excursion in the clear waters of Tso Moriri
We called a halt to field work by lunch, which was wheat momos and fried rice at a little restaurant in the village. After the ‘mandatory’ afternoon nap, I went out for a cup of tea at a shop near our homestay. The women running the shop lived in Leh, but were working in this village for the summer. They were very warm and welcoming, and we had a nice chat until I asked them what was done with the plastic waste in the area. The conversation stopped abruptly and when I asked again, they pointedly engaged themselves in other activities. A gentleman sitting nearby answered for them; he organised treks in the area and said they always disposed off the waste responsibly. When I asked how,the conversation ended again. I’m not sure why there was so much hostility around the subject of waste, but I didn’t push anymore.
After tea-time, I joined Gabriella and Shashank for a little excursion. Topden, our driver/guide in Ladakh, knew both the area and some people in a nearby nomadic settlement well, and took us to their campsite for a visit. When we got there, Topden spoke with them and a short while later, we were invited into their tent for tea. Some butter tea, yak cheese, broken conversation and compensating smiles later, we headed back outside. Shashank was carrying the aerial drone with him and Topden asked the crowd whether we met with them whether they would be interested in seeing it in action. Suddenly, the number of people tripled around us, and after we communicated what was going to happen next, we launched the drone. As the drone flew overhead, a crowd gathered around us. We asked them what they would like to see and they pointed to their grazing sheep. We started to fly the drone in that direction but the sheep began running away from the direction of noise. We switched directions of the flight immediately and showed them images of the pasture, the surrounding mountains, and of themselves, on the drone controller. It was interesting to see even the smallest child was looking at both the flying drone and stream on our phone, seemingly able to make the connection between the two. It was a really fun and fulfilling evening with new firsts for us all. A drone flight for them and yak cheese for me :)
The author flying Arva and showing mmembers of the community an aerial view of their campsite.
Once we returned to the homestay, we sat on the carpet in the dining room and ate dinner while making silly jokes. Before bed, we all watched a few episodes of Avatar: The Last Airbender, and when I finally went to bed, my last thought was that this wasn’t too shabby a workday!