Tso Kar

Tso Kar, at 4,530m in the Changthang plateau, is the smallest of Ladakh's three great lakes but perhaps the most surreal - a saline lake ringed by brilliant white salt flats that give it its name ('white lake'). The salt flats, marshes and grasslands around Tso Kar are a Ramsar wetland, home to black-necked cranes, bar-headed geese, great crested grebes and kiang (Tibetan wild ass). Tso Kar sits on the remote route between Leh, Tso Moriri and Pangong (via the Polokongka La pass), making it the perfect midway stop on a 4-5 day high-altitude lake circuit. Its solitude, the salt-encrusted shoreline, and the surrounding snow peaks make Tso Kar a photographer's dream.