Nierak Village, Zanskar, Late Afternoon

A photo of Nierak village, Zanskar, in the warm light of late afternoon.

Nierak remains ones of the most beautiful villages in Ladakh and Zanskar.
Nierak sits under a hill to the east and the morning sun is late to arrive but this photo captures it in the late afternoon sun as shade starts to hit the fields.
A steep descent brings you down to a wooden bridge that crosses the Zanskar river. The floods of 2015 destroyed all the bridges but this was quickly rebuilt. In the opposite direction a long steep climb to the pass takes you over three stunning days of trekking to Zangla in the Zanskar valley.
Ten years ago on a high path to Lingshed we looked down on excavators edging a road along the scree slopes of the Zanskar river attempting to forge a road from Padum to Nierak. Four years later they'd made no progress. We understand this plan is on hold and instead a road is coming down to the wooden bridge. Our friends in the village are sanguine about the changes that they know are coming. Erosion of traditional ways is pitched against easier access to doctors and schools.

Landscape format.

A guide to approx sizes
A3: paper size 42x29.7cm, image size 40x28cm
A2: paper size 59.4x42cm, image size 57x40cm
70x50cm paper size, image size 68x48cm