Ecological Footprint Travel

Up here in Leh, things move at a different pace than the big cities. Our office is in the Samkar area. It is a bit quieter than the main bazaar, which we like. Ecological Footprint Travel is basically just a few of us who know the mountains around here well. We spend a lot of time looking at maps and checking the weather reports because the roads in Ladakh can be tricky. This is a tough place to live if you are not used to the cold and the high altitude. We have a small room with some simple furniture and a lot of trekking gear tucked into the corners. People find us when they want to see the local sights or head out into the valleys for a few days. We do not do big advertisements. Most people just hear about us from someone else who visited before. The Samkar area has some nice views if you walk up the hill a bit. We drink a lot of butter tea while we work. It keeps us warm during the long winter months when the tourists are fewer. We try to keep the place tidy, but there is always some dust coming in from the roads. We know the local drivers and the guest house owners around Leh Ho quite well. It is a small community and everyone knows everyone else. We just focus on getting people from one point to another safely.