Dah - An Aryan Village and Mughal Gardens

The wonderful journey to Srinagar, Kargil, Leh, Pangong Tso , Nubra Valley and Leh monasteries was over. And it was time to return to Srinagar to take our flight back to Delhi. During our return journey from Leh to Srinagar someone suggested us a unique and a true offbeat place– Dah (Dha).

Welcome to the Land of apricots - Dah Village

Dah is an Aryan village situated in Dhahanu Valley in Ladakh. Dah along with Hanu are two villages located off Kargil – Batalik-Leh road. The village is enclosed by the great Hindu Kush Mountains on the remote side of the great Indus River. We had to park our vehicle on the road and had to trek our way towards the village.

Trekking our way to village

A path less taken at Dah

Hindu Kush Mountains

Some Himalayan Bird

As we started waking, we saw that trees on both the sides of the pavement were covered with apricots. All we could see were orange apricots all around! The hunger and the desire to pluck those apricots had soon crossed the limits. And there we were tasting apricots on each passing by tree. Each and every piece was fresh and juicy. Fresh water stream was flowing throughout the village.

Fresh and juicy apricots

Eating apricots was never so fun for Aditya

Bunch of apricots

Fresh water stream flowing through the village

As we trekked further, we saw few villagers doing gardening. Dah is a small village with 103 families residing. The population of the village is 609 as per 2011 census. Although we hardly saw 20 people in the village. The villagers here sport unique outfits and offer an interesting cultural insight for experiential travellers.

A villager at Dah

Villagers at Dah village

Collecting Apricots in basket

Bunch of grapes

We also saw sign boards of 2 guest houses – Makespon Guest House and Skybapa Guest House. A villager told me that these are the only 2 guest house in this village. We kept trekking and met many people on the way. Most of them were collecting apricots in their baskets. Somewhere also doing gardening of tomatoes. Selling apricots and freshly made apricot jam was the main source of income for most of the villagers. The apricot stones are used for producing oil. One of the apricot jam manufacturers told us about apricot jam is made and sent to all the parts of India. We also brought few bottles of apricot jam priced at Rs 60 for half kg bottle.

Makspon Guest House sign

Skybapa Guest House

Making of Apricot jam

A sheep and a goat

This was a true village in each and every aspect. We clicked few pics with small kids whose joy had no boundation after getting captured in the camera. We decide to leave early in order to reach Srinagar on time. We collected few apricots in our bags for rest of our journey.

Group pic at Dah

Group with kids

Gompa at Dah village

Rocks with scripts engraved

Abhishek collecting some apricots

Apricots hi Apricots

We reached Dal Lake by late evening, spent some leisure time by Lake and did some shopping. We had to catch our flight next day at 12 noon. We wanted to explore all the famous Mughal gardens of Kashmir, but due to lack of time we could cover only a few. The first garden we visited was Chashme Shahi, the royal spring. It is famous for its fresh water spring, discovered by Rupa Bhawani. The entrance fee is INR 10 for Adults and INR 5 for children.

Chashme-Shahi entrance

Garden at the entrance of Chashme-Shahi

Pathway at the entrance

Chashme-shahi

The beauty of the flowers, fountains and trees was something you will not found in any part of country. We clicked few pics and relaxed for a while. Anyone visiting this garden should definitely drink the fresh water from the spring.

Chashme shahi spring water

Drinking fresh water from spring

Group pic at Chashme shahi garden

Beautiful fountains in the garden

Attaching pics of some of the beautiful flowers and greenery of the garden at Chashme- Shahi.

Beautiful flowers in the garden

Beautiful flowers in the garden

Beautiful flowers in the garden

Unique Tree

After Chashme-Shahi, we visited Nishat Bagh. A terraced Mughal Garden, Nishat Bagh is built on the eastern side of Dal Lake. It is the 2^nd largest Mughal garden in the valley after Shalimar Bagh. The entrance fee of the garden is Rs 10 for Adults and Rs 5 for children. There are a total of 12 terraces. Undoubtedly the flowers and trees were very well maintained. The flower beds with beautiful flowers were a feast to our eyes. Nishat Bagh literally meaning "Garden of Joy" was created by Asif Khan, elder brother of Noor Jehan.

Ticket counter at Nishat Bagh

Nishat bagh entrance

Dal Lake as seen from Nishat Bagh

Terraces and fountains in water pools

All the 12 terraces have water pools and fountains at regular intervals. We also saw some of the tourists getting dressed in traditional clothes to get themselves clicked and get captured in a beautiful frame. The 2 gardens were worth a visit.

A well maintained flower bed along the pathway

Ethnic wear collection in the garden

Couple getting clicked in ethnic dress

Flowers at Nishat bagh

Flowers at Nishat bagh

Flowers at Nishat bagh

Flowers at Nishat bagh

Beautiful trees at Nishat Bagh

Although we missed out Shalimar Bagh and Indira Gandhi Tulip Garden, but the places we covered in our trip were worth a visit. Rest of the places we shall visit in some trip in future, till then Goodbye!!

In case you are planning to visit Kashmir and Leh Ladakh, you can go through our blogs. You can also book a customised trip for your family and friends.

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In the seventeenth century the Mughal Emperor Jahangir set his eyes on the valley of Kashmir. While living in a houseboat on Dal Lake he said “Gar firdaus, ruhe zamin ast, hamin asto, hamin asto, hamin ast.” If there is ever a heaven on earth, it is here, it is here it is here!