Hanle:Tsering Dorjey, 86 years old.

 

Tsering Dorjey is among the most experienced men one can meet in the Rupsho region of southeastern Ladakh. According to Dorjey, people from Hanle and the surrounding areas once sourced salt from three principal locations:

Mindum Tsaka, the farthest, a 14-day journey from Hanle

Takdong, about 9 days

Gertse, roughly a week

These arduous journeys were undertaken twice a year, once in autumn/winter, setting out around the ninth lunar month and returning by the twelfth, lasting nearly three months; and again in spring, returning by early summer, typically within two and a half months.

Dorjey first travelled to Mindum Tsaka at the age of 16 with his uncle. He recalls stepping into the lake itself and extracting salt using a long-handled tool called Chalkyam or Kaduk. This work lasted 3–4 days, after which the salt was left to dry for another 3–4 days. Once dried, it was packed into lugals ( pair of bags loaded on sheep) for the journey back to Hanle. By the time they returned, the lugals had shrunk noticeably due to the loss of moisture.

At Takdong, which Dorjey visited at 18, there were no lakes and salt was extracted from the base of a mountain using a pickaxe called Togtsey. Unlike Mindum Tsaka, the salt here was already dry and ready for immediate transport.

Gertse, like Mindum Tsaka, was also a lake source.

Dorjey remembers encountering large groups of Shamma traders at all three locations. These traders were distinct in that they travelled with donkeys, unlike the locals who used sheep.

Salt collectors were required to pay a fixed tax at each lake. At Gertse, the tax was one rupee per khalba ( male sheep) paid in a coin known as a Jau. Each lake had only a single route in and out, making it impossible to evade tax collectors, who camped strategically along the trails. However, Dorjey recalls that 20–30% discounts were often granted in exchange for food gifts.

Hanle : Sonam Dechen, 93 years old.

Sonam Dechen is among the last living witnesses in Ladakh to have journeyed to the legendary salt lakeof Mindum Tsaka to procure salt for trade in Ladakh and the Spiti Valley of Himachal Pradesh. He made this arduous journey three times, the final one when he was 25. Each time, he served as a Lukzee, a sheep herder and porter for local trading parties. The route led from Hanle across Poti La, then onward through Koyul and Demchok, and eventually to the salt lake. The route involved crossing 4 main passes. The return journey took 2 months. Sonam Dechen recalls traveling in a small caravan of around four men and nearly 200 sheep. These salt expeditions were typically undertaken twice a year, during the spring and autumn seasons.

At the lake, a levy called the Tsa-Yon, a salt tax or fee was paid to the officials who supervised access to the site. Using a traditional shovel-like tool called a Kadung, the traders scooped up crystallized salt and piled it into conical heaps along the shore. The salt was left to dry for about a week before being loaded onto Ladakhi sheep.

Once back from Mindum Tsaka, the traders would head either toward Spiti or to settlements in Ladakh’s Indus Valley, places like Martselang, Leh, and Sakti, to barter the salt. In those days, the exchange rate was three battis of salt for one batti of barley.