On ‘Top of the World’ with Razdan Holidays
Stretching boundaries once again, Razdan Holidays recently organised an exclusive ‘By Invitation only’ 4x4 Self Drive Expedition for Tour Operators to Zanskar and Leh via Shinkun La, Singe La, and Sirsir La. These treacherous but exciting roads have been taken by the fewest travellers from India or anywhere in the world and it is indeed a great achievement for all the participants to have traversed the terrain, which not many humans have done so far.
It’s also worth a mention that this was the first-ever driving expedition undertaken by any tour operator or travel agent from India or elsewhere. The expedition was led by professional motorsport and expert driver Sanjay Razdan, who is the Managing Director of Razdan Holidays. The ‘Sweep Car’ was driven by Dhruv Razdan, also one of the Directors at Razdan Holidays. All cars were connected via a Walkie– Talkie, as communication is of prime importance in these kinds of roads and terrain.
This journey was conceived and developed after Razdan Holidays organised the first-ever driving expedition to Shinku La in October 2020, in which about 20 tour operators participated. Once Shinku La was achieved, the ambition to take the journey to the next level was imagined and hence the planning started on that very day. Finally, this tour was organised all the way over Shinkun La (5100 Metres) to Padum and subsequently to Nurla over Singe La (5050 Metres and Sirsir La (4850 Metres). The participants traversed over eight high-altitude mountain passes averaging over 5000 metres.
The expedition was for the duration of twelve days wherein the participants crossed the regions of Himachal Pradesh, Zanskar, Leh, Nubra, Changtang, and Jammu & Kashmir. The main highlight of the route was the journey to Zanskar over Shinku La and the journey to Leh via Singe La and Sirsir La.
These new roads are still in their early phase with plans to connect Zanskar valley via multiple roads for the army in order to have alternative routes to the border areas, but will eventually benefit the local population as well as the tourists in the future. However, with no tarmac on these roads, the participants and their machines had to go through extreme levels of testing and endurance. Day two of the journey covered the stretch between Keylong and Padum via Shinkun La in one day, a gruelling journey of almost fourteen hours with just one stop planned for lunch under the massive and mystical looking mountain, the Gonbo Ranjon.
Sanjay, who had earlier done the recce of the tour prior to its actual departure, had cautioned the participants before, “This will be a test of both your mental and physical endurance in a way never experienced before.” For people like Sanjay and Rajiv, the route was highly nostalgic as it used to be a popular trekking route that was undertaken by them multiple times.
Participants: Sanjay Razdan and Anita Razdan from Razdan Holidays (Lead Car), Dhruv Razdan and Kanishk Razdan too from Razdan Holidays (Sweep Car), Richa Nayal and Wg. Cmdr. J.S. Nayal of Era Tours & Travels India, P. Balasubramaniam from Namaste Tours, Ajay Vinayak, Vandana Vinayak & Kartik Vinayak from Palomino Hospitality, Deepak Sharma and Khwaish Sharma of Katha Tours and Travels, Akshit Chandra of State Express, Rajiv Tomar from Mystical Journeys, and Shibani Kapoor, Vishal Kapoor and Aditya Kapoor from WanderGlobe Inc.
Sanjay on everyone’s achievement said, “Razdan Holidays would like to congratulate all the Tour Operators and their families who participated in this unique and once-in-a-lifetime trip. The terrain and roads (off-road) were extremely tough, but everyone was rewarded with visuals and beautiful landscape one would have never imagined even existed as well as with the sense of achievement of doing something which no tour operator had even thought of doing. The experience overall was extremely enriching which all participants would not forget for a long time to come.”