Langza, Himachal Pradesh, IndiaLangza : Altitude - 4400 mtrs, 14500 ft
About 200 million years ago, where India is now was largely an ocean - the Tethys ocean.
The landmass of India was somewhere near Australia ! There was a super continent called Pangea; today's familiar continents did not exist. When Pangea began to split up, India started to move towards the continent of Asia that was forming, at the rate of some 15 cms per year. At about 50 million years ago, the Indian and Eurasian plates collided, the Eurasian plate buckled and the Himalayas were formed. The Tethys ocean got closed off, disappeared, and the ocean floor got lifted up into the Himalayas.
How do I know this ? Because you can easily see marine fossils around the village of Langza. The fossils are mostly of ammonites, who were marine predators with a shell, were prolific breeders and became extinct around the same time of the dinosaur extinction. The fossils found in Lanza are about 100-150 million years old.
Langza is a charming village of about 150 people. Just about 30 odd houses. It is centred around a giant Buddha statue of some vintage. The village offers the best views of the Chau Chau Kang Nilda peak (6300 mtrs , 20700 ft)
On the way up to Langza, I found "blue sheep" lazing by the road.
Locally called Bharal, they have a bluish tinge on their coat and they appear bluish when seen from far away. They are a favourite prey of the snow leopard , but they are fleet footed and can clamber up mountains and ledges easily.
There are some lovely high altitude lakes which can be visited from Langza, but they are at least a 2 hour trek - not for me at this altitude. Of course there are home stays and serious trekkers and fossil hunters come here often.
Some children came up to me and offered to sell fossils - this is unfortunately a common ocurence and tourists do buy them for souvenir value. It is illegal in India to do this, but it happens all the time. Of course, I didn't buy. I instead gave the children some sweets and shooed them away, but I did take a photo of what they were offering.
I sood for sometime gazing at the Chau Chau Nilda Kang and then moved on.
CMK
2018-10-07
Have been following your travels Ramesh. Can't even begin to imagine the planning that should be behind this. Can see you are having a great time and by sharing the experiences you are doing a great service to the remote places you visit and the people there by telling their stories. Hyundai should find a place for your companion at their museum - if they have one or start building one just for this! Safe Travels.
indigoite
2018-10-07
@CMK - Hey CMK Thanks for following. Hope you are doing great. Now that you have some time on your hands as well, you should travel too. Although I cn probably guess that after all the business travl you did, you might be content to just put your feet up !
Anne in Salem
2018-10-07
History, geography, paleontology, zoology, conservation - our learning increases with each blog post. Many thanks.
indigoite
2018-10-07
@Anne- Aww, you are very kind Anne.
Shachi
2018-10-08
Ruhi and Rusham will did this - one wants to be a geologist and another part time paleontologist- that fossil picture is stunning!! So these small villages - do kids go to school? What is the main source of income? How do they manage to get their essentials - food, clean water, etc? Is there a hospital? I’m thinking what kids would ask when they visit. I must try to bring them to this area.
indigoite
2018-10-09
@Shachi - What ?? Those two already know what they want to be !!! What are you doing young lady ? By all rights neither should be able to even pronounce paleontologist :)
Sandhya Sriram
2018-10-10
Taking a cue from CMK above ... At the end of this trip, you are surely going to get modelling assignments from Hyundai :) bravo
indigoite
2018-10-10
@Sandhya - Ha Ha. Hyundai doesn't care !
Suja
2018-10-10
Playing catch up with your posts today. By chance I read about how the Himalayas were formed quite recently. I didn't know you found fossils there though, very interesting!
indigoite
2018-10-11
@Suja - Yes amazing , isn't it. A marine fossil in the highest mountain in the world ....