Sankoo

A lush green barley field at kausar, Sankoo

Sankoo is a township in India that is 42 km south of Kargil located in a bowl-shaped valley drained by large tributary streams of the Suru River, the Kartse and the Nakpochu. As the richest flourishing and most verdant valley throughout the entire region of Laddakh, the village of Sankoo Valley is known as the Laddakh's own Gulmarg ("meadow of flowers").

Sankoo is an upcoming township with a small bazaar (42 km south of Kargil) and numerous villages around. Dense plantations of poplars, willows, myricarea and wild roses fill the bowl shaped valley, giving it the ambience of a man-made forest tucked within the mountain ramparts. Two side valleys drained by large tributary streams of the Suru river, the Kartse flowing from the east and the Nakpochu descending from the west, open up on either side of the expanse. Sankoo (42 km), the next major expanse of the Suru Valley, is a picturesque township surrounded with numerous villages and colorful rocky mountains all around.

Sankoo is very popular among local picnickers who throng the area from Kargil town and other places. Locally it is also popular as a place of pilgrimage to the ancient shrine of a Muslim scholar-saint, Sayed Mir Hashim, who was specially invited from Kashmir for imparting religious teachings of the region's Buddhist ruler, Thi-Namgyal of the Suru principality, following his conversion to Islam during the `16th century. The shrine is situated in the village of Karpo-Kharon the outskirts of Sankoo where the Chief had his summer palace.

Summers are warm in Sankoo but the winters are extremely cold and harsh. Temperatures are most comfortable April and September, so this is the best time to visit Sankoo.