TThe snow-capped peaks surrounding Hanle village are bathed in the golden light of sunset. In the valley, 28-year-old Tsering Dolkar mounts his telescope on a tripod and focuses the lens under a clear sky.
Visitors, donning warm jackets, gather around Dolkar, looking up as the sky darkens into a breathtaking tapestry of stars. She points to a bright star in the western sky and announces, “This is Venus.” Someone excitedly says, “Here is the Milky Way!”
Remote Hanle in Ladakh, located at an altitude of 4,500 meters above sea level, offers some of the clearest night skies on Earth and became India's first dark sky sanctuary in 2022. Dolkar is among 25 villagers, 18 of them women, who have been trained as astronomy ambassadors to boost tourism in Hanle and offer villagers a livelihood. The program also aims to preserve the conditions needed for the nearby Indian Astronomical Observatory by raising awareness about light pollution.
Tourists pay around £1.70 per person. stargazing under the guidance of Dolkar and her fellow ambassadors, most of whom also host visitors in their homes.
“They are interlocutors between the sky and tourists,” says Niruj Mohan Ramanujam, director of outreach at the Indian Institute of Astrophysics in Bangalore, the observatory’s principal research partner.
Since the institute installed the 2-meter Chandra Himalayan telescope in 2000, three more telescopes have been added on the summit of Mount Digpa-ratsa Ri or in its foothills, transforming Hanle into a world-class astronomical center and giving former nomadic communities a chance to settle permanently.
After the government declared the area around Hanle's six villages a dark sky reserve, officials initiated a project to involve local people in managing the reserve so they could reap its benefits.
Ambassadors undergo a week of training and are given access to telescopes.
The astrotourism initiative attracts thousands of visitors and the number of homestays has increased from a few to 70, reviving the local economy and attracting back those who have gone to work in the city.
In 2023, Dolkar turned her single-storey, five-bedroom house into a guesthouse for tourists, charging around £17 per night per person, plus home-cooked meals of lentils, vegetables and rice. “During the day, I cook and clean for the family, and then until midnight I help tourists stargaze and explore the deep sky with my telescope,” says Dolkar. On average, 20 tourists come here a day to admire the stars, but on busy days there are more than 50 of them.
Padma Chamchot, 25, says her role as an astro ambassador has opened up opportunities for women like her. “I'm a college graduate, and my only options were to wait for a government job, which is hard to get, or to move to the city,” she says. Chamchot now earns more in a week than she could in a month working in the city as an assistant at a travel agency, even despite the annual five-month break in tourism when snow closes roads to the outside world. “This is a dream job: I get to learn about the stars every day, support myself and my parents, meet tourists from all over the world – all while staying in touch with my roots and promoting my culture,” she says.
“By becoming an astro ambassador, the Universe has truly opened up to us.”
The initiative also aims to preserve the culture of Ladakh.
“Our elders relied on the stars to measure time and navigate as they crossed pastures with their herds, but over time we completely lost touch with the sky,” says Kesang Dorjei, a former observatory employee who became one of Hanle’s leading ambassadors for astronomy. “This program has changed our lives. It provides a decent income while reconnecting us with science and our heritage.”
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The Astro-Apostles approached their elders with a request to write down the stories. “We find striking parallels between scientific discoveries and our elders' knowledge of the constellations,” says Dolkar. “An elder taught me to observe certain stars as harbingers of the summer planting. I have now learned that this pattern is called the “summer triangle.”
Even the acting abbot of the 17th-century Hanle Buddhist monastery signed up as an ambassador. “Astronomy has long been central to Buddhist practice – monks once used the stars to mark holidays and sacred dates – but this tradition has waned in modern times. I became curious about reviving it,” says Nawang Tsundu, 30. “During the day I meditate and teach in the monastery, at night I guide visitors through my telescope.”
For the past three years, the observatory and dark sky sanctuary, in collaboration with local authorities, has organized an annual star party that brings together astronomy enthusiasts from across India, allowing participants to view the site and attend classes on dark skies and astrophotography.
For 24-year-old Hashika Raj, a power systems engineer from Chennai, this year's star-studded party was a “once in a lifetime opportunity.” “I’ve never seen such clear skies,” she says.
While Dorjei celebrates the revival of his village and the benefits the project has brought, he is concerned that Hanle Bortle 1's skies (the darkest possible) may be at risk of light pollution. Border tensions with China have led to an increased military presence, and when the village's diesel generator switches off at 11pm, the lights of the military camp remain on throughout the night. Even some tourists drive up to the observatory with their headlights on, ignoring dark sky warnings.
Dorjei says it has taken him time to appreciate Hanle's extraordinary skies, but as tourism grows, he fears commercial interests may outweigh efforts to protect it. He briefed military commanders on the importance of minimizing light pollution – most adhere to it, but officers change frequently.
“I sleep restlessly,” he says, “and I am haunted by the fear that this heaven may be lost.”
