Young Women Guide Tourists Through Hanle's Dark Skies
· India · BBC News
Hanle, a remote village in India's Himalayan Ladakh region, has emerged as a premier astronomy tourism destination after being named India's first Dark Sky Reserve in 2022. Four local women in their late 20s—Palzes Angmo, Tsering Dolker, Tsering Yangdol, and Padma Chamchot—work as astro-ambassadors, guiding visitors through the night sky by setting up telescopes and tracing constellations. By day, these women run family homestays, cooking and cleaning for guests, before transitioning to astronomy guides in the evenings. Visitor numbers in the high-altitude desert have surged from about 3,000 annually to nearly 30,000 in 2024-25, following a training program conducted by the Ladakh administration and the Indian Institute of Astrophysics. The training equips locals to identify celestial bodies, operate equipment, and manage the growing influx of stargazers.
Why it matters
The rise of Hanle as a Dark Sky Reserve has created new economic and employment opportunities for local women, transforming traditional homestay operators into skilled astronomy guides amid surging visitor numbers.
Read the original report — BBC News
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