Foreign tourists take part in white wate

Foreign tourists take part in white water rafting in the River Zanskar at Chilling, some 65 kms west of Leh, 23 July 2007. Zanskar is a subdistrict or tahsil of the Kargil district, which lies in the eastern half of the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir. The administrative centre is Padum. Zanskar, together with the neighbouring region of Ladakh, formerly belonged to Guge or Western Tibet Last year, 40,000 tourists visited Ladakh and the number is going up 10 percent each year -- a major boost for the isolated region's economy but also laden with potential disastrous environmental consequences. AFP PHOTO/ Manpreet ROMANA (Photo credit should read MANPREET ROMANA/AFP via Getty Images)