Deosai is accessible from Skardu District in the north, GaltariKharmang District in the south-east and the Astore District in the west. It is also accessible from Mehdiabad via Mehdiabad-Dapa Road. Deosai is located approximately 30 km from Skardu city, which is the shortest route to visit Deosai. Another route is from Astore valley via Chilim. It is also accessible from Shila valley. The people of Galtari travel via Deosai. While it is a National Park, the Gujjar-Bakwarwal travel large distances to utilize the Deosai National Park as grazing lands. There is another route called Burgi la via Tsoq Kachura valley Skardu.
Geology and soil
The soils of this area are severely eroded, of a coarser nature and mixed with gravel and stones of various materials and sizes. In flat areas between mountains, soil is deep with marshy vegetation.
Fauna and Flora
The Deosai National Park was established in 1993 to protect the survival of the Himalayan brown bear and its habitat. Having long been a prize kill for poachers and hunters, the bear now has a hope for survival in Deosai where its number has increased from only 19 in 1993 to 40 in 2005. In 1993, after playing an instrumental role in the designation of Deosai as a National Park, the Himalayan Wildlife Foundation was founded with a substantial international financial support. The Himalayan Wildlife Foundation ran two park entry check posts and a field research camp in Deosai for approximately ten years. Documentation was completed by the Himalayan Wildlife Foundation for the handover of the management of the Park to the, then, Northern Areas Forest Department with the department starting to manage the park since 2006. While pressures that existed in the 1990s, such as hunting and poaching have subsided, the brown bear is still under threat due to pressures such as increasing numbers of tourists and the use of park areas for grazing. The Deosai Plains are also home to the Himalayan ibex, red fox, golden marmot, gray wolf, the Ladakh urial, snow leopard and over 124 types of resident and migratory birds. Birds in the park include the golden eagle, lammergeier, griffon vulture, laggar falcon, peregrine falcon, Eurasian kestrel, Eurasian sparrowhawk, and snowcock. The following species are found in Deosai: Artemisia maritima, Polygonum affine, Thalictrum alpinum, Bromus oxyodon, Saxifraga flagellaris, Androsace mucronifolia, Aster flaccidus, Barbarea vulgaris, Artemisia maritima, Agropyron longearistatum, Nepeta connate, Carex cruenta, Ranaculyus laetus, Arenaria neelgerrensis, Astrogalus leucophylla, Polygonum amplexinade, Echinop nivetus, Seria chrysanthenoides, Artemisia maritima, Dracocephalum nutsus, Anapalas contorta, Chrysopogon echinulatus and Dianthus crinitus. There were also observed some medicinal plants which are locally famous i.e. Thymu linearis, Saussures lappa, Ephedra intimedia, Viola canescens, Dracocephalum muristanicum and Artemisia maritima etc. are used as traditional drug therapies.
Research by the French ethnologist Michel Peissel makes a claim that the story of 'Gold-digging ants' reported by the Greek historian Herodotus, who lived in the 5th century BC, was founded on the golden Himalayan Marmot of the Deosai plateau and the habit of local tribes such as Minaro to collect the gold dust excavated from their burrows.
In film
The documentary film seriesLand of the Tiger in episode 5 - the "Mountains of the Gods" features the plants and animals of Deosai.
