This zone of the cold desert is full of rocks and mere soil covering is not ideal for proper vegetation development. Grass grows moderately fast amid the summer season after the snow melts. The Markha and Rumbak valleys are high altitude deserts with the characteristic of inadequate grasslands and herbaceous vegetation on slopes of mountain. These area comprises of trees and plants like Junipers, Myricaria, Poplar, Salix, Birch, Astragalus, Taraxacum, Leortopodium, Ephedra and numerous scanty meadows.
The National park is known for its population of the rare Snow Leopards and the Ibex. The other principle species found in the National park are Palla's feline, srapu, bharal, red fox, rhesus macaque, Hanuman laziness, wolf, marmot, Tibetan argali and Ladakh urial and so on. The bharal and urial are found in huge numbers. The park has been reserved as one of the reserve of snow leopard under a Government of India venture to preserve the species.
