Travel Diary - Lahaul Spiti, Himachal Pradesh

Believe me, the average age of 11 member BNHS group that went for Lahaul-Spiti Trip was 62 years. The youngest one was the group leader and the eldest one was 75 years old. This was primarily trekking cum birdwatching trip of the less frequented northern district of Himachal Pradesh.

Day1

Jalori Pass

Left by Volvo from Delhi the earlier evening and got down just before Aut Tunnel to be picked up by local contact in smaller traveller vehicles. Reached Shoja our first camp site. At 2692 meters, the forest rest house was used for keeping our belongings, taking bath, and breakfast and meals.  As soon as we reached, the rains started and when it stopped, the camping tents were prepared for night stay.  In the afternoon, acclimatization walk to Jalori pass saddled with continuous rains denied us the birding. There is Serolsar lake some 6 km from Jalori pass. We went as far as one and half km on the trek and the continuous rains made us to return to Jalori pass without venturing further.

Apple Orchard, Kalpa

Day2

We started after breakfast to cross the Jalori Pass at 3291 meters to enter into Kinnaur Valley. At 2960 meters, Kalpa is a small town in the Sutlej river valley, above Reckong Peo and famous for its apple orchards.  Settled down at the forest rest house as we reached late in the evening. Other vehicle missed the turn for Kalpa, instead they were on the road to Tabo. We waited at Reckong Peo until they realised the mistake and joined us.

Day3

Kashang Waterfall

Tabo Monastery

As the morning cleared, we had a walk nearby and saw the apple orchards, spotted birds and started our journey to Tabo in Spiti Valley.  On our way from Kalpa, we stopped at Kashang river and Spiti river confluence, where Kashang waterfalls is situated. This is on the road itself while going to Tabo. Tabo village is on the left bank of the Spiti river at an altitude of 3280 meters. The biggest attraction of this village, for that matter of the whole valley, is the Tabo monastery. It is a complex that holds nine temples, 23 chortens, a monks’ chamber and an extension that houses the nuns chamber. On the sheer cliff-face above the enclave are a series of caves which were used as dwellings by the monks and includes an ’assembly hall’. Constructed in 996 AD, Tabo was the brainchild of the great translator and teacher, Rinchensang Po. Tabo is famous for its exquisite murals and stucco sculptures which bear a striking resemblance with the paintings and sculpture in the Ajanta caves. That is why, Tabo has acquired the name of Himalayan Ajanta.

Day4

Dhankar Monastery

There was a landslide in the morning which delayed our visit to Dhankar, which enabled us to visit the Tabo town. We started our journey to Dhankar. On the bank of the Spiti river, near Shichling at an altitude of 3890 m, nestles the citadel of Dhankar, the official capital of Spiti. The citadel is built on a spur which projects into the main valley and ends in a precipice. The location of this fort is strategic as Spiti always had to suffer innumerable aggressions by its neighbours. The location allowed the natives to keep vigil on the approaches and to submit messages to surrounding inhabitations in case of danger.

Trek down from Dhankar

On our return just a few curves on the descend, one person from our group forgot the camera bag (sans camera only), he was unaware of this until announced. Coordinator Ankit offered to return and fetch the same in the vehicle.  All others got down and took a chance to trek down the descend. It was fun all the way down, and got in to the vehicle after camera bag was found and returned to the owner at the monastery. We also saw a Juniper tree supposedly 2000 years old.  It is slowly dying as no leaves was there.

Day5

Pin Valley

We started for Pin Valley National Park through which we went to our next campsite Sagnam. First halt was Urgyen Sanag Choling Monastery. Then we went to the Pin Valley National Park by trek.  On our way, the local folk gave us the green peas for eating. To be frank that was one of the best green peas (of course purely organic) we ate.  That was juicy and yummy to the core. We took some for the night dinner also. At a vantage point, we stopped and decided through consensus not to go further as it involved few km trek down and climb back. Reached our night campsite at Sagnam. I tried night photography of the stars first time without tripod or any stand, the results of which were encouraging.

Sun Rise at Sagnam

Day6

View from Kee Monastery

We started our birding across the river by walking through the bridge and spent some time spotting birds.  Started our journey to Kee and Kibber. Kee Monastery is situated at an height of 4166 meters and it is the largest in the valley. The gompa is an irregular heap of low rooms and narrow corridors on a monolithic conical hill. From a distance is resembles the Thiksey monastery near Leh in Ladakh. The irregular prayer chambers are interconnected by dark passages. Kibber is located at a height of about 4270 meters  in a narrow valley on the summit of a limestone rock. Kibber is a rather pleasant village with plenty of cultivation. You are greeted by lush green fields which look strikingly refreshing against the arid backdrop of lofty hills.  Kibber and Gyete villages are on one of the highest motorable road in the world and connect with a village which is one of the highest connected villages in the whole world. Kibber is also the place of Snow Leopard area.  Reached Kaza town for our night halt.

Kibber, the Snow Leopard area

Kunzam Pass

Day7

Chandertal Lake

Started this day for Chandertal lake via Kunzam pass that connects Spiti and Lahaul. Kunzam pass is at 4590 meters. Surrounded by snows, this deep blue-water lake has a circumference of 2.5 kms. This is the source of the River Chandra. According to some believers, this is the spot from where the god Indra's chariot took the eldest Pandava brother, Yudhishtra to heaven in his mortal form. Chandertal, at 4300 meters, is an important site for migratory bird during summer. Large variety of species is found in the wetland, which includes Snow cock, Chukar, ducks, Golden eagle and choughs. We saw Rhodesian Shelduck.  The trek was full of climbs up and down.  Suddenly it started drizzling and realised it is better to start our journey back to the campsite at Chhatru.  First traveller vehicle with two persons who opted out of the trek went ahead to the campsite. True to its nature, there was a landslide in which three cars stuck up and it took almost 2 and half hours to clear the stretch that too our expert driver helped the vehicles to cross it.

View from Urgyen Sanag Choling Monastery

Day8

After breakfast, Commander was asked to give a small speech for the support staff who were with us and left Chhatru for Manali via Rohtang Pass at 3978 meters. The climate changed while approaching the pass and after passing it.  Hence, it was decided not to get down at Rohtang Pass for any photo session.  Being Sunday, the pass was like a bee hive with tourists and picnickers.  There was rain factor which hindered our way down at two points. Thankfully, we crossed them without much delay. In fact, this helped us reaching Manali well before time for our bus to Delhi.  We reached Manali at 4.00 pm and kept our luggage inside the bus and rains started lashing. Bus stand was turned into knee-deep water stream due to the one hour rains.  We reached Delhi in time for our onward journey to our destinations on day9.

There were 75 types of birds we spotted including 2 heard on this tour.

Thanks to the team members Commander GVK Unnithan, Meera P, Subhash Shah, Swati Shah, Noel Rasquinha, Biren Vohra, Navin Chandok, Harshvardhan Reddy, Madhu Reddy, group leader Asif Khan, and local contact Ankit Sood, vehicle drivers, support staff for a wonderful tour.

View from Rope Bridge on Spiti River