A trip to Spiti

A couple of months ago I got a mail from IT Nature Club (it’s India Terrain and not Info Tech) about a trip to Spiti Valley in Himachal Pradesh purportedly in the quest of snow leopard sighting. This was too good for me to pass and so I signed up immediately. What follows below is the account of that trip.

Spiti is nestled in the foothills of the Himalayan range. It lies in the rain shadow region of the Himalayas and receives very little rain, except for this year where there has been a copious amount of rainfall (ominous signals ?)

Though the trip was promoted by IT NC, it was in conjunction with an NGO called Ecosphere which is run by some very dedicated individuals who have made a difference in the lives of the residents of the Spiti valley.

I set out to Delhi on the 4th of Oct. We had to take a bus to Manali that evening. And for the first time, I met up with the rest of the folks who had signed up for the trip. There were six of us in all with ages ranging from 28 to 64.

At first I was apprehensive about my ability (or rather lack of) to gel with the others. I have always had this problem of staying isolated in a group (my friends say I space out quite easily). It is ok to be that way with friends (they are not so interesting anyway) but not so among strangers. But talking to the other five, I found that it would not be so difficult after all. Four ladies and two guys made up the six of us. While the two guys as usual had some initial aloofness, the ladies really broke the ice with their lively discussions and their energy easily rubbed off on me as well.

We spent a day at Manali. The next morning, we took a jeep to Kaza which is where Ecosphere is based. To reach Kaza, one has to pass through the Rohtang pass and the Kunzum pass. While the view is breathtaking, the road is backbreaking. The road through these passes is pretty much non-existent. It is a gravel ridden track with just a semblance of a path. It is a miracle that when vehicles ply this route, they don’t come out the other end as a bag of bolts and nuts. The 200km journey from Manali to Kaza took us about 12 hours (we stopped a few hours in between clicking birds). We finally reached Kaza at around 9.00pm. (Some of the birds sighted – Himalayan Griffon, Ruddy shellduck, yellow billed choughs which is so common that after a while it actually gets annoying. The other birds sighted during the trip – European Goldfinch, Common kestrel, Yellow billed blue magpie, coppersmith barbet)

The next day - Oct 7, we met our guide at Kaza, a sprightly chap named Tsering, who preferred to be called Anjaan instead (I guess because every second guy there is called Tsering). This was a day of acclimatization. We were at an altitude of more than 3600mts and hence most of the activity that day was by jeep. We visited a monastery at Kee (a monk there served us some wonderful tea).

Oct 8: Our actual trip starts. We drive to a village called Longzha. This is a small village with around 15 houses at an altitude of more than 4000mts. The weather is very cold. Some of the houses here have ‘homestay’ facility as well. This is again an initiative from Ecosphere so that these villagers can earn some extra money through tourists. We split up in groups of two.

The altitude effect began showing on me as I seemed to develop a cold (which got worse the next couple of days) and a slight headache. But the family with which we stayed that night were very hospitable and we had a good time interacting with them (I admit, it was more of a question-answer session than a conversation). That day, we trekked to a nearby stream which is famous for its fossils. Apparently, around 150 million years ago, the whole of this region was under water. You can see fossils of the aquatic life from that period. Unfortunately, a lot of these fossils were collected and sold by the villagers to tourists but that practice, thankfully, has now been stopped.

We also spotted blue sheep (called Bharal) which forms the prey base for the Himalayan wolf and the snow leopard. We also saw some footprints of the wolf and the Himalayan fox.

The Himalayan wolf in this region is critically endangered, apparently less than 300 of them survive. You would think for such a sparsely populated area, the wildlife would not have a problem. But that is not the case, the villagers in the valley view wolves as a threat to their livestock and hence they go about killing wolves cubs when they find them. Ecosphere is again working with the villagers to end this practice and this has had some success. My fear is that if the numbers are so low already, then it may be too little too late to help these canids.

The next morning – Oct 9 - we began a four hour trek to another village called Komic which was about 9 kms away. While the terrain itself was not too challenging, the altitude does create some issues. I had to frequently stop and gasp for air. At high altitudes, even a minor upward walk can leave one panting.

We finally reached Komic which the villagers say is the highest village in Asia but somehow I have my doubts. But at an altitude of around 4500mts, it definitely is in the top 10 for sure. Like Langzha, Komic is also a small village with around 30 homes. The name means eye of the snow leopard (‘Kom’ means snow leopard and ‘ic’ means eye in spitian). Komic has an ancient monastery which about 800 years old which we visited.

By the way, a word about the spitian houses. All the houses here have two floors and is mostly made of mud and wood. The kitchen is in the ground floor and during winters the entire family moves in to the kitchen. An interesting aspect is the toilet which is located in the first floor and it is just a hole in the floor. You squat, you go and then throw some mud on it. The...err...stuff just accumulates in a room below and gets used along with cow dung as manure every year or so.

These people do seem to have a tough life. One of the tasks for the women is to go out into the mountains every morning with a basket on their back looking for dry dung which is used as fuel (there are no trees growing here and hence firewood is expensive to buy)

All these villages get completely cut off from the outside world during winter for about four months or so due to snow blocking all the roads. So the villagers stock up what ever is required for winter and then prepare to last it out.

Oct 10 – This day, we were supposed to trek from Komic to Demul which is 18 kms away. But the previous day’s walk of 8 kms was a little too much for the most of us. So only two decided to trek while the rest of us (me included) decided to just take a jeep ride to Demul. We reached Demul by afternoon. Demul is a much larger village and has about 150 houses. The two who chose to trek joined us by evening after an 8 hour trek.

Oct 11 – We decided to climb a local mountain near Demul which has a beautiful view from the top. It took us all about one and half hours to trek to the top. And once you reach there, it is hard to not be wowed by the immensity of the Himalayas and our own trivialness before it. The descent was much quicker and took about half an hour. We drove back to Kaza

Oct 12-Oct 14. Drove from Kaza back to Manali, spent a day in Manali. Took a bus to Delhi and then back to Bangalore.

Overall, it was a great experience especially the homestays at the villages of the spiti valley. I am also happy about the fact that irrespective of the size of village, there was a school in every village and classes were being conducted regularly (even during winters).

But I am most happy with the fact that I got to know some great people on the trip and while the trip lasted for only 10 days, the memories will last forever, thanks to these wonderful people. Thanks G, S, L, R and V.