There are so many beautiful places to see and explore across
the world and quite a few of them in India. A well planned trip with good
research, clarity on the places to visit, confirmed bookings, etc. are the
recipe of a good trip ….. but nothing as
exciting as a half baked road trip, with no prior bookings with just some
research done of the places you want to explore. And the icing on top is till the
last minute you are not sure who all will finally make it to the starting point
of the trip J
We decided for an 8 days road trip to ‘Spiti Valley’ the desert mountain valley located high in the
Himalaya Mountains in the north-eastern part of the Himachal Pradesh. The plan
was to cover the below places:
Delhi - Chandigarh - Shimla – Kalpa - Tabo - Kaza - Kunzum Pass - Chandratal Lake – Rohtang Pass - Manali - Chandigarh – Delhi
We hired a car from Delhi and as per our estimate we would be
covering close to 2,000 kms. All the decisions would be made on the run as we
had not made any reservations J
Day 1 - We left Delhi at night for Shimla via Chandigarh. We decided to drive
through the night and cover 370 Kms so
as save time.
We reached Shimla
next day morning. However given the long and more exciting places tocover we
decided to move on towards our first destination ‘Narkanda’ about 65 Kms
from Shimla.
Shimla
Narkanda is at an altitude of 2708 meters on the
Hindustan-Tibet Road (NH 22). It is a skiing resort in winter. We reached
Narkanda in the afternoon, found a small motel, freshened up, had lunch and
moved to see Hatu Peak and the Apple Orchards. By evening, we were tired and
decided to just rest after the long journey.
Day 2 – We started our journey upwards towards Sangla which is 155 Kms from Narkanda
and our next stop. The landscape became more and more beautiful with Sutlej
River on one side and mountains on the other. This was the first day we got
glimpse of snow clad mountains.
Road cut out from the mountain looking like
Jaw
We crossed the Karchham Wangtoo Hydro Power plant and moved
towards Sangla stopping on the way to enjoy the scenery, cold streams and
mountains.
Enroute
to Sangla
Sangla
Valley is at an altitude of 2,696 meters starts at Sangla and ends at Chitkul.
It is also known as Baspa Valley since Baspa River flows through this area.
Glimpse
of Sangla Valley
We
visited Chitkul the last village of
India before the Tibet border. The small village is at an altitude of 3,450
meters and houses are made slate or wooden plank roofs. We had the first Maggi
of our trip and with many more to comeJ
Chitkul
Village
Sangla
has few luxury cottages and camps such as Banjara Camp, Kinner Camps etc; however
we decided to stay in a small cottage at Rackcham on the banks of Baspa River. The
sound of the river at night was very loud and scary. We ended the day with some delicious food and drinks.
View from the hotel
Day 3 – The day started very early as we went to
explore the place near our cottage (morning walkJ).
Beautiful views on the banks of River Baspa
After breakfast, we moved ahead towards Nako Lake in the Pooh sub-division of Kinnaur which is 118 Kms from Sangla.
The road grew narrower and was cut from the mountains on one side and a
steep fall in the river on the other side.
En-route Pooh
We came across a small stretch were half the road was caved
in and then an amazing sight of azure blue water lagoon amidst dusty water of
Sutlej. It was breathtaking that we stopped the car and went down to the lagoon.
Blue Lagoon
We continued our journey towards Nako Lake
our destination for the day.
On the way to Nako Village / Nako Lake
We reached Nako Lake in the evening. Nako Lake forms part of
the boundary of Nako village and seems that the village is half buried in the
lake's border. It is at an altitude of 3,662 metres. The lake is surrounded by
willow and poplar trees.
Nako Lake
We decided to stay in a small homestay near the lake. The 2nd
round of Maggi was ordered and the vegetables were freshly plucked from the
small garden in front of the house to be used in the Maggi. We went to see the Nako
monastery in the village and the beauty of the monastery was enhanced by the
lovely sunset.
Monastery in Nako Village
Tabo Monastery is located in the Tago village of Spiti Valley
at an altitude of 3,280 meters. Tabo is noted for being the oldest
continuously operating Buddhist enclave in both India and the Himalayas. There
are many priceless collections of thankas (scroll
paintings), manuscripts, well-preserved statues, frescos and
extensive murals which cover almost every wall. The atmosphere in and around
the monastery was very calm.
Tabo Monastery
From Tabo we moved towards Kaza which was our next
stop, however en-route we stopped at Dhankar which is 31 Kms from Tabo. Dhankar
is a village and also a Gompa (a Buddhist temple). It is situated at an altitude of 3,894 metres. The
complex is built on a 1000-feet (300-metre) high spur overlooking the
confluence of the Spiti and Pin Rivers - one of the world's most spectacular
settings for a gompa.
Dhankar
We trekked 2.5 Kms to reach Dhankar Lake which is at an
altitude of 4,136 meters in the middle of hills. Though the small trek up the
mountain was difficult but the scenery which appeared in front of us as we
reached the top was just wow!
Dhankar Lake
We left Dhankar Monastry in the evening and travelled 30 Kms
to reach Kaza. We ended the spiritual cum trekking day at Kaza.
Day 5 - Kaza, situated along the Spiti River at an elevation of 3,650 metres above mean sea level. Kaza has the World’s highest retail petrol pump.
We decided to visit some of the beautiful villages near Kaza
one of them being Langza at
an altitude of 4,200 meters with just
148 inhabitants. The
residents also call their village Switzerland J… though I have never
been to Switzerland but this place was just too beautiful
Langza Village
We went to Ki Monastry also know as Key Gompa 7Kms from Kaza.
It is a Tibetan Buddhist monastery located on top of a hill at an
altitude of 4,166 metres. It is the biggest monastery of Spiti Valley and a
religious training centre for Lamas. We also saw crows with yellow beak and feet here.
Ki Monastery
We drove ahead towards Kibber village which at 4,205 meters
is the highest village in the world which is connected by motorable road and is
the highest habitated village in the world which has its own polling station
during elections.
Kibber Village
We returned to Kaza and were planning to visit Chandra Taal
Lake. We had heard of camping at Chandra Taal Lake, however were not able to
find any help. While having dinner we bumped into Mr Jamaica (nick name) who
arranged camping at Chandra Taal Lake and we sealed the deal.
One thing we realized was that as we move towards the top
food became expensive and accommodation cheap J
Day 6 – We started early morning towards Kunzum
Pass 71 Kms from Kaza which at an altitude of 4,590 meters is the gateway to
Lahaul and Spiti Valley. It is one of India’s highest motorable mountain pass
located in North India. The Trek to Chandra Taal Lake is 8 Kms from here.
Beast of the Mountains
5 of us started the long trek (long not because of the
distance but due to the terrain) enjoying the landscape, snow clad mountains;
sparse vegetation with beautiful wild flowers, narrow passes …. Stopping to
catch some breath and supporting each other
Trek to Chandra Taal Lake
The sight of Chandra Taal Lake took our breath
away along with the all the pain from the trek. At an altitude of 4300 meters
it of a circumference of about 2.5 kms, the deep blue-water of Chandra Tal Lake
is the source of the Chandra River. The lake can be visited only during the
three summer months. For the rest of the season, the lake remains cut off and
frozen. The lake is normally blue but changes colour with the colour of the sky.
Chandra Taal Lake
Camping with the team (Jamaica in green)
Day 7 – We started our journey back but not
through the mountains but another route. The feeling of coming to the end of
our trip was getting to us but we still were trying to soak in as much of the
scenery as possible.
On our way back – Feeling Triumphant
From Chandra Taal Lake we move to Manali our final
destination through Rohtang Pass which is at an altitude of 3,978 meters and at
a distance of 51 kms from Manali. It is a high mountain pass on
the eastern Pir Panjal Range of the Himalayas. The
landscape has changed dramatically from Desert Mountains to mountains covered
with vegetation.
We reached Manali late in the evening and spent the night there
Day 8 – We left Manali in the morning and
travelled close to 550 Kms to reach Delhi at night to end our fantastic trip
Though the trip had ended but it has remained etched in our
memories till now. Spiti Valley is very beautiful and a paradise for road
trippers but has so far remained less commercialized than other popular destinations
which adds to charm of the place and makes it a must visit for avid travellers.
