The summer of 2011 was one of the most exciting holidays of my life. I went
to Spiti Valley in Himachal Pradesh for a project on the Snow Leopard,
the hero of the snow. This was the first time I was travelling all the way to
the north to visit the Himalayas. We got into this project through Dr. Ramana
Athreya and Dr. Charudutt Mishra of Nature Conservation Foundation, a
non-governmental organization that works on conservation in various places
across the country. After a long and tiring journey, we reached our base camp
village called Kibber, at an altitude of 4200 m.
After resting for a day or two, we set out on our work and visited a
village, Chicham which can be easily seen from Kibber, but is
actually around 50 km by road due to a gorge separating the two. The best part
of the visit was to cross the gorge in a “Joola” or a cable car. We also
had an opportunity to camp for 3 days in Pin valley where nature has painted
scenery using her magical brush. We were lucky to be a part of a nature camp
held at an open field in Chomaling (4400m), near Kibber. It aimed
at getting the children of Spiti to admire their surroundings, learn
more about the plant and animal life and above all care for them. It was a
great learning experience for me because I started to look at nature with an
appreciative eye and hence discovered the hidden joy of observing even the
tiniest of the creations.
I was in awe of the flora which includes beautiful flowers like Arnebia and
Para aquilegia to thorny short bushes called Caragana. I spotted wild animals
like the Blue Sheep, Ibex, Red Fox, Woolly Hare and not to forget a pair of
Tibetan wolves just after their feast. I also saw domestic animals like Yak,
Zomo (cross between a cow and a yak). Spiti has magnificent bird life
for a cold desert with huge birds like the Golden Eagles, Lammergeyers,
Himalayan Griffons and the common Raven to small birds like Horned larks,
Wagtails, Finches etc.
The people of Spiti are very kind and ever willing to help. Though
they have a native language, Spitian, most of them are comfortable with Hindi
and quite a few can manage decent English. Their culture has had an obvious
influence of the Tibetan culture. We got to witness one of the annual horse
races where the horses were decorated with age-old cloth work and the jockey
was clad in the traditional gown. Most of their culinary delicacies are made of
meat and include momos, timos, tukpa, chirul etc. Their way of life and
festivals is mostly dependent on the seasons, the busiest months being May to
mid-August.
Even though I wasn’t lucky to see a snow leopard, I am glad to have spent
some moments of my life in this lovely place. I got to meet various kinds of
people - from field assistants, students to professors, each working in an
exciting field of their own. I will never forget my Spitian Adventure!
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