On morning
of 4th May 2014, leaving Kaza behind, we traveled further 7 km
northwards to Kee village for our first sightseeing break. At the fringes of Kee village, the single and
two storied houses looked similar to almost everywhere we have seen in
Spiti Valley. The pyramidal external
contours of eight storied kee monastery - the largest in Spiti valley at the
altitude of 13,728’ elevation looked magnificent on a bright sunlit day. On the
left side at a distance, the Spiti river ran its course through the
valley.
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| Kee Village & Gompa at higher elevation |
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| Kee Gompa close-up Zoom shot |
Barely to cover 1 km uphill ride up to Monastery, we had another
break to see the monastery in side view.
The top three floors of Gompa are on flat land and the rest five floors
are on hill slope. The backdrop of snow clad hills added dimensions to the
landscape. Further up we came to a flat
land adjoining the Gompa complex from where sloping walkway seem to take one
for a visit to Kee monastery. As Sachin trudged his way up, I got engrossed in a
game of cricket being played by young lama students. ‘Cricket is religion in India
even in this land of Buddhism at high elevation in Himalayas!’I mused.
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| Kee Monastery in side elevation |
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| Lama students & game of cricket |
Sachin coming back from his Kee Gompa visit, mere 5 km drive
takes us to the fringes of Kibber village - where we proposed to spend the
night. Hotel Tashi Zom, a good looking hotel and located a walking distance of
half a km from village, looked ideal. We got a good looking room at Rs. 800/-
per day; however as expected during early summer, no piped water was available.
The room looked reasonable in that context. As we
were in process of transferring our luggage, driver Sohan exclaimed pointing
out at a distance on vegetation less rugged terrain bang opposite to hotel. A
group of Ibexes were poking into mud and walking across. The long distance
Handycam shot taking recourse to high optical zoom and combined with digital
zoom, was not to the best of clarity but nevertheless we could recognize the feature
of the animals. It downed to us that we were in fringes of Kibber Wildlife
Sanctuary.
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| Ibexes at Sanctuary |
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| Hotel Tashi Zom |
Still a lot of time in our hands before sun god calls it a day,
we were on the roads to visit Gete village situated at higher elevation at
14,000’ and is probably highest village in Asia connected by motorable road.
Within no time we were above the snow line. Our first halt nearing Gete village
was to get a bird’s eye view of a frozen pond with some wild horses grazing on
scanty patch of grass. The snow cover was as far as eyes could go but
surprisingly the road was clear of any impediments. Our next break was at the
fringes of Gete village. At last we could see some villages leading Yaks for
tilling plots as we have seen in many destinations in Spiti valley at this time
of the year. The village appeared to be sparsely populated with hardy half a
dozen houses.
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| Frozen pond & grazing horses |
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| Gete village cottages |
Retracing our path towards Kibber, it was again a rewarding
experience of seeing some more wild life. It was driver as usual who spotted
the Bharals also called Himalayan Blue Sheep on the hill slope. The half a
dozen of docile looking animal appeared not to be perturbed by our presence,
yet kept a watchful eye, preparing to flee in case of slightest provocation. This
time we got a much closer view and it was a pleasure to shoot some video clips
with good clarity. Incidentally Bharals are hunted by Snow Leopards for their
own food.
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| Pair of Bharals |
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| Kibber Zero Point |
Returning in afternoon to hotel, feeling discomfort with cold
winds blowing despite a bright sunlit day, sitting in canteen cum reception
area with a cup of hot coffee was a solace. Planning for next day’s sightseeing
in morning was the topic of discussion. While Sachin preferred a half day trek
through Kibber Wild Life Sanctuary, I preferred a leisurely walk though the
sprawling Kibber village getting to know what the village has to offer and also
the activity of the villagers.
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| Norling Guest House |
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| Road leading to Kibber village |
On the morning of 5th May after a leisurely
breakfast, I came on the road and barely walking 100 m, stood near the
milestone indicating zero point of Kibber. Another signage indiated that the
road project for this village is named as Chicham Kibber project. With full day
at my disposal, a casual walk without unduly testing my lungs at the high
altitude of nearly 14,000’ was considered wise. For the past few days we travelled
through Kaza, Tabo,Dhankar and Pin valley where altitude ranged from 10,000’ to
12,000’ thus acclimatizing ourselves. The first important single storied good
looking structure of significance I came across was Norling Guest House. As
expected this place looked deserted in early summer when very few tourists
arrive. I took to sloping mud roads
through the village going upwards. The
secondary school building loomed ahead with deserted adjoining open area. Being
too early for the students to troop in for their classes, it was worthwhile
climbing higher to see more of the village.
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| Norling Homestay |
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| Way to Plots for tilling |
I came across giant yaks being led by a lone villager to his
agricultural plot; yet another villager led a bunch of cows and calves. With
the advent of summer, the snow cover getting lifted and snow-melt moistening
the soil, it was tilling time to grow some grains for the family. The beautiful
looking two storied Norling Homestay looked more like a regular hotel or guesthouse.
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| Highest point on Kibber village |
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| Chorten & Kibber Gompa |
Setting my foot on highest point in the village, I come across a
flat stretch of land with houses on one side and cultivation plot on the other.
I was actually walking on a 3 ft. mud track in between two cultivation plots. At
the termination of the track I got a view of Chorten and Kibber Gompa. In any Himalayan
destination particularly high altitudes ( above 8,000’ ) it is unthinkable not
see the temples of Buddhist religion.
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| Secondary School Building |
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| An open air class |
Going downhill on my way back to hotel, I was lucky to see the
School premises humming with activity. The open space bereft of anything
earlier had at least 10 black boards and white boards and chairs for teachers.
Students in cluster sat on mat spread on floor waiting for teachers to arrive
and some perhaps catching up on their homework. I patiently waited and savored
the scenario. The chemistry class had the entire backboard filled with formulae
of different chemical compounds. The English class had blackboard full of
English words and their Hindi meanings.
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| Chemistry class in progress |
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| View of school in progress |
What struck me as unusual was lack of male students in the
school. Are they doing manual work along with their family members on the
cultivation plots? Or, are they being sent to better schools at Kaza or any
other bigger townships of Himachal by well to do villagers? With these
questions in my mind, I returned to hotel by noon to wait for my friend to
return from his trek through Kibber wild life sanctuary.
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| *Ropeway for material transport |
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| *Frozen waterfall - Kibber Sanctuary |
Over our
lunch in canteen, Sachin narrated his experience through sanctuary. In his
words, “after requesting for a guide at the hotel, the manager arranged for one.
The guide came to meet me in the evening and discussed about the trek and
instructed the hotel about the food arrangements. Together we hit sanctuary
trails the next and trekked for nearly four hours. Among the notable
observations we made was a frozen waterfall, a non-operational watermill for
grinding grains, a trolley way for transporting material between two cliffs.
However people were traveling in the trolley at great risk. I had the visual of
group of Ibexes from long distance. At few places we had to cross through
wooden bridges. During a break, guide offered hot tea from his flask which was
great in chilly high altitude region. Over a chat guide told me that in his
younger days, he and his cousin used to collect fossils from the sanctuary and
sell it to tourists. About the local traditions of the villagers he said, the
eldest brother inherits the agricultural land.’
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| *A bridge to negotiate - Sanctuary |
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| *A watermill non-functional |
After
lunch, with the chill winds blowing, it was terribly cold. We were looking
forward to retreat back to Kaza as early as possible for a night halt. When we
reached Kaza and decided to check in at the same hotel Snow Lion, the rates had
gone up to R. 1000/- per day due to piped water supply having commenced in
washroom. Next day our destination was Nako, which we bypassed while travelling
through Kinnaur, keeping it for our return journey. Having had a great early
summer trip of Spiti valley destinations, we realized Nako although situated in
Kinnaur valley will offer no respite from biting cold being situated at 11,000’
elevation.
Important
Info:
1. Best
time to visit Kibber and Spiti valley in general would be period beginning mid-May,
when piped water is available in washroom of the hotels and Homestays.
2. The
three hotels / Homestay that author came across in Kibber: Hotel Tashi Zom,
Norling Guest House and Norling Homestay.
3. It is
better the take services of local guide while undertaking trekking through
Kibber Wildlife Sanctuary
Readers who
desire to see video clips of Kibber may take the following captioned link:
* Images by
Sachin Vaidya
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