From April 6 to 23 we toured Spiti in an SUV. The scenery was magnificent in this sparsely populated, high altitude area adjacent to Tibet. We drove for several hours every few days as we made our way, staying overnight at guesthouses in the small towns/villages of Ani, Sarahan, Kalpa, Nako, Tabo, Kaza, Puh and Sangla.

At Tabo, there is a 1200 years old Buddhist monastary which has been designated a ‘World heritage site’ because of its beautiful murals. On a nearby mountainside, there are also naturally formed caves which have been utilized as meditation retreats. Nearby Kaza, there are two other 1200 years old Buddhist monastaries (at Ki and Dhankar), which are situated high up in the mountain spires. Dhankar was especially picturesque at 4000 Meters, looking down at the confluence of the Spiti and Pin rivers as they emerge from two different valleys of mountains ranges exceeding 6000 Meters. Spiti is a high altitude, cold desert and so there is a splendid isolation and quiet here. The scenery is moonscape-like with the scale being bigger than anything we had ever seen before.

During our 2 or 3 night stays at various Spitian villages, we would walk/trek the mountain paths nearby. Walking at altitudes over 3000 Meters is slow going as one becomes more easily breathless. At Nako (3200 Meters) we walked up to a mountain ridge for a truly expansive view of the mountains, valleys and the river 2000 Meters below. At Kaza (3600 Meters), we walked along the Spiti river on its huge flood plain. From Sangla (3000 Meters), we drove up to the village of Chitkul (3500 Meters) where the nearby mountain tops were seemingly just a quick walk away... except they weren’t. We are getting better at judging hights and distances now. What seems a few hours walk away is instead a few days away. The vastness of the Himalaya is difficult to convey, the camera covering perhaps 10% of the area visible to the eyes... enjoy the pics, but come here sometime and see for yourself.