Ever since I started doing photography and visited my first National Forest, I wanted to witness every big cat in the cat family.

Kibber might not ring a bell in your head. What if I say Spiti Valley? Does that ring a bell now?

Kibber is a small place in the northern part of the Spiti Valley. It is known for the wildlife activities it has in the area during the winters.

Sometime in the month of January 2022, my father was planning a trip with his cousins to this exotic place in India where the temperature was going to be somewhere between minus 15 to 25 degree celsius. It sounded real fun. I asked him more details about it and what they were planning. As soon as I got to know that they are going on the “Snow Leopard Expedition”, I jumped out of the couch and screamed, “whaaaaat?”. I immediately signed up and wanted to be a part of this epic experience.

For going on the trip, they wanted people in multiples of 3 so that it becomes easier and a set of 3 could get one car. I called up my friends who were equally wildlife enthusiasts. After having a word with them, they agreed to join in less than a second.

So, we were now a group of 6 enthusiastic people - My father (Kishor Chandak), 2 of my uncles (Prakash Bang & Rajesh Chandak) in the senior section and 2 of my friends (Siddhesh Thatte & Atulya Mahajan) along with me in the not so old ones.

The 9 day expedition was planned for March 2022. We began our journey on the 3rd of March. The starting point for our trip was going to be Chandigarh.

We flew from Pune to Chandigarh on day 1 and had an overnight stay at Radisson Hotel in Zirakpur.

For the expedition, we had availed the services of Raacho Trekkers, led by Sonu Negi, and ably assisted by Anil Thakur (who has rightly named himself as The Himalayan Boy). Sonu would be driving a 4 x 4 Mahindra Bolero while Anil would be on the wheels of Toyota Innova.

Next morning we started our much awaited journey towards Kibber. It was not a one day journey though. To get to Kibber, it was going to be a 3 day drive with 2 night halts. We drove in 2 Toyota Innovas to Shimla and then switched one Innova with Bolero - the off roader. Young ones got to enjoy the not so comfortable Mahendra Bolero with Sonu Negi and Seniors were enjoying their drive in the extra comfortable Toyota Innova with the Himalayan Boy.

Driving through hills and seeing the change in terrain and weather was a bliss. Green mountains slowly going off our vision and white mountains replacing them.

Our first stop of the expedition was at Narkanda. It took us approximately 7-8 hours to reach here from Chandigarh (175 kms). The temperature here had already dropped below zero. Trying to adjust with the low temperature (which we couldn’t), we stationed ourselves in front of the heater. We stayed at a hotel named HATO which was managed by the Himalayan Tourist Promotion Council.

Next morning, we hit back on the road and started for the next stop - Ralli which was around 140 kms from Narkanda. The road journey here got even better than the previous day. We started adapting to the altitude and temperature difference. On our way, we stopped at this amazing Nau Nabh Heritage Hotel in Rampur Bushahr for lunch. It was a nice 8-9 hours of drive.

Around evening, we reached Raacho Cafe in Ralli which was owned by our tour organiser Sonu Negi. It is a small roadside cafe on the banks of the river Sutlej.

Ralli was a really small village where we were going to stay overnight. After staying in the hotels, it was time for some home-stays. We stayed at Bhutto’s house who was a relative of Sonu.

From the Raacho Cafe and the balcony of Bhutto’s house, we could get a clear view of the Kinner Kailash peak. It is believed that Kinner Kailash is the exact point where Lord Shiva resides with Goddess Parvati.

Siddhesh, Atulya and Myself decided to stay up a little late since the sky was so clear and we could see countless stars. Once everyone went off to sleep, we grabbed our gears and started our trials for astro-photography. It was midnight and it was getting super cold. We put our cameras on the long exposure to capture the star trail and went back to the room. Time passed but nobody was ready to go out and get their cameras. Finally after an hour, we did. Check out the pictures of those star trails yourself in the picture gallery.

After 2 overnight stays and gaining some altitude, we were all geared up for the final drive 230 kms to reach Kibber. But before leaving Ralli, it was the last chance to take a shower before we could come back to Rampur on the 8th day. The water pipelines in Kibber are all frozen. There is no water in the tap. Water is limited and had to be heated before use. We were going to temperatures as low as -25 degree Celsius.

As the journey began and as we started gaining more altitude, the temperature dropped and one layer of clothing was being added on us.

On our way we stopped at the confluence of the rivers Spiti and Sutlej. One could clearly see the merging of rivers. Spiti had a nice and clean blue colour whereas Sutlej was muddy. This confluence was hardly 7 kms away from the China border and we could see the peak of Reo Purgil which is in Tibet.

After 10-11 hours of the drive, we finally reached our homestay in the middle of white mountains - Kibber DikitLing Eco-Lodge owned by Tashi Dorje. This was our home for the next 3 nights. There were around 8 rooms on the ground floor and a huge dining hall alongside a terrace on the floor above. Rooms were pretty comfortable with attached toilets but no running water. Every morning we would get half a bucket of warm water to finish our clean up. Rooms had heaters which required dry wood to burn.

The next 3 days were dedicated to spot and photograph the 4 species we were on the expedition for - Snow Leopard, Red Fox, Ibex and Blue Sheep. Everything else apart from these were icing on the cake.

But how would you know where to start from? You turn around and it's all white. Well, the solution for this was ‘the spotters’. These spotters would start their day around 5am and go in search of the Snow Leopards. As soon as they spot, the message and location would reach our homestay.

Once we received the message, we would quickly gear up with layers of warm clothes and camera equipment.

All excited to see our first Snow Leopard, we rushed to the car and started the drive. Initially, I had thought that it would be a roadside thing. Get out of the car, mount your camera on the tripod and shoot. And this is what had happened but there is a little twist. From getting out of the car and mounting the camera, we had to walk uphill and downhill in the snow to reach the desired location. Trust me, it was not that easy!

Each one of us had a dedicated porter who would help us and guide us during our walk in the snow and would also carry our equipment. One step here and there, game over! Tanzin Palvar, a young boy around early 20s was my porter.

We reached our desired location after walking around 400-500 meters on the edge of the mountain to reach the spot. Our spotter had reserved some space for us all. We reached there around 9:30 am. Sitting on the edge of the cliff, we wondered where the snow leopard was? And it was right in front of us but on the other side of the gorge. It was a fully grown male snow leopard.

The snow leopard was camouflaging and sleeping. We were told that they sleep almost all day. All we had to do was wait, wait and wait. We had warm water, hot tea with us to cope up with the cold weather. Lunch was served right there. It was around 4pm now and the snow leopard had not moved an inch since morning. And then finally he decided to get on the move.

Shutters began to make the sound ~ click click click. There were dozens of people there. Everyone had a minimum of 500mm focal length lenses. Snow leopard slowly started to walk and we moved with our cameras parallel with him. He walked across the cliff into the snow and on the way showed us his stretches, attitude, sprays, gait and all his elegance. In the end, it was all worth the wait.

Next morning, we got a message that there was a female snow leopard. But this time, it was not easy to get there. Almost 50-55 degree slope had to be climbed down and the same was to be climbed up on the way back. It was crazy. But this time, the snow leopard did not make us wait for long. The show began quickly and also ended in minutes.

Since we got some shots, we decided to move on to spot the red fox in the area. We drove to the Chicham Bridge. It is the highest suspended bridge in Asia at a height of 13,596 feet. The bridge connects two villages, Chicham and Kibber.

While we were at the bridge photographing it, one of our porters spotted the red fox. We quickly drove there and chased the red fox. Guess the red fox was wanting to get photographed. He sat, walked, turned around for some stairs in the camera and went away.

After sighting the snow leopard on both the days, we decided to take a tour around to explore other things. Our next stop was Langza village. Langza is located at an altitude of 14,500 feet and is divided in two parts - the lower part is known as Langza Yongma. And the upper part is known as Langza Gongma. This beautiful village is better known for 2 reasons: One, as the 'fossil village of India' and two, for its massive Buddha statue.

From Langza village we drove up to Hikkim Top, overlooking Kanamo Peak to have our momos. Kanamo peak is at a height of 19,600 feet. Post lunch, we commenced our drive to two nearby villages each with a unique feature. Komic village is the world's highest village that has a motor-able road. Up there is a monastery. Hikkim village proudly announces that it is home to the world's highest Post Office. We then started to head back to our lodge. On our way back, we spotted another red fox.

Then came the day when we had to start our journey back home. We were just finishing our breakfast when our spotter called again and said, this time there are two snow leopards. We decided to give it a try before leaving. It was yet again a 45 degree steep climb to make in almost knee-deep snow. Who would have missed this opportunity?

We finally started our return journey and guess what, Spiti wanted us to experience more. We spotted another red fox. Well we were just being lucky, but the other car wasn’t that lucky. They could not spot a single red fox.

One of the funniest incidents happened during the journey at a small village - Kaza. It was minus 20 degrees Celsius outside. We stopped to get souvenirs and some snacks for the long journey ahead. Atulya went to get the snacks from the grocery store along the roadside. After getting the snacks, Atulya asked the shopkeeper to give him a bottle of Pepsi and the shopkeeper handed him a bottle which was kept outside the refrigerator and then without a second thought, forgetting where we were, Atulya said, “Nai, thandi bottle dena” (“No, give me a cold one”). It was freezing outside anyway in that weather. While this conversation happened between Atulya and the shopkeeper, Siddhesh and I laughed out loud while listening to it.

Anyway, we had to keep going. We had a long way to travel. Our next destination was Nau Nabh Heritage Hotel, Rampur. But before we reached our hotel, we stopped at the BRO (Border Road Organisation) canteen on the border of Spiti District and Kinnaur District is Sumdo. Their sizzling hot samosas and tea are a must try. Trust me, you wouldn’t regret stopping for a few minutes.

We reached our hotel around dinner time. Dinner was ready but we wanted to have a nice hot shower more than food. It has been 4 days since we last had a proper bath.

Last leg of our journey was reaching Chandigarh which we did the next day. We stayed at the same hotel, Radisson in Zirakpur.

The journey had ended for Raccho Trekkers. But ours was yet to finish. We took flights for our respective destinations the next day and headed back home.

It was a drastic climatic change for us. Moving from minus 25 degree Celsius to plus 38 degree Celsius. We looked like Panda’s with all the skin-burn. But it was worth it.

All in all, we did spot a total of 4 Snow Leopards, 4 Red Foxes, Blue Sheep and Ibex.

Birds including Golden Eagle, Himalayan G

Amazing isn’t it ? Well, it's not over yet.

We did some more astro-photography on the last night at Kibber. Tracking the movement of stars in -22 degree Celsius was altogether a freezing experience for us as well as for our cameras.

I know it all sounds crazy. But it is all true.

Until next time… Adios!

For the picture gallery, scroll all the way up. :)

Vedant Chandak
info@vedantchandak.com
www.vedantchandak.com