Until around 3 years back , my awareness about “Spiti”,tucked away in the remote Trans-Himalayan zone was very limited. Also this was my first encounter in person to a place which I could categorize as “surreal”. No matter how many pictures
and images I would have gone through earlier,of places with ice capped
mountains at the backdrop …"Experiencing in person is only magical" !
This was a photography tour with Bangalore based “Darter Photography ” - and I highly recommend this tour.
Our tour started at Manali – via Rohtang Pass to Lahaul and eventually we moved to Spiti.
Lahaul and Spiti are high altitude remote valleys having distinct characteristics in terms of vegetation and visuals . It would require several posts to cover the entire tour, so here is a brief gilmpse of the visit to Chandratal Lake during the tour .
Spiti means the middle land
- rightly so as it is nestled between the Tibetan border and Himachal and thus you can imagine how
remotely it is located.
We had camped at a site close to the lake – must be at around
14000 ft, since the lake is situated at
an altitude above 14000 ft . Living in
Mumbai at sea-level and transporting
myself at this altitude in itself was quite exhilarating and should I mention
Tough!
After a certain point where the vehicles were parked, one has to walk it up till the lake. Negotiating the inclined path surrounded by these giant rocks around, clouds playing their shadow games over us, severe high altitude wind blowing through our bones, we trying to get every possible angle
into the frame and huffing and puffing I began to doubt sadly
though, no matter how beautiful these regions are, perhaps these journeys are not meant for me .
I was too fatigued to take the next step and was considering to go back to the
camp. A part of me wanted to see what lies ahead and a part of me was only
wishing to be back in the comforts. I
stood at a point to rest momentarily to be able to negotiate the last lap of the challenge and what I saw from the distance gave me a sense of ineffable joy !
It was indeed worth every step I took for the trip
right from day one.
When one is so close to pristine beauty, which is neither
easily accessible nor doable throughout the year, you feel humbled and grateful for
the chance and opportunity granted to
you to be right there.
Over the next few years I have come to realise,treks to places of incredible beauty and tough ordeals are actually addictive. In spite of all the arduous involvements and the promises I make to myself that this is the last one, at the end I would look forward to many such destinations for the sheer joy and contentment of being there,the journey and seeing it all in real .
Over the next few years I have come to realise,treks to places of incredible beauty and tough ordeals are actually addictive. In spite of all the arduous involvements and the promises I make to myself that this is the last one, at the end I would look forward to many such destinations for the sheer joy and contentment of being there,the journey and seeing it all in real .