Travel Shop

Discover India

Hot Spots

Hill Stations

Holy Places

Around the World

Contact Us

Bharatpur

Jeep Safari in Lahaul  & Trek Chandrataal

Our itenerary spanning eight days started from Delhi and we were in Shimla on the second day of tour. From there we headed for Rampur from where the real trip would start. Since it has been three years since the tour, I do not remember the details, but I still want to share the happiness we could get in those eight days. Anyone who wants to feel the rustic & dry mountains go to Mansarovar, or Laddakh or Lahaul-Spiti. 

Back to the tour, we stayed overnight at Rampur and next morning we hired a taxi (Maruti Omni) from Rampur for all the way to Kaza (aroung 200 kms away) - the capital of Lahaul-Spiti. Don't worry, the geep takes over after we reach Kaza. So, the next day of travel up to Reotang-peoh gave us mostly full green valleys, freindly mountains, water falls crossing beneath the road, and some wildlife like goats, monkeys, reptiles, etc. The camera I was carrying was an old manual 50mm/f2.8 WERA (East German). Mind you it was not an SLR. So I had to judge the distance every time for taking a sharp picture.

On the way to Reotang-peoh, we visited remote villages to see the life there. It is indeed tough but simple & serene. One village called Naka we came across was beautifully decorated with flags all over which are meant to spread good and do away with evil (Buddhism). It was at 4000 metres above sea level. This was probably the last naturally green village on our way. The picture on right shows that village. This was day three and we reached Reotang-peoh same night at around 11 pm. The next morning we set out to see the magestic Kinnar-Kailash peak in the morning sun.
 
We started for Kaza on day four and only now could I feel for the first time why Himalayas have been the favourite place for meditation. The massive mountains standing silently as if watching you and blessing you as you stand at their feet and look up trying to see where they meet the sky. When you sit alone in the night and just don't "think" anything but only "feel " the air, the sound of silence, the presence of these mountains all around you, the thousands of starts above, you get that strange feeling of hollowness as if you came to know of yourself and realize the your existence in this universe. It is a feeling difficult to explain but easy to experience once you go there. 

The trip to Kaza was full of dry mountains made of loose soil and gravel. The Spiti valley is extremely wide with a thin stream - the Spiti river flowing in the middle. There are patches of vegetation like wheat fields around villages near the river. The mountans are dry and the composition is so loose that we saw small stones or gravel roll down the slope on many occasions. Many hills look more like huge termite mounds. Infact that is way it is not recommended to drive at night in these roads. But our driver Sher Singh was a brave heart and because of him we kept going in the night and reached Kaza at 4200 metres altitude, at around 10 pm. He had to drive carefully and we kept looking with torch above in the slopes for any loose soil or stones rolling down on us. We infact had two narrow escapes though the stones were not bigger than 10cm dia.
 
After Reotang-peoh, we hardly moved on metalled road. We had to stop for over an hour as a truck was trapped in a land slide ahead of us. I am giving account of these incidents to make you prepared for the kind of situations you fall into. Remember there is no petrol pump or repair shop between Reotang-peoh and Tabo, some 40km before Kaza. There were no tourists seen except for the four of us till now although we caught up with four more from some foreign country in Tabo.
  All along the way, we found Buddhist flags spreading mantras in air and also temple shrine like structures which are regarded as protectors of passers-by and the driver made it sure that he did not drive past it from the right because it was considered ominous. Our travel speed was slow as we stopped every where to take snaps or rest or go off the track to see some interesting places closely. We also stopped at the Tabo Monastry at Tabo. We reached Kaza the same night and took refuge in perhaps the only hotel (well sort of) in town. The rooms were dirty and the blankets were sticky. After taking food in local restaurant (actually we told the cook to preare maggi noodles that we were carrying, as the there was no proper food available at that time in the night) , we went to sleep at around 12 midnight. The town Kaza is not a very friendly place at night. We were told by the driver that people can be offensive after they are drunk in the night. So don't take it as just another picnic destination.

The driver was very skillful as he had dared to take us to such remote place in Omni (small van)- not the best vehicle for such terrain. But After Kaza, the van had to be writen off as it was absolutely impossible for a van to go ahead on the tough terrain and steep and dangerous slopes to Manali through Kunjum Pass and Rohtang Pass. So next morning we hired a Miruti Gypsy four-wheel drive geep for Rs. 4,500/- to Manali.

Before going to Chandrataal on day five, we took off to Ki Monstry and Kibber Village some 20 km ahead of Kaza town. Is is a spectacular monastry (see left picture) at 4200 m above sea level which looks impossible to build. The acces road itself is so steep that we preferred to go on foot. Inside the monastry, we had food - SATTU and roasted wheat bread with tea attended the prayers. There we met a French teacher who had come all alone to this remote place in search of peace and also to study monastry life and buddhism. He told us that he started from Dharamshala and would go to Manali trekking all alone. Well, that made us feel so weak and frivolous.

At around 9 am we finally started for Kunjum-Pass, our starting point for trek to Chandrataal. We were in a hurry as we wanted to reach Manali by same night so that we could join our offices in time. In this hurry we made a fatal mistake. We didnot take any snacks or food for the trek. After breakfast we set out for the most enchanting last leg of our trip.
 

The way was all rough, with un-ending twists and turns, steep slopes and continous cold dusty wind over us. The scenic beauty was mesmerising but we had frequest moments of anxiety whenever a narrow steep curvy climb was being negotiated. There was no life all round. At around 12 noon we started for our trek to Chandrataal. There are two ways - take the longer, easier and established route or take the shortcut which goes up into the mountains and saves two kms. 

We assumed that 9 kms of trek was not tough job and set out on the tougher shorter route. The early part was fun as we walked on snow and we came so close to peaks. We could actually see those snow covered mountains right from their roots. But only after half the way we started to feel the exhaustion due to altitude and inexperience. At times, we were as high as 4300 m on the way to Chandrataal which itself is at 4200 m above sea.

Our inexperience showed as we felt tired and had no food to givet us energy. Those 9 kms looked like never ending distance. The funny part was almost all along our way, we could see the lake down there but it took a hell lot of time to reach it. When we had the first sight of Chandrataal I was a little frightened . It was so lonely & misterious. We rested at Chandrataal for only an hour and again started back to Kunjum Pass. Chandrataal is a lake around two sq. kms. and it is frozen in winters. I believe camping at night would have been absolutely incredible. But at that moment we were faced with a grimmer situation. No one was willing to climb back the same route to reack Kunjum Pass, and despite searching, we could not find the way out to the established trek. Panic struck all of us as we knew with no food we could be in trouble. 

We had noticed a stream ahead of us at Kunjum Pass and we had to cross it over a bridge to go to Manali. So we decided to take the stream coming out from the lake, as it would definitely take us to lower place or to the same stream we had seen back at Kunjum Pass.

So we started moving, feeling tired and anxious. It took more than an hour to reach the main stream. The trek was real slow as we were on a rough track full of boulders. That was it - we betted - and moved downstream. After moving on pebbles and round stones along the river bank we spotted a foot path. That must have been the established trekking route to Chandrataal. So we trekked on that for more than two hours, stopping for a while and againg mustering strength to start again. Two of us went ahead to look for the Geep, while myself and Ravi followed. I was carrying the only backpack we had taken to Chandrataal. Although tt was around ten kilos , it felt much heavier. At around 7 pm I saw a torch waving at us. We had made it to the base. Later we were told that the established trek met Chandrataal on the opposite bank around a mountain, were we could not search.
 
We then had food at a small village called Batal near Kunjum Pass. I was feeling like I would not live. I simply fainted in the geep and didnot have any idea where we were heading to. Hey, but don't think I am weak, it was because of lack of food. We were such IDIOTS! The last adventure was yet to come. At Rohtang Pass at around 1 am a truck got stuck in the mud. The road to Manali on this route was opened just one day back and therefore the road was muddy and slippery. So the road was blocked and we had to stay up there till the morning for help to come. We slept in the geep in the middle of Rohtang Pass with over 15 feet of snow walls on both sides. Next morning the road cleared and we reached Manali at around 8am from where we boarded the bus to Delhi.

That was my most memorable trip and I want more people to experience Chandrataal.

This is only for the edventure seeking people willing to shell out around 7,000/- per head (including photos).

Photograph and Content Courtesy Mr.  Mr.Akash Dutta