A
TRANS HIMALAYAN WILDERNESS SAFARI
Duration - 21 Night / 22 Days
Day 01 Depart
home for New Delhi.
Day 02 Arrive
New Delhi. Upon arrival, you will be met by our representative
and transferred to hotel Park in the heart of New Delhi (30
minutes). Relax or visit Connaught Place to take in the sights
and sounds. Overnight at hotel.
Day 03 After
an early breakfast, transfer to Shimla (2200 meters) in
comfortable cars/coach (380 kms; 6 hrs). Arrive by breakfast
at Shimla. Full day to relax, explore the old British summer
capital and take in the sights and sounds of India. Overnight
at hotel.
 Day 04 After
breakfast, we get into our 4 wheel drive jeeps and begin our
Trans-Himalayan sojourn. The road climbs to Narkanda (2750
meters) before descending to the valley of the Sutlej, one of
India's major rivers, with its source at the holy lake of
Mansarovar. After a hearty lunch at Rampur (900 meters), we
bifurcate off the main highway for an hours drive to Sarahan,
famous for the Bhimakali temple which witnessed human
sacrifices hundred's of years ago. Explore the temple in the
evening. Overnight camp/rest house.
Day 05 Leave
Sarahan after breakfast to descend to the Sutlej valley and
drive along a beautiful rugged gorge to Kalpa (2800 meters),
which offers breathtaking views of the Kinner Kailash range.
After lunch we proceed to Jhangi (2600 meters), the first
checkpoint for the inner line permits. Camp overnight.
Day 06 Jhangi
- Kanum - Moorang - Jhangi. Camp. Today, we visit the villages
of Moorang (10kmsby car ; walk 30 mins to the monastery;
2500metres) and Kanum (17kms by car; 2750 meters) which are
off the main circuit and return to Jhangi campsite by teatime.
Day 07 Jhangi
- Nako - Chango. Camp. We proceed to the confluence of the
Sutlej river with the Spiti river at Khab. The road here is
cut out of the mountainside here. We visit the old gompa and
lake at village Nako (3625 meters), 7 kms off the highway
before proceeding to Chango (3100 meters) to make camp for the
night.
Day 08 Chango-Tabo
(3280 meters) -Schichilling (3400 meters). Camp. We continue
to Tabo, a monastery 1004 years old. In 1996, the Tabo
monastery celebrat ed
its thousand years with a Kalachakra ceremony, which was
presided by His Holiness the Dalai Lama. We spend the day
exploring the numerous temples at the monastery and the old
mud caves which were used by monks to live in ancient times,
before continuing to Schichilling village to make camp for the
next two days.
Day 09 Schichilling-Dhankar
(3700 meters)-Lalung (3680 meters) - Schichilling. Camp.
Dhankar used to be the erstwhile capital of Spiti where the
king used to reside. Today, his palace is a nunnery. We also
visit another gompa, Lalung which boasts of some very old
"tankhas" and Buddhist artifacts. Return to base
camp by teatime.
Day 10 Schichilling-Kungri
(3700 meters) -Shego / Rangrik (3550 meters). Camp. Today, we
drive into the Pin valley, along the Pin river which is the
largest tributary of the Spiti River, home to the snow leopard
and the Nyingmapa sect of Buddhism at the Kungri gompa. Back
in camp by teatime.
Day 11 Shego/Rangrik.
Kaza visit and back to Shego/Rangrik. Camp. Today, we visit
the district headquarters of Spiti at Kaza, its market,
environs and shops. A fairly relaxed day at camp.
Day 12 Shego/Rangrik-Langza
(4300 meters) -Hikkim-(4360 meters) Komic (4400 meters) -Kaza
-Shego/Rangrik. Camp. Today, we drive upto Langza village and
beyond to Hikkim and Comic. We return by foot (2-3 hrs) to
Kaza from Comic village. This area is known for breeding the
finest Spiti horses, which are traded for the valuable
Pashmina wool with the Changpa nomads of Ladakh. At Kaza, we
are met by the jeeps for the drive back to Camp.
Day 13 Shego/Rangrik
- Kye (3750 meters) - Kibber (4120 meters) -Shego/Rangrik.
Camp. Today, we visit the largest monastery in Spiti at Kye
and travel beyond to Kibber village, the roadhead for the trek
to Ladakh for the trade in Spiti horses. We spend a day
watching local life at work before returning to Camp.
Day 14 Shego/Rangrik
-  Pangmo
(3875 meters) - Losar (4079 meters) -Takcha. Camp. We drive on
up the Spiti valley to visit the nunnery at Pangmo and proceed
to Losar village, the last village in Spiti. The drive is
spectacular with mud towers rising hundreds of feet out of the
valley floor. We make camp a few kilometers outside the
village on a meadow at Takcha.
Day 15 Rest
day at Takcha. Visit Losar. Camp.
Day 16 Takcha-Kunzum
la (4507 meters) - Chattru. Camp. We climb upto the Kunzum
pass, which offers great views of the Chandrabhaga range of
mountains. We descend into the Lahaul valley and travel down
the Chandra river valley to camp at Chattru. The road is mad
out of the riverbed with lots of mountain streams flowing
across the road.
Day 17 Chattru-Hotel
in Manali. After breakfast, we begin the climb to the Rohtang
pass and descend into the green Kullu valley till Manali town.
Arrive by lunchtime at our hotel. Explore Manali town, its
mall and the Hadimba temple. Overnight Manali.
Day 18 Drive
Manali-Chandigarh (7 hrs). Today, we drive down the valley of
the Beas River past towns like Kullu, Mandi, and Bilaspur and
the plains of Punjab to Chandigarh. Check into Hotel Mountview.
Day 19 Chandigarh
- Delhi (4 hrs). Quick drive back to the hotel at Delhi. Day
free to relax and shop.
Day 20 This
morning we drive (3hrs) or board the train to Agra to visit
the Taj Mahal. Back to Delhi by late night. Overnight at the
Park.
Day 21 Sightseeing
in Delhi to visit the Red Fort, Old Delhi and the Qutub Minar.
Evening transfer to the airport for the flight home.
Day 22 Arrive
home.
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