The mountains, hidden fields and starry night… a place for all – Kibber

After spending 3 days in Kaza, our journey towards Kibber started with a change in our plan to stay over in Kibber overnight. Kibber is one of the important villages in the Spiti Valley. At a height of 14,200 ft, it is one of the highest motorable village following Komic (15049 ft) and Hikkim (14,400 ft). The village looks like any other village in the valley, but unlike others, the houses here are made of stones and not mud. There are couple of homestays available in this region and 2 restaurants where travelers can enjoy their meal at this altitude.

About Kibber

Kibber has around 80 houses and the entire population is around 400, which makes it considerably big compared to others. Also to add on, Kibber has its very own wildlife sanctuary which is the natural habitat of snow leopard, blue sheep, ibex and other endangered species. The sanctuary is home for many medicinal plants extensively in use in this area as it is difficult for locals to visit nearby cities often for treatment. Kibber also serves as the base for the Kanamo peak trek and Parang La.

Searching the home stay

After visiting Kye (Also spelt as Key, Ki, Kee) monastery, we headed further north to reach Kibber. As per plan, we were to stay in a newly constructed homestay and apparently, we were to be their first guest. This village has lovely green fields but, it was little difficult to locate the home stay. After asking few locals we found the exact place and to our surprise the place was locked. We had to wait for the host/owner to come back knowing there was no other way to connect with them as the area does not have mobile networks.

For next few hours, we opted to look around in the village. The calm village looked mysterious in the afternoon when the villagers were in their field. The notorious kids running around, exchanged the curious look. We also crossed by some trekkers who were acclimatizing before they could start their Kanamo trek. Finally, after waiting for 2 hours, we saw a man walking down to the house and we smiled.

Julley

We were greeted with “Julley” as we entered the premises. The place was simple, yet cozy. It was tranquil and beautiful. What caught our senses was the floors with fresh dung and the smell made it earthy. We went down to the lower part of the house where the owner stays with his wife, daughter and two grandchildren. The family was courteous in welcoming us to their house. And then we had the best time of the day exchanging ideas and experiences of each other’s life.

Slowly the kids too became comfortable with us. We all sat together around the tandoor and conversed sipping hot cup of tea. They told us about their difficulties and how they survive in the winters. The temperature drops down to minus 17 degrees Celsius. The stories of snow leopard entering village to people walking for miles towards Kaza to get treatment during winters. All these make us rethink that our complaints towards life doesn’t hold any importance. The people in Spiti are blessed with courage, tolerance, respect, will power and endurance. They still are contended with every little thing.

Milky Way

As we looked out from the window, it was dark outside and we could hear the bell of the Kibber Monastery. Every house sends a son from the family to become a monk. My partner being a star lover, we wanted to stargaze through the milky way and we went up to terrace. Oh man! the best view of my life lay just above us. The presence of millions of stars twinkling above us. And, the view of red brown milky way took our breath away.

I could never thank my eyes enough to give me this experience. We lied down on the terrace with the cold wind piercing through us. Suddenly I realized, how blessed people are at these remote areas that they get to live in the nature at its best. I was knowing that this is a life changing experience for me and I suddenly see myself wanting to withdraw from my actual routine life. We retired the day with the simplest, yet the best dinner with the family at their house. The stars outside the window kept me awake the whole night, with a thought of not losing this even for a moment.

All ends well

Next morning started early as we were to travel towards Losar. The lady greeted us with tea made with fresh goat’s milk. Thanking the family and hugging the kids goodbye, we departed from Kibber.