Hidden Gems of Spiti Valley | DoW Mega Meet 2014

After a massive success of our DoW Mega Meet in Ladakh in September 2013 in order to materialize the vision of DwD Community for promoting Responsible Travel and DoW Causes up in remote Himalayas, it gives me an immense pleasure to announce the DoW Mega Meet 2014 which will be held from 12th to 21st September 2014 in Spiti Valley this year If interested, you can check the complete detailed Travel Tale of last year’s DoW Mega Meet in Ladakh starting from the link (currently running): Prologue, Itinerary & Road Updates | Ladakh Mega Meet

The Prologue

Somewhere deep inside my heart still remains the sights of our last year’s DoW Mega Meet in Ladakh where I cannot thank enough to everyone who joined in and participated in bringing loads of smiles over such remote places of Himalayas through DoW Causes. Having same enthusiastic feelings and vision to bring smiles to Himalayan lives while we travel there, we will be undertaking DoW Mega Meet 2014 but this time in Spiti Valley, known as “The Middle Land”…

Like I said before, here at DoW, I always follow my heart as a traveller and see what luck & mother nature has planned for the success of any of my tour including this ambitious and adventure Tour to Spiti Valley!! So, coming fall or autumn in September 2014, again, are you ready:

to spin over the barren landscapes,
to unwind through the lush green valleys,
to fly with the wind at some of the highest villages of trans – Himalayas,
to get lost in one of the remotest yet magical places in trans – Himalayas,
to bring smiles on the faces of Himalayan Lives through DoW Causes,
to care about and travel responsibly in Himalayas,
to witness the burning colours in their most beautiful form,
to witness the beauty of Moon Lake – Chandratal,
to witness the chill on few of the most isolated stretches,
to experience the real feel of camping in lap of mother nature,
to experience a journey, like never before,
to explore some hidden gems of this Middle Land, called Spiti Valley,,
and finally, to explore THE unexplored !!

Are You Ready for DoW Spiti Valley Adventure? If yes, then get going and read on… If not, then also get going and read on, who knows you are there right amongst the group 😀

Are you ready for the drive to explore Hidden Gems of Spiti Valley??

DoW Spiti Valley Mega Meet 2014 – Tour Plan

You can find all the details for this DoW Spiti Valley Mega Meet below including the eligibility which, as usual, seeing the nature, difficulty, season and distance to travel would mainly be HIGH ENDURANCE and POSITIVE ATTITUDE…

Here is the complete tour plan for this WILD, ON THE ROAD ADVENTURE which can be experienced LifeMeinBaarBaar 😉 …

Day 1 (12/13-09-2014) | Delhi – Shimla – Kalpa/Peo/Akpa/Ribba

We plan to leave by 6 PM on 12th evening towards Shimla – Kinnaur
We plan to halt somewhere ahead of Shimla for 3-4 Hrs and then continue to Kinnaur
People can opt to take day drive and join rest of the group early morning on 13th
Overnight at Kalpa/Peo/Akpa/Ribba
About 16-17 Hrs drive, depending upon the traffic movement and breaks in between

Day 2 (14-09-2014) | Kalpa/Peo/Akpa/Ribba – Nako Lake – Geyu Mummy – Tabo

Hit the roads by 7 AM
Cover Nako Lake and 550 year old Mummy at Geyu Village
Overnight at Tabo
About 8-9 Hrs drive, depending upon the breaks in between

Day 3 (15-09-2014) | Tabo – Dhangkar – Dhangkar Lake – Pin Valley (Mud Village)

We explore Dhangkar, hike to Lake there and then drive to Pin Valley
1st Half | Tabo – Dhangkar – Dhangkar Lake – Pin Valley
2nd Half | Pin Valley (Kungri – Sagnam – Mud – Tailing – Kuokti)
Overnight at Pin Valley
About 4-5 Hrs drive, depending upon the breaks in between

Day 4 (16-09-2014) | Pin Valley – Mane Villages / Sopona Lake

Hit the roads by 8.00 AM
Head for Mane Villages (Maneyogma and Manegogma) by little backtracking and stay either overnight at Mane Village or most likely trek to Sopona Lake
Overnight at Mane Villages / Sopona Lake
About 3-4 Hrs drive, depending upon the breaks in between
About 3-4 Hrs might be needed for the Trek to Sopona Lake as well

Day 5 (17-09-2014) | Mane / Sopona Lake – Lingti Valley – Kaza

Hit the roads/trail by 6.30 AM
1st Half | Early morning trek down from Sopona Lake, 2-3 Hrs
2nd Half | Lingti (Rama Village) – Lalung – Demul – Kaza. Subject to the fact that we stay at Sopona the previous night
Overnight at Kaza/Rangrik
About 3-4 Hrs drive, depending upon the breaks in between

Day 6 (18-09-2014) | Kaza and sightseeing around

Hit the roads by 7.00 AM
1st Half | Ki – Kibber – Gette – Tashigang
2nd Half | Langza – Hikkim – Koumik
Overnight at Kaza/Rangrik
About 5-6 Hrs drive time, depending upon the breaks

Day 7 (19-09-2014) | Kaza – Chichcham – Losar – Kunzum Pass – Chandratal

Hit the roads by 7.00 AM
Cover Chichcham Village and head over Kunzum Pass to Chandratal for camping
Overnight at Chandratal
About 5-6 Hrs drive time, depending upon the breaks

Day 8 (20-09-2014) | Chandratal – Batal – Gramphu – Rohtang Pass – Manali

Hit the roads by 8.30 AM
Travel the gruelling journey from Chandratal to Gramphu and then to Manali over Rohtang Pass
Overnight at Manali
About 9-10 Hrs drive depending on breaks taken and traffic at Rohtang Pass

Day 9 (21-09-2014) | Manali – Delhi

Hit the roads by 10.00 AM
Cruise yourself towards Sweet Home
About 12-13 Hrs of easy drive on the foothills of Himalayas

Highlights?

Apart from amazing, picturesque wide valley views of Spiti, some highlights of this Mega Meet will be Nako Lake, Sopona Lake, Dhangkar Lake and Chandratal Lake. Then, Kunzum Pass, Rohtang Pass, Ki Monastery, Tabo Monastery, 550 years old Mummy at Geyu Village, Mane Villages, Komik, Langza, Rama, Lingti Valley known for their exceptional beauty.

Sitting High and Pretty near Nako… The White Queen…

DoW Responsible Travel Initiative

For all those who will be traveling with us, it is Mandatory to support one of the DoW – Causes which are briefly described as follows:
- Carry Rs 499 of general stationary items with you to be donated to local schools or children in the remote villages of Ladakh.
- Carry Rs 499 of generic medicines with you to be donated to local dispensaries in the remote villages of Ladakh.
- Carry whatever NEW woollens you can donate to the needy people in the remote villages of Ladakh or Changpas.
Complete details of DoW – Causes can be found at the link: DoW – Causes | A Step Towards Responsible Travel
Kindly go through the link which enlists Tips for Responsible Travel in Himalayas, so that we follow them wherever possible.
Apart from that, we will be holding cleanliness drives on all four lakes we will be visiting Nako Lake, Dhangkar Lake, Sopona Lake and Chandratal Lake. We will be carrying the large plastic bags and carry out these cleanliness drives while visiting these lovely lakes in Spiti Valley.

Eligibility

You can easily see that the above tour plan has about 70-75 Hrs of drive time in 9 days which makes an average of 8 Hrs of drive time per day that is the time you will be on the road itself almost every day. This tells that the difficulty level of the trip will be somewhere in between Moderate and Tough. Hence, for being apt traveller for this tour:

[unordered_list style=”tick”]

You must be adventurous enough to take up this heavy duty road trip.
You must have high levels of endurance and low levels of fatigue.
You must have a positive outlook towards adventure & should always respect the time to hit the roads.
It is trans-Himalayas, a place where Mountain rules… So, you must always be ready for the surprises or change in plans.
If required, you must be ready to camp out or stay at moderate Guest Houses or Homestays especially when away from big towns.
I feel families looking for relaxing vacation should not pay attention to this tour as it might be little difficult.

The Loose Ends

In order to have a varied flexibility, I have kept loose ends, head and the tail. So, in case you wish to start from Shimla/Chandigarh, feel free OR in case if you wish to move to Ladakh from Chandratal instead of coming to Manali, then also feel free. In the latter case, you can move to Keylong from Chandratal or Sissu for night stay and then next day carry on with the journey towards Leh- Ladakh.

Accommodation and Cost Estimate

We plan to carry our own tents, sleeping bags and camping gear in order to stay wild and open with nature at most of the places. However, you are free to opt for any home stays, guest houses, hotels, etc.. based upon your own choice. There won’t be any pre-bookings made because plan can change dynamically in case the need arise. So, be ready for some set-backs too 🙂 …

Apart from that regarding cost estimate, I feel that you can take somewhere about Rs 700-900 per day for both Food and Stay. Hence, over 9 days, it will be somewhere around Rs 6500 – 8000 at max. Ex. Delhi we are looking for about 1800 KMs of journey, meaning if your own commute/car gives an average of 12 KMs over in Hills + Plains then you are looking for Petrol of about Rs 11000 – 12000. With 4 people in one car, it will be like Rs 4000 for the commute per person. Hence, total approx. cost by own vehicle of this trip should not exceed Rs 11000 – 12000 excluding all personal shopping aside. Bikers of course, will have less expenses on fuel, so can consider accordingly.

Taxis from Shimla are available for about Rs 3000-3200 per day, so considering 10 days including your Volvo ticket to Shimla and taxi charging you way back to Shimla from Manali, you will get a taxi for about Rs 30000 – 32000. And now considering 5 people can easily be accommodated in one taxi, you are looking for Rs 6000 – 6500 for taxi share per person. Hence, total approx. cost by tax of this trip should not exceed Rs 13000 – 15000 excluding all personal shopping aside. Based on my personal experience, these are high numbers and I am sure we will be able to make it well under these figures considering we are traveling on budget and will be taking our own camping gear. Above all, we will use our presence felt as a community so that we are offered the best prices in terms of taxi as well as lodging/stay too.

You should refer the section “How do we Travel Together over DoW Mega Meet” in the topic at DwD Community linked here, in order to understand the process we follow when we Travel together for such DoW Mega Meets or DoW Himalayan Meets and how the cost gets split between us.

Leading us to heaven…

Are you interested?

In case, you feel the RUSH in the blood, want to feel the ADVENTURE at its best, want to feel CLOSER to the nature, want to get OUT of the comfort zone, want to be a part of a journey where there is no destination rather JOURNEY itself is the DESTINATION then… Then don’t wait to register or mark your attendance at the link: DoW Mega Meet 2014 | Confirmation Tracking OR Facebook Event Page of DoW Mega Meet

Confirmations

We will use Google Forms in order to track the confirmed people (or almost confirmed with strong intent) going on this saga adventure and here is the link to it: DoW Mega Meet 2014 | Confirmation Tracking OR Facebook Event Page of DoW Mega Meet

Welcome to Spiti Valley…

Conclusion

Looking forward to hear from you all over this Mega Adventure trip with DwD Community. Based on the inputs, feedback and getting in touch with almost all of you interested in it, we will go ahead and finalize the group. For all other details including Formal Disclaimer on Traveling over this adventure trip, discussions, queries, finding travel partners, please go through the DwD Community Mega Meet thread at the link: DoW Mega Meet 2014 | Spiti Valley | 12 – 21 Sept

You can use Private Messaging feature of DwD Community in order to communicate or post on meet thread over there to get your queries resolved. We can talk over phone from there and discuss if it really suits / meets the expectations from both ends and get going from there…