AT HOME IN SPITI

AMIDST SPITI'S TOWERING PEAKS AND BARREN LANDSCAPES, THESE HUMBLE ABODES SERVE AS BRIDGES BETWEEN CULTURES, FOSTERING MEANINGFUL INTERACTIONS AND UNFORGETTABLE EXPERIENCES

- ASHISH KOTHARI, SHRISHTEE BAJPAI

AT MINUS FIVE DEGREES, WE STEPPED out to look for snow leopards. It had been snowing for the last few days—the paths and fields were covered in two feet of snow. It was quite a workout for our legs, and at an altitude of 4,200 metres, for our lungs. We were in Spiti, a term meaning "middle land," a trans-Himalayan landscape between Tibet and the rest of India. Our guide was Tanzin Thinley, a homestay owner and a worker with the Nature Conservation Foundation—he had promised to show us the iconic cat, a promise we fervently hoped was fulfilled, for, otherwise, he had resolved to go on fast.

Spiti, part of Himachal Pradesh, has a cold desert ecosystem, with most of its precipitation coming down as snow. Its landscape is jagged, hilly, and treacherous, with broad, cultivable valleys in some parts. Its unique biodiversity includes snow leopards, ibex, blue sheep, red foxes, and several bird and plant species adapted to the cold.

COMBINING NATURE AND CULTURE

As we walked and half-slipped down a slope, we were already nostalgic about the warmth of the home we had just left behind. It was the Thinley Home Stay in the village of Kibber, one of the last villages on the traditional trade route to Ladakh and Tibet. While walking, Thinley mentioned that about 15 years ago, Kibber initiated homestays to combine nature and culture as a tourist experience.