“What country is that?”, “Is it near Haiti?”; are amongst the more bizarre of the responses I have had thrown at me when I have recounted my trip to Spiti Valley. Raised eyebrows, bewildered expressions and a lost look on the faces are what I have deduced to be normal reactions. Quite ironically, those were the same expressions I had on my face when I visited the extravagantly beautiful valley of Spiti. The only difference - mine stemmed from a place of astonished, unbelieving awe.

Nestled in the north-eastern corner of the state of Himachal Pradesh, in the district of Lahaul and Spiti; Spiti Valley is very much in India and nowhere close to Haiti. It borders Tibet to the East and Ladakh (Jammu & Kashmir) in the North. To the West and south are districts of Himachal Pradesh - Chamba and Kullu in the West and Kinnaur to the South. In essence, the valley of Spiti is a continuation of the Tibetan Plateau and similar in topography, landscape and culture to the Ladakh region of India and the Tibet Autonomous Region. Historically the area has been a border area and the name in Tibetan means exactly that - ‘the middle land’ between India and Tibet. Another theory is that the original word isPiti which means ‘the middle land’ and is also the name of the river that flows through the region; making Spiti (sa + piti)the country of the Piti River.

The region in early times was ruled by the Sen kings. It’s fortunes declined during the reign of Chet Sen in the 7th century and it was annexed by the kingdom of Ladakh. In the 10th century, the kingdom was given to one of the three sons of the king of Ladakh and since then, the fate of the region has been inextricably linked with Ladakh. During the reign of the Ladakhis, local rulers called Nono’s - a hereditary post - were in charge of day to day administration. 1846, the region of Spiti was brought under the control of the East India Company and that joined its lot with the rest of India. After independence Lahaul and Spiti remained separate districts till 1960 at which point they were combined with Keylong in Lahaul being made the present administrative centre.  

 It is quite hard to fathom the moods of the planet when mere kilometres from the dense forests of Himachal, the earth turns arid without warning or prelude. Much in the same manner like the transformation from the bountiful land of Srinagar to the desert of Ladakh after crossing the Zoji-La pass in Kashmir. Perhaps it is the relatively easy accessibility of Ladakh through Srinagar and the airport at Leh that has contributed to the fog of unawareness that clouds the rain shadow region of Spiti. There can be no other logical reason as to why the place is not popular amongst tourists. That and the fact that getting to the valley of Spiti offers just as much excitement and adventure as the valley itself.