A memorable journey to Kinnaur's hinterlands. Review on Sangla

Well guys my trip to Sangla was done in September 2009 during the Dussehra/puja break. Well I started writing the review in a notepad and before I could upload, it the usual happened!. My hard disk crashed and I lost everything along with the review.

So, here I am again writing the review and trying to remember the details.

Sangla is small sleepy town in the Kinnaur region of Himachal Pradesh. It is one of the remotest areas on the Indo-Tibetian border. It is situated on the banks of River Baspa. Baspa is tributary of The mighty Satluj

First things first. How to get there: Sangla is appx 632 KMs from the Delhi-NCR region, depending upon where you live in Delhi-NCR. Narkanda is 468 KM while Sangla is further 178 KMs from Narkanda Well we clocked around 1350 KMs during this journey.

The Route is as follows:

Delhi-Panipat-Ambala-Zirakpur-Panchukala-Pinjore-Kalka-Parwano-Solan-Shimla-Nar
kanda-Rampur-Wangtu-Karcham-Sangla.

The other details of the journey are as follows:

Number of travellers: 2 Male

Vehicle: Maruti Swift Vxi

Camera: Nikon FM10

The planned iternary was as follows:(You know the events rarely go as per plan)

19/09/2009 Day 1: Delhi-NCR to Narkanda(468 KM) with stop over for food. Night stay at Narkanda. Nothing exciting except the steep climb and zig zag roads. Of course if you add traffic jam at Pinjore/Kalka, a land slide near kufri and a big dent on my car!

20/09/2009 Day 2: Went for sight seeing at Narkanda. The Haitu Peak, One resort on the banks of a small pond. Haitu Peak is at the height of 3400 m and has a temple of Kali mata. Narkanda to Sangla is 178 KM via Thandar through the rural himachal and apple gardens. The roads are good but very narrow. The climb starts after Rampur and the fun starts with steep cliffs on on side and dangling rocks on the road.  After crossing the bridge at Karcham, took the right turn to Sangla(on the left is Kalpa). The climb is steep and road is of poor quality. At many places it has been washed away due to land slides. Also construction work on hydro projects is going on in the area.

Reach Sangla before sunset and booked into the hotel: Cider and Snow view. It is situated on a steep hill. The angle of the road(rather the path, there is no road just sand and stones) leading to the hotel is appx 45 degrees. Didn't dared to take Swift on that road, after watching a Indica struggling to climb. Took an alternate path via a Police Post.

21/09/2009 Day 3: Walked to the fort in the morning. It is a steep climb. The main fort and temple is closed for general public as only the priests and members of the royal family are allowed.

Then drove to Chitkul, the last civilian town of India. It is 24 KM from sangla. The drive on the banks of Baspa is good and seems to be just out of some car racing game. There are many water springs on the road. There is a camping site and a ITBP Camp enroute

Nagasthi is a ITBP post 2 km from Chitkul. One has to walk to reach there. You can't go till the post as the area is out of bounds for the outsiders like me.( I am citizen of India by birth). The trek is on the banks of Baspa and a good test of stamina.

In evening went to the Trout Farm after passing through the Sangla Village.From the highway you climb down to the village, cross a bridge over Baspa and then again climb up a steep path. Another foot bridge over Baspa was badly twisted by recent floods. The intensity of the water can be gauged by the condition of this concrete bridge. As it had got dark, so could not take pictures as I was carrying my flash gun. The fish in the trout farm had been washed away by the floods and only breeders were left.

The return trek from the trout farm was adventurous. We took a steep path that had no lighting. It was a 60 degree climb in pitch darkness. We kept slipping now and then but managed to reach the highway, un-damaged.

22/09/2009 Day 4: Reached Kalpa and went out for local sight seeing. Kalpa a Bong reserve town and very difficult to find accommodation if you are a non bengali. Nothing much to see in Kalpa but a good town if you want to spent some time away from hustle and bustle.

Day 4 23/09/2009: Left for home on a 632 KM journey. The plan went hay ware near Karcham due to landslide. Shimla was engulfed in dark clouds. Adding height to delight was the Jam on NH1 near Panipat. Finally managed to reach home after 22 hours.