Author: Pawan Ranta
Insights from SPAI Snow Leopard Population Study in Himachal Pradesh
The state has recorded a 62.7% rise in its snow leopard population since the 2021 SPAI survey.
Himachal Pradesh Home Stay Rules 2025
The picture on the first page of the Himachal Pradesh Home Stay Scheme 2008 depicts a quintessential Himachali home located by a river. On its slate stone roof, built in the traditional Kath-kuni style, corn is drying. The image also shows people harvesting grains in their fields, cascading hills, and snowy mountaintops on the horizon.…
HRTC Baggage Policy & Terms Decoded (Tips & Fee Chart)
HRTC (Himachal Road Transport Corporation) is well known for its drivers driving buses through vertiginous landscapes of Himachal Pradesh. However, a few people know that HRTC — though established in 1974 — came up with a luggage fare policy only in August 2023. Needless to say, the revenue generation of the corporation have been boosted…
Get Inner Line Permit (ILP) for Kinnaur & Spiti Valley (Step-by-Step Guide)
Inner line permit is an official travel document that allows an Indian citizen to travel to restricted/protected borders areas of India. Prior to August 2021, such areas extended from Ladakh Union Territory to Arunachal Pradesh all along the India-China border. Ladakh UT administration waved goodbye to the ILP condition for domestic tourist in August 2021. …
Snow Leopard Photo Tour in Spiti Valley (Kibber WLS)
It might strike you as both bizarre (and equally fascinating) to drive to Spiti valley and Kinnaur during wintertime. Though for solitude seekers and wildlife photographers — with a goal to unplug and get off-grid, or spot endangered (now vulnerable) snow leopards and assorted mammal and bird species in Kibber wildlife sanctuary — the snowscapes…
Baspa – A Valley Brimming with Beauty
In the western Himalayas, bordering along with Tibet and Garhwal, the Baspa valley—also called Sangla valley—of Kinnaur has been open to visitors since the early 90s. The valley got its name from the Baspa river which originates from Chung Sakhago pass and meanders for around 30 km before meeting Satluj on its left bank near…
Chaka Meadows Hike – A Trail From Kalpa
Chaka meadows are mountain meadows high above Kalpa village of Kinnaur. It is an easy hike recommended for the ones in the tireless twenties who have just started their trekking journey; or for the people in late forties—a time when knees begin to protest against the gradient, and you start appreciating the least challenging of…
