Langza Village in Spiti
- Peyali
- Jul 24, 2016
- 5 min read
Few years back I had read a novel named ‘Kim’ by Rudyard Kipling where it was mentioned Spiti as a “world within a world” and “a place where god lives”. Such a prophecy created an urge inside me to visit the place at least once in my whole lifetime. So expecting to gather a life-changing experience I made my mind for Himachal. It was early days of June when I with my three friends including our driver Pandit ji made our course to Shimla. I halted one night at Shimla and then the next morning I started for Kalpa.
Kalpa is a small town in the Sutlej river valley in the Kinnaur district of Himachal Pradesh. Without wasting much time I took a quick overview of the town. This town is popular for Kinnauri ( the beautiful girls of Kinnaur) , apple orchids and is surrounded almost by stately Deodars. The view of the mountain peaks are fantastic in Kalpa, for it can easily captivate any observer. I was mesmerized by the spectacular view of the rising sun which touches the mountain peak spreading scarlet and golden light. Spending a full day in the bed of nature within the lap of mountain is worth cherishing.
Kaza was the next hill station on the list. I departed for Kaza sharp at 6:00am in the morning. It is 210 km from Kalpa and 47 km from Tabo. The headquarters of Spiti sub-district, Kaza lies in the bank of river Spiti. It is overlooked by high mountain ridges on all side. Driving down the roads of Kaza, it displays a serpentine structure which is indeed very interesting. Moreover, Kaza is considered among the coldest place in India. Kaza is followed by the confluence of Sutlej and Spiti rivers at the village of Khab at NH 22. From here starts the flow of Spiti river. It is as if the river has become our companion. The more I was moving forward, the more I could see that the scattered green of the mountains slowly getting dissolved into a brown, barren beauty which soothes my mind to the extent that I even forgive Pandit ji for cracking the most foolish jokes in the car at 8am. However, the barren land stretched a long way. I found people and plantation to be quite rare, most of it is long, stretched barren land.
At big intervals I could see some little patches of greenery and paddy field followed by small villages with small houses built with Tibetan architecture, it was so nostalgic that it made me murmur few lines from Annie’s song ‘Like the mountain in springtime’. The fusion of mountains and villages delineates the true flavor of Lahaul-Spiti.
I reached Kaza at around 7:00 pm. Kaza is on the Tibetan plateau and one can get the feel of Tibet and Ladakh moving around the area.
I was so carried away with the beautification of the nature that I was not even feeling tired rather I was feeling refreshed enough. The golden orange hue of sunlight was still glimmering, its being in the western part of India sunlight stays for quite a long time. Night at Spiti valley is as beautiful as the day. I literally enjoyed the mystic darkness of the valley.
My next destination was Langza-Komik and Hikim. Immediately next day I started for Langza, proceeding from Kaza towards Rangrik , the road branches to right and climbs up towards Komik via Langza. From Kaza it is only 15km to Langza with a height of 4400m. The total road way covers the flow of Spiti river at its parallel including small villages at places far or near. Langza village is a village in Spiti Tehsil in Lahaul and Spiti district of Himachal Pradesh, India. It is a beautiful village, well organized with a giant statue of Buddha (20-25ft). The statue is like an emblem of Langza, it stands as the guardian of the village. Langza is basically divided into two parts- Langza Yongma ( lower) and Langza Gongma ( upper) . Very less number of people resides at Langza . It carries maximum population of about 130- 140 in around 33 houses. The main road of the village loops around the monastery and joins Kaza. Another parallel road touches Komic and Hikim. There is a deep canyon of Sheila river which separates the village from Tasigang and Kibber and hence there is no road transport. After having a lifetime experience with an Indian village Langza my next destination was Komic.
Komic is 11km from Langza and almost 26 km from Kaza. It is situated at the elevation of 4513m. Perhaps Komic is highest village in Asia and Komic monastery is one of the highest in world with an elevation of 4587m. The literal meaning of Komic is eye of snow cock ( ‘ko’-snow cock , ‘Mic’- eye), anybody will fall in love with such a place. Komic deals with a population of approx 114 people with almost 45 houses. One of the world’s highest monasteries called ‘’Komic Lundup Chhemo” (4587 m) is situated in this village and belongs to Sakyapa sect of Tibetan Buddhism. ‘Ku-Bum cave’ is also one of the place one must visit at Komic. I had also seen ruins of old sakyapa monastery. At a short distance I had spotted Chukar Partridge, got excited and curious at the same time wondering about what other animals could be present.
However, the surveys says that there is variety of flora and fauna found in Langza-Komic.
Flora: Dactylormiza Hatagirea, Cirsum falconeri, Lindelofia stylosa, Allium Oreoprasum, Lonicera Spinosa, Allium Carolinianus, Astragalus Grahamianum, Aster Flaccidus, Aconitum Rodumi Folium.
Fauna: Snow leopard, Tibetan wolf, Red fox, Blue sheep, hare, Snow cock, Himalayan Griffin, Yellow bill chough, rock pigeon, House sparrow, Common raven, horned Lark.
The main occupation of the people of Komic is farming. Farmers mostly cultivate potatoes and pea fields. The hovering green and yellow pea fields leaves out a blissful effect, I was like in trans while I walk in the midst of the fields. It was so very beautiful. Surrounding hills were once habitat of highly elusive Leopards. But this time we had seen cattle grazing all around. At the backdrop there can be seen snow clapped peaks, everywhere it was like a white hue, it was giving a feel as if we are floating in the sky. Suddenly the Earth goes dark with heavy clouds and it started to snowfall. One of the best enjoyed moment in my life by far. Komic is more of a hamlet than settlement and it left us admiring an interminable beauty.
Gathering so much from Komic, we slowly climbed down the hill to Hikkim which is nearly 5 km. Then we are finally back to Kaza. Getting back to Kaza I found it to be a quintessential nature trip with every small delicacies nature can shower on us. Hence Langza- Komic is a must visit place for a travel lover.
INFO
When to visit: June – September, May extended to October.
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