Interactive Map by EcoSphere
Spiti Valley is a desert mountain valley hidden away in the Trans-Himalayan belt of Himachal Pradesh. This Himalayan mountain region borders Tibet and the Ladakh region of India. This relatively ‘unknown world’ is one of the least populated regions of India and is a home to a purely homogenous Buddhist society of about 10,000 people who share similarities with their neighbors in Tibet & Ladakh.
At an average altitude of 3600 meters (about 11,800 feet), this high mountainous landscape is home to diverse flora, wildlife and geological history. The alpine region contains some 450 species of rare and endangered ‘Medicinal & Aromatic Plants’ including Seabuckthorn, Hatagirea, Aconitum and Artemisia. Within the Spiti region, the Pin Valley National Park is well-known for the presence of the Siberian Ibex (Capra ibex sibirica), Snow Leopard (Panthera uncia), Himalayan Griffon (Gyps himalayensis), Golden eagle (Aquia chryaetos) and other wildlife species. Found in Spiti Valley, the Himalayan Wolf is the oldest surviving species of wolves in the world.
The geological history of Spiti Valley dates back 500 million years with a remarkable plethora of Precambrian/Cambrian era fossils. A recent study by the Geological Society of America shows that Spiti contains various marine fossils such as the Trilobites. These Paleozoic Era fossils represent some of the earliest legged creatures, relatives of crabs, centipedes and spiders.
