India - Chandigarh to Spiti Valley : April 2025

An unexpected trip to India provided some interesting birding opportunities, I was invited by wildlife photographer and filmmaker Daphne Wong to spend ten days in Spiti Valley in the Himalayas, mainly to (hopefully) film Snow Leopard and other wildlife in the region. Since both Hong Kong and Chinese nationals are unable to apply for a visa to India at the moment, I was handed this special opportunity to accompany her to this incredibly far corner on earth. The landscape of this area is as impressive as one can imagine, with snow capped mountains everywhere you look and deep riverine valleys and incredible gorges, landscape photographers will be overjoyed to be in such an area of exquisite beauty.

Spiti Valley lies above the foothills of the Himalayas, with an altitude of above 5,000m above sea level in some parts, it is both daunting and challenging to be venturing up to such altitudes. We of course did not went as high up as 5,000m, the highest point we reached was at Komic, the highest village connected by a motorable road, which lies at 4,587m. Altitude sickness becomes a real threat at this height, therefore we took Diamox as a precaution, which seemed to have done its job, I only felt unwell on the first and second day, and felt gradually better by the third day, although you still need to walk very slowly to avoid getting out of breath.

Overlooking Chicham Bridge; highest elevation suspension bridge in Asia

Komic - highest village in the world connected with motorable road

Spiti Valley boasts to be one of the best places on earth to see Snow Leopards, the steep riverine valleys allow for closer views of Snow Leopards here than perhaps anywhere on earth. The best season to see the elusive big cat is from January till March, however our guide Liton Paul assured us that April was still good and we should get a sighting of the “ghost cat”. Other than the legendary feline, Spiti Valley hosts a wide variety of high altitude wildlife and birds, which works well for me as a birder!

Himalayan Ibex walking in snow

Incredible scenery at Spiti Valley

Other than wildlife, the area is an important historical area for Buddhism, the various ancient monuments, such as the famous Tabo Monastery and Key Monastery, both of historical and religious importance. Our driver Lozy also showed us these ancient petroglyph and rock arts, some of these rock arts are prehistoric and likely to be a few thousands years old if not older.

Tabo Monastery

Key Monastery

Ancient Petroglyphs Rock Art

Due to the remoteness and difficulty of access to Spiti Valley, we basically had no time to spend anywhere in-between, greatly limiting the variety of birds seen. as a birder, I took every possible chance at any rest stops and toilet breaks to try and find new birds. This tactic worked well for me and I ended up with a decent list of birds and some great lifers along the way!

Chandigarh

Our journey began in the city of Chandigarh, where we spent one night there on transit from New Delhi. We only had a few hours to spend in a small park outside our hotel, I did some research but found no eBird lists for Van Chetna Park, but looking at surrounding area I believed it did have some potential.

Van Chetna Park

And I am glad I was right, as we got most of the common city birds, plus some good representatives of India avian marvels, such as the fabulous Indian Peafowl. With help from a friendly local we got to a location within the park where a lot of these incredible birds were simply strolling about.

Indian Peafowl - wonderful encounter with this familiar species

Other exciting new birds for me such as Indian Grey Hornbill, Jungle Babbler and Red-naped Ibis were all easily seen, more familiar birds such as Shikra, Red-breasted Flycatchers and Lesser Whitethroats were present, we even found a pair of confiding Spotted Owlets! We ended up with 29 species just over an hour of birding, not bad for a small urban park!

Indian Grey Hornbill

Jungle Babbler

Red-naped Ibis

Shikra

Spotted Owlet

Our driver Lozy came and picked us up at the hotel, a fairly laid back guy who did a marvellous job in navigating us through the chaotic streets of Chandigarh and into the twisty windy mountain roads towards Spiti. The conditions of the roads were not the best to say the least, with constant worries of falling rocks and landslides from one side, and a hundred meters drop on the other side! According to Lozy the road has already seen much improvements from the past, I don't even dare to imagine what it was like before!

Roads to Spiti Valley not for the faint hearted!

Enroute

At our first lunch stop I added a Steppe Eagle, which I managed some record shots. At a rest stop we looked on to a rubbish dump below a small cafe (rubbish problem in India is BAD), to my delight a good variety of birds were feeding there, including a few Streaked Laughingthrushes and Grey-winged Blackbirds, both lifers for me. There were also a bunch of supporting casts which kept us entertained.

Steppe Eagle

Streaked Laughingthrush

Grey-winged Blackbird - male

Grey-winged Blackbird - female

Grey Bushchat - female

Russet Sparrow - female

Russet Sparrow - male

Brown-flanked Bush Warbler

We went past the mountain town of Shimla and stopped for the evening at the Apple Crest Hotel. The area did not look too promising on the map, with not much forest cover and largely disturbed habitats. In the morning, I went out anyway despite having fairly low expectations. To my pleasant surprise the area was surprisingly birdy! With a good variety of species in the area, other than those I managed to photograph, I also saw Black Francolins, Kalij Pheasants and a Grey-crowned Goldfinch!

The small patch of 'good' habitat outside Apple Crest Hotel

Asian Barred Owlet

Indian White-eye

Pied Bushchat - female

Pied Bushchat - male

Common Rosefinch - male

Grey Treepie

Red-billed Blue Magpie

Rufous Sibia

Blue Whistling Thrush

Rufous-breasted Accentor

Himalayan Prinia

Himalayan Bulbul

Red-vented Bulbul

Black Bulbul - race psaroides

Slaty-headed Parakeet

We stayed at the same hotel on the way to and back from Spiti, highlights on our second attempt were Rusty-cheeked Scimitar-babbler, male Indian Paradise Flycatcher, Tytler’s Leaf Warbler, Blue-capped Rock Thrush and a brilliant pair of Himalayan Rubythroats, which was certainly a contender for bird of the trip!

Rusty-cheeked Scimitar-Babbler

Indian Paradise Flycatcher - male

Tytler's Leaf Warbler

Blue-capped Rock Thrush - male

Himalayan Rubythroat

Other great birds seen included a few Black-throated Tits of race iredalei, which is a likely future split, they look very different to our Black-throated Tit with the prominent white supercilium. A showy Indian Robin gave great views, and a few Yellow-breasted Greenfinches gave good looks. It pains me that I only had so little time to explore the forested slopes, I am sure there were tons of birds there to find if given enough time.

Black-throated Tit - race iredalei

Indian Robin - male

Yellow-breasted Greenfinch - male

Yellow-breasted Greenfinch - female

Other birds we encountered enroute were a few friendly Coal Tits by a roadside cafe, race melanolophus is perhaps the least Coal Tit looking Coat Tit there is, a highly possible split in near future. At a petrol station I found a Western Crowned Warbler, and during a toilet break I found a lovely looking male Ultramarine Flycatcher, the race superciliaris with very distinctive supercilium, there were also a lot of Rock Agamas nearby.

Coal Tit - race melanolophus

Western Crowned Warbler

Ultramarine Flycatcher - male race superciliaris

Rock Agama sp.

Spiti Valley

In order to acclimatise properly, we stayed one more evening at the village of Tabo. The homestay was fairly comfortable and still had running water (a rare commodity higher up you go in the winter months). The higher you go, the less vegetation there is, the habitat in the valley was cold desert, which consists of rocky scree slopes and small patches of well adapted prickly plants. 

Our main destination was the village of Kibber, which stands at around 4,000m above sea level. The small village is predominantly a farming village with mostly traditional mud houses. Our host Liton Paul runs his own homestay, it is a simple establishment that takes cares of your basic needs, so you can forget any luxury such as running water or flushing toilets! It is however a sanctuary in the bitterly cold weather, as temperature can drop to -16°C at night even in April, in midwinter the harsh winter cold is even more severe and traditional mud houses provides good insulation against the extreme weather.

Kibber Village

Any birds that can survive up here are well adapted to the harsh winters. Both Red-billed and Yellow-billed Choughs thrives in such conditions. Flocks of these charismatic corvids gathers around the lodge every morning, delighting us with their cheerful calls.

Red-billed Chough

Yellow-billed Chough

Black-winged Snow Finches also frequent the lodge area, taking advantage of scraps left by humans. Robin Accentors were seen on a daily basis, a cheerful little bird with a lot of character. A Rock Bunting and a Black Redstart were also seen in the area. A White Wagtail of race personata frequented the slope below our homestay.

Black-winged Snowfinch

Robin Accentor

Rock Bunting - male

Black Redstart - male

White Wagtail - race personata

Hill Pigeons often mixes in with the Rock Doves, their black and white tail are far more eye catching than their domesticated counterparts. I looked for Snow Pigeons everywhere but failed to spot any, perhaps it was already getting too warm for this species.

Hill Pigeon

Great Rosefinches were seen on a few occasions, this large finch thrives on barren areas with minimal plant cover. We also spotted Fire-fronted Serins on two occasions but they were uncooperative and did not let me get a photo. Mongolian Finches came as a bit of a surprise, according to Liton this was a rarity here.

Great Rosefinch - male

Mongolian Finch - male

Himalayan Snowcocks were heard on most days, but we only saw them twice. Not surprising given how well camouflage they can be in this rocky environment. A pair was relatively close on one occasion, but the heat haze made most of the shots unusable. Chukars are far more common here, but didn’t mean they were particularly easy to come by, we did encounter a few flocks and they gave good views from the car.

Himalayan Snowcock - male

Chukar

Himalayan Griffons were regularly sighted in around Spiti, these huge scavengers follows the stench of death, and will start to congregate near the carcass within a few hours. Our spotters found a wolf kill and we waited there, over a dozen of Himalayan Griffons came down to feed on the dead cow. 

Himalayan Griffon

Bearded Vultures are often not far behind, these magnificent bone-eating raptors can be seen drifting through the valleys fairly regularly, they became one of my favourite subject to photograph, we got lucky and had many close encounters with them, including juveniles and adults, and once of one on the ground at close range.

Bearded Vulture - juvenile

Bearded Vulture

We encountered a few Golden Eagles, this large raptor is always incredible to see, these apex predators patrols the valleys looking for anything from snowcocks to young Blue Sheeps as prey. A Eurasian Eagle Owl often roosts on the cliff face near Chicham Bridge, it was quite far away from the road but views were unobstructed. A few Eurasian Kestrels were the only other raptors we encountered. 

Golden Eagle - juvenile

Eurasian Eagle Owl

Eurasian Kestrel - female

While most of the hillsides were fairly barren, we did encountered a few migrants arriving back to prepare for the summer months. Desert Wheatears were amongst those early arrivals and was an absolute joy to encounter. Horned Larks were fairly common and we encountered quite a few flocks of these wonderful looking birds. We had an Alpine Accentor on the cliff face, which was our only encounter.

Desert Wheatear - male

Horned Lark

Alpine Accentor - our only encounter

Down by the bushy area next to the river, you can feel that spring have truly arrived, as the air was filled with the song of Mountain Chiffchaffs, White-winged Redstarts were very common here and you can see many of these lovely looking birds perched right out in the open. Singing Bluethroats were also a welcoming sight here, I encountered a very vocal individual which gave wonderfully close views.

Mountain Chiffchaff

White-winged Redstart - male

Bluethroat - male

Other birds encountered there including a Grey-backed Shrike, a Hume's Warbler, a lovely looking Rock Bunting, a few White Wagtails of race alboides which were often seen by the river and a Siberian Stonechat. A pair of Ruddy Shelducks gave great views on most mornings before the locals came here to wash their cars. Eurasian Crag Martins can be seen hawking for insects by the river.

Grey-backed Shrike

Hume's Warbler

Rock Bunting - female

White Wagtail - race alboides

Siberian Stonechat

Ruddy Shelduck

Eurasian Crag Martin

Other than birds, the shallow part of the river provided a surprising opportunity to observe many Bufotes toads mating, they were likely Swat Green Toads given the thinner green markings. Unlike most amphibians in Hong Kong, these guys were most active during midday, not surprising given it is the warmest part of the day, so it was extremely entertaining to see them courting, calling, fighting and mating.

Possibly Swat Green Toad - Bufotes pseudoraddei

The number of mammal species we encountered was not high, as this rather hostile landscape can be extremely difficult for most animals. Herds of Blue Sheeps and Himalayan Ibexes were encountered almost daily, sometimes at extremely close range! Giving phenomenal views. They are able to survive the harsh winter here and trek the almost vertical cliff faces, making them one of the very few animals to be able to thrive here.

Blue Sheep

Himalayan Ibex

With such good numbers of large prey in the area, large predators such as Himalayan Wolf can also be found here. We got lucky that the spotters found a wolf kill, we waited near the kill for the entire day and was rewarded with good views of a lone wolf that wanted to come back to the carcass, it was however spooked by the feral dogs (which is a huge problem here at Spiti). 

Himalayan Wolf

Red Foxes were also seen a few times, the Himalayan race look quite different from the Red Foxes we are used to seeing in the UK, being overall much paler.

Red Fox

Our main target here was of course the Snow Leopard. This legendary and extremely elusive feline is a huge draw for ecotourism to this area. Of the ten days we were there we only saw the cat on two days. Each morning the spotters go out to various spots around the valley to scan for leopards, if they find a leopard they will inform us the location and we will go directly there. The Snow Leopard is incredibly well camouflaged against the rock faces here, therefore without the help of the spotters it is almost impossible to see one on your own. They know their favourite sleeping spots and their frequented route like the back of their own hand, which increases the chance of finding these “ghost cats”. Both our encounters were quite close, our first encounter was less than 300m away and our second encounter was a mere 150m.

Snow Leopard country - deep gorges and sheer cliffs

The Snow Leopards often sleeps through the day, once they found themselves a nice sleeping spot they often don’t move for hours on end. So, once one is located, it’s really just a matter of waiting around for it to wake up to “do its thing”. On our first encounter we had wonderful views of a female waking up and doing all the usual cat behaviour such as preening, scent marking and marking territory. 

Cleaning like any cat would...

Scent marking

Snow Leopard

Our second encounter wasn’t quite as 'natural', as another photographer standing with us decided he didn’t want to wait in the cold anymore, and started playing a leopard mating call from his phone, which stirred the cat from it’s slumber! It was obviously alarmed, and soon took an early exit that day. For me this was not a great way to photograph these magnificent animals in the wild, you don’t get to see their natural behaviour and it obviously disturbs the animal unnecessarily.

Snow Leopard

Summary

The trip was successful in the end thanks to the expert guidance of the local guides and spotters. They not only help with finding the animals, but also help us carry all the camera gears at such high altitude, which would have been impossible for us “lowland folks”. Spiti Valley is a true spectacle to witness, the incredible landscape, the rich history and religious significance, the lovely people, and of course the incredible wildlife. I do feel a bit sad that the area is still littered with waste and rubbish from tourists and locals alike, which seems like a common problem in India, one which I truly hope they will try to fix, as putting so much waste into this otherwise pristine environment must have its consequences.

The area is not one for the faint hearted, the long road trips, the dodgy cliff edge roads and hostile elements, you need to be prepare if you plan to come to this area, but the reward can be huge. A huge thanks to Daphne for the invitation to this incredible experience. A sincere thanks to Liton Paul and his team for their warm hospitality, they were extremely professional when it came to giving us the best possible views of wildlife here in Spiti Valley, I highly recommend anyone who wishes to visit to go with them, as you know you will be in good hands.

Complete Trip Bird List: https://ebird.org/tripreport/352566