Ladakh's lesser-known neighbour, the cold mountain desert of Spiti, is for travellers who dare to drift from the tourist trails. Spiti's postcard villages remain remotely tucked away in the lap of the mighty, barren Himalayas of Himachal Pradesh, and it is here that you can hike along Snow Leopard and Himalayan Wolf habitats, visit monasteries dating back over a 1000 years, sample a fascinating culture and cuisine different from the rest of India, and meet the kindest of people who live the harshest of lives. This is a world within a world, as Rudyard Kipling once described it.

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