Himachal Tourist Guide

Remote, beautiful, Wild. All these are but small adjectives that can try to explain also in tiny fragments the valley of Pangi.

Pangi lies in the northwestern extremity of Himachal Pradesh. This has an area of approximity 1,600 square kilometers and is sandwitched between two sub-systems of the Himalaya the Zanskar and Pir Panjal. Slicing a deep gorge, the river Chadrabhaga (also called the Chenab downstream), flows in from Lahual. Passing through the length, it divides Pangi into two unequal parts while the cliffs sometimes rise vertically to a height of a couple of thousand feet. The mountains surrounding the valley range between 5,400 and 6,700 metres. The tiny villages of this verdant pocket lie between 2,100 and 3,000 metres. 

On the right bank of the river Chandrabhaga, the growing settlement of Kilar (2,590 m), is the administrative headquarters. The other side valleys of Pangi are Sural, Saichu, Kumar Parmar and Hudan. Now, almost all are connected by vehicular roads. Apart from these, the old trade routes still exist and connect these pockets to Ladakh’s Zanskar valley, in the adjoining state of Jammu and Kashmir. 

Pangi is thickly forested and amongst others has trees of pine, oak and deodar. Places like Sural have thick woods of peeling-birch (bhoj patra) too. These woodlands supports a variety of wild life including ibex, snow leopard, himalayan thar, musk deer, black bear, brown bear and bharal. The birds include the monal and koklas pheasants, Himalayan tragopan, snow peacock, snow pigeon and the chukor. The Saichu Twan Nallah (named after the two main villages), is a notified pangi wildlife sanctuary.