Ishita Khanna and the Spiti valley's social enterprise

Spiti Ecosphere, a social enterprise in Himachal Pradesh's Spiti valley, describes itself as run jointly by the local community and professionals from different fields. Its co-founder Ishita Khanna, who comes from a city background and says she is not drawn to city life, told Outlook Traveller in 2014 that she and her co-founder Sunil Chauhan each spend six to seven months of the year in Spiti.

The organisation started in 2002 with a pilot project on seabuckthorn, a berry that grows wild in the cold deserts of the Himalaya. Early on, the report says, it relied on local leadership, including the title-holder known as the Nono, to earn the community's trust. Its work now covers eco-friendly travel, renewable energy and protecting the environment and cultural heritage.

Tourism is designed to support conservation. According to the article, homestays are a way to keep local incomes up while preserving village architecture, and revenue from wildlife tourism is used to change local attitudes towards snow leopards and Himalayan wolves, which sometimes kill livestock. Other reporting says the first homestays began in 2004, and that the idea met some resistance from local travel agents and hotels who feared losing business; we have not verified that claim independently.

Khanna's point, as relayed in the reporting, is that conservation must be taken into account while travelling. For a visitor, that translates into simple choices: stay in homestays where you can, hire local guides, and ask hosts how your presence affects water, waste and the village's work calendar.

Spiti's best season, according to the same article, runs from roughly mid-May to mid-October. The profile is nearly twelve years old, and Ecosphere's services have changed since.