Kibber has several homestays. The nearest hotels are in Kaza.
Monasteries Kibber has a small gompa. The well-known
Kye Gompa is en route from Kaza to Kibber. The nearby village of Gete has a
chorten on a cliff overlooking the Kye Gompa about below.
Trekking and mountaineering Kibber is a base for climbing the nearby Kanamo Peak. The name Kanamo means either "mountain of good omen" or "white hostess (lady)". The trek is rated as an "easy ridge walk with scree on the lower slopes" by Indian mountaineer
Harish Kapadia. The trek from Kibber takes 2–3 days. The season for this trek is late June to the end of September.
Kibber Wildlife Sanctuary The
Kibber Wildlife Sanctuary was established on 1st Nov 1999 with an area of . On 7th Apr 2013, the area was increased to . The elevation range of this sanctuary is above mean sea level.
Flora The vegetation here is sparse, Kibber being well above the treeline which extends to . Thomson, the English botanist who visited in 1947, observed that the plants found at these altitudes of were similar to those found at in lower parts of the Spiti valley. He attributed this to the extreme aridity of the climate and the protection afforded to the Kibber area by the lofty mountain ranges on all sides. Several plants used in the
traditional Tibetan medical system, also known as Sowa-Rigpa, are found here. Eight rare and endangered medicinal plant species have been identified in this sanctuary.
Aconitum rotundifolium,
Arnebia euchroma,
Ephedra gerardiana,
Gentiana kurroo and
Dactylorhiza hatagirea are some threatened but medicinally important plants found in here.
Mammals The Kibber Wildlife Sanctuary (Kibber WLS) is home to the endangered
snow leopard (
Panthera uncia). The Forest Department of Himachal Pradesh reported 25-30 snow leopards in the Kibber Wildlife Sanctuary in 2018. A survey in 2021 estimated the total population of snow leopards in Himachal at about 73. Conservation of snow leopards is a priority. The Himalayan Snow Leopard Research Centre in Kibber village was setup in collaboration with the
Nature Conservation Foundation,
Mysore with the goal of instituting and encouraging focused short and long-term studies. These result in noise and pollution of many vehicles. In 2021, the Spiti district administration banned such car rallies in Kibber and other areas favoured by snow leopards. The majority of snow leopards in Himachal were found outside protected areas, indicating that the local people are active in conservation of these big cats.
Birds Owing to the sparse vegetation and the extreme winters, fewer birds are found in Spiti compared to the lower Himalayas and the plains of India. In July 1922, the English police officer and ornithologist
Hugh Whistler made a short trip from Lahaul down the upper Spiti River. He reached Kibber (Kibar) and Kye Monastery before turning back. During his trip, he collected over 30 species of birds. Of these, about 20 were from Kibber and the area above (now the Kibber WLS). Species collected by Whistler around Kibber included a number of songbirds: several rosefinches, mountain finches and snow finches, redstarts, larks, wrens, house sparrows and martins. Larger birds included a kestrel,
lammergeier and ruddy shelducks. Snow pigeons, snow cocks and a
griffon were found above Kibber from . Alpine choughs were common. The
eBird.org website, used by birding enthusiasts to record sightings, lists 64 species sighted in Kibber village over the past several years. The most frequently seen species:
yellow-billed or alpine chough and
red-billed chough;
snow finches,
mountain finches;
house sparrow and
russet sparrow;
black redstart and
white-capped redstart;
snow pigeon and
hill pigeon;
horned lark;
Himalayan griffon. Most of the species observed 100 years ago by Whistler are in these eBird checklists. ==Gallery==