Bhutan - Lindsay Brown [116]
Your first stop should be the Royal Society for Protection of Nature’s (RSPN) Black-Necked Crane Information Centre (Map; 490002; 9am-5pm Mon-Fri), which has informative displays about the cranes and the valley environment. You can use the centre’s powerful spotting scopes and check what you see against its pamphlet ‘Field Guide to Crane Behaviour’. If the weather’s iffy you can browse the library and handicraft shop, and watch videos at 10am and 3pm (Nu 200). This is also the centre of the valley’s fledgling ecotourism initiative and they can arrange mountain-bike hire (Nu 700 per day), a local guide (Nu 300), an overnight stay in a local farmhouse (Nu 500) or lectures on the local ecosystem.
A further 1.5km is the village and hotels at Tabiting. Behind the Phuntsho Chholing Guest House is the small Norsang Carpet Factory. Established in 1992 by a local woman, Dorji Wangmo, it has a small hall housing eight weavers, who produce about 90 carpets a year.
Further on the road becomes a rough 4WD track as it continues past Yalsukha village to the small Domchoe Lhakhang, a 45-minute walk from Tabiting.
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HIKING THE PHOBJIKHA VALLEY
There’s some great hiking in the valley and surprisingly for Bhutan it’s mostly flat going! The information centre has suggested the following walking routes and you can get information on these and other trails there (though take their trail maps with a pinch of salt).
A good short walk is the Gangte Nature Trail (1½ hours), which leads downhill from the mani stone wall just north of the Gangte Goemba to the Khewa Lhakhang. The trail descends to Semchubara village and keeps straight at the chorten into the edge of the forest, before descending to a square chorten and the lhakhang. From here you can cross over the metal bridge to the local school.
You could add on a half-day hike into the valley behind Khewa Lhakhang along the Tenkhor Yuetshe Sum trail, linking up the villages of Gophu, Dogsena, Pangsa and Jangchu Goemba in a loop back to Khewa.
Another option is the one-hour Kilkhorthang Trail, from the small lhakhang at Kungathang across the valley to the Damchoe Lhakhang, south of Tabiting. Alternatively, drive further south from Kungathang to the lovely side valley of Lawog and explore on foot from there.
The tougher half-day Shashi La Nature Trail leads up the valley behind Beyta school, though the trail is easier to follow from the track behind the Amankora resort. The path leads through rhododendron forests to the village of Ramgokha, a collection of chortens and then Shashi La pass, before descending through old-growth forest to the Phama Hotel at Kalekha on the main Wangdue Phodrang road. Arrange to get picked up here and continue on to Wangdi. This is the traditional route taken by the Gangte trulku and local farmers when they leave the valley for the winter. A local guide would be sensible for this route.
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WATCHING THE CRANES
The marshy centre of the Phobjikha valley means it’s best avoided on foot but it’s a perfect winter residence for the flock of 350 (up from 212 a decade ago) rare and endangered black-necked cranes that migrate from the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau to Bhutan in late autumn, typically between 23 and 26 October. The Bhutanese have great respect for these ‘heavenly birds’, and songs about the cranes are popular among village folk. In mid-February, the cranes circle Gangte Goemba and fly back across the Himalaya to their summer homes in Tibet. One of the most popular folk songs of the people of Phobjikha laments the time when the cranes leave the valley.
The best months to spot cranes are between October and March, with the best chance between November and January. The best times for viewing are at dawn or dusk, when all the birds in the valley congregate for the night. The RSPN removed a viewing hide in 2005 out of concern for the bird’s