Pobjikha

After spending nearly a week doing trainings in Punakha, in the central part of the country, with our friend and colleague David, we were all quite happy for the chance to take a quick trip to the Pobjikha valley. At over 9,000 ft, the valley is a rare high altitude wetland, and winter home to the globally threatened black necked cranes.

We got there early enough to take a walk through the woods and farms bordering the valley, trying to glimpse any of the 13 cranes that had arrived in the valley the previous week. This group apparently was the advanced guard for the winter migration. The cranes are the subject of great scrutiny - they summer in the Tibetan plateau and winter mostly in Bhutan, the Pobjikha valley being the largest of several areas they inhabit. Official counts from earlier years pegged the number at about 300 spending the winter; there are only several thousand of them on the planet, threatened primarily by loss of habitat.

Most of Bhutan's potatoes are grown here, and we learned later that because the yields are less than average, the farmers are using large amounts of fertilizers. This is despite the expectation that all crops in the country are grown chemical-free. So the cranes are not necessarily totally safe here unless the cultivation habits can evolve towards organic growing methods.

At the pass above the valley, these yaks very patiently posed for a photo

The crane visitor center has two formerly-injured birds in captivity, unable to be released back into the wild. A wonderful chance to see them up close.

Our hike took us to this viewpoint, which is about the closest you can get to the wetlands in the floor of this broad U-shaped valley. The cranes like to hang out by the river running through the bottom of it. We looked and looked for the cranes, and saw some groups of other birds that also looked quite imposing, but couldn't find the cranes. We were fortunate to run across a group of more serious birders with higher-powered binoculars than ours who told us they had seen 10 cranes across the valley from the same viewpoint where we had been. So we went back and looked and looked and searched and finally spotted them, way far away looking very small. But impressive. Not that that was the only reason to go there, but it was quite fun to have seen them.

Hiking through this valley felt even more rural and remote than our mountain home in Pangbisa.

The hike through the valley began at the Gangteng monastery, one of the oldest in the country. Perched on top of the hill overlooking the valley, it is built in Tibetan style, which is more elaborate. It also had the most erotic deities painted on the walls that I've seen in any temple (sorry, no pictures allowed inside!) Many people told us that when the cranes arrive, they supposedly circle the temple 3 times before they land in the valley. 

We stayed at an old farmhouse that we were told had been the first guest house in the valley. Now there are numerous small hotels, homestays, and even a few large resorts.

The original house is no longer used for guest rooms; instead there is a newer building built at the back, but still in the style of the original house. The benefit to the new building is that the rooms have heaters! In early November at over 9000 ft (3000 m) we sure appreciated that :)

The original house was where we had meals, made by this lovely Bhutanese woman. Since we were the only ones staying there, she cooked everything to order. And lit fires for us at every meal.

Fog filled the valley in the morning

We met numerous kids walking to the school up the hill from where we were staying.

The girl in the middle also worked at the place we stayed, and the night before she had been so happy to practice her English with us. Because widespread education wan't available in Bhutan until the 1960s, and not in many rural areas until later, a lot of the older generation we meet did not get much schooling. So its usually the kids who want to practice the English they are learning in school when they see us.