Endangered black-necked cranes

Black necked crane model

Bhutan's main road across the passes

We had an early start today as there was a big journey ahead of us. We were heading to Bumthang in central Bhutan along the only road available; a thin, windy rapidly deteriorating road clinging to the precipitous hillside. We had 180 kms to go and it was going to take 6-7 hours. That works out at an average speed of 25-30 kph and believe me you would not want the driver to be going any faster!

We left Wangdue and started to climb through beautiful forest with rhododendrons in bloom by the roadside and an occasional full flower magnolia tree. It was a beautiful drive if you forgot the constant bends, the hazardous drop to a valley floor too far below to see and the worry of on-coming traffic. After an hour our journey came to a sudden stop at a road block. Work was being done and the road was only open at certain times. We had to wait for three-quarters of an hour for the road to open and then negotiate our way over a rugged non-bitumen surface and dodge around the maintenance equipment. We were soon on our way to the Gangtey Gompa Valley where we hoped to see the endangered black-necked cranes.

After climbing high up into a 3500m pass we descended into the valley and our guide announced that, having been in contact with the Information office in the valley, most of the cranes had already migrated to their summer breeding area in Tibet but there was one crane left behind. How are we going to find one crane in a whole valley, I thought?

The cranes are actually big birds more like a cross between a flamingo and an emu. They have long legs and a delicate neck like flamingoes but quite a stocky body like an emu. They are also big at 1.5m tall.  We made our way to the Information Office where we had to check in and low and behold they had their telescopes already sighted on the poor, lone left-behind crane! We were able to watch him picking his way across the valley floor and it was an amazing sight. As well as a black neck he also had a black butt while the rest of him (or her) was white. Little is still known about the birds and their migratory patterns haven’t been fully worked out yet. There’s only about 5,000 or so left so they need protecting. When the cranes are in residence the villagers are not allowed to make loud noises or fish in the river. This is a good start to protecting their winter quarters but for them to survive their summer nesting habitat needs to be protected in Tibet and that’s down to the Chinese government. Quite what this crane was doing all on his lonesome nobody could say. I suspected that he was on a long leash tethered within telescope distance of the Information Office but nobody would admit to it. He was certainly useful from a tourist perspective otherwise few would get to see this amazing bird.

We drove a short way out of the valley to the Gantey Gompa monastery, a Buddhist complex with monks quarters, school and meditation centre. It was a lovely monastery and we were able to wander around freely. In one of the temple rooms there was a special ceremony going on to scare away evil spirits. The astrologers had deemed this a suitable day to perform the ceremony and about 10 monks were sitting around intoning from their texts and occasionally making a fearful racket with their traditional instruments. There were 2 long trumpets, 2 clarinet-type instruments, 2 huge drums, a conch shell and umpteen percussion instruments. In the midst of everything was a young incarnate llama sitting on a foam cushion because he had a higher status than the other monks.

We climbed up out of the valley and back on to the ‘main’ road again. We had to make our lunch stop by 1pm or there would be no food for us. Not that I was particularly bothered. Food has not been a highlight of this trip. We basically eat exactly the same meal for lunch and dinner everyday. It is always a buffet and the food is the same with little variety. I crave fish fingers or lasagne but no – it’s rice and vegetables again with inedible meat.

We drove for another couple of hours over 2 more passes to the town of Trongsa which boasts a magnificent dzong that used to control the whole of eastern Bhutan. It looked impregnable sitting high up above the valley and was a huge edifice. Once again it was used as part admin area and part monastery and we were able to tour around it. An added bonus here was all the macaque monkeys roaming around outside. Most of them didn’t make it into the dzong as the monks had put lots of thin branches at the top of anything capable of being scaled by a monkey to impede their access.

From Trongsa we still had another 3 hours and another blocked road before we reached Bumthang. For the last half hour we were driving in the dark and given the nature of the road that was a worry. The only saving grace was that the cover of night blocked out the precipitous hills so you were not constantly reminded of imminent death if you missed a turn. Fortunately our driver did a magnificent job and managed to deliver us safely to the last hotel we will stay in in Bhutan. (On the way back we stay in the same hotels).

For a change Tiffany and I have a room each, which will be pleasant. It is quite cold here and we have an old-fashioned wood burning stove in the room. I had someone come and start mine for me but I have the task of keeping it alight all night – fat chance! I am going to use my sleeping bag again as the room is bound to cool as the night progresses.