Five winter days tracking the snow leopard, tiger and blue sheep of Royal Manas, with black-necked cranes on the Phobjikha marshes.
Highlights
Dawn and dusk tracking for snow leopard and blue sheep in Royal Manas
Tiger sign and territories in the lower park
Black-necked cranes on the Phobjikha wintering grounds
A walk with the park's own conservation staff
What is included
Park naturalist and licensed guide throughout
Private 4x4 vehicle with a driver-guide and spotting scope
Four nights in a valley lodge and a forest rest house
All breakfasts, lunches and dinners
All permits, SDF and the Royal Manas park entry fee
Crane-counting walk in Phobjikha with a conservation officer
Day-by-day itinerary
Day 1 — Into the Phobjikha valley Paro to Thimphu and on over the Dochula Pass into the national park — Phobjikha, a glacial valley two and a half hours wide with a river running loose down the middle of it. Arrive in the early afternoon, which in November to March matters: several hundred black-necked cranes are on these marshes b…
Day 2 — Cranes at first light, then Royal Manas Out on the marsh before dawn, because that is when the cranes move. Several hundred of them feed in the shallows — the highest-altitude breeding population of the species anywhere, and a winter visitor from the Tibetan plateau — and the best photography and the best birding of the trip happen in th…
Day 3 — A full day in Royal Manas The park that started Bhutan's conservation story: set aside in 1963, extended in 1994, and a UNESCO World Heritage site since 2022. It adjoins Manas in India, so the tiger here is a tiger with somewhere to come from. A park guide and a naturalist take you out for the best part of the day on foot a…
Day 4 — Dusk in the park Out again, this time for the evening: the park is not a place where activity is front-loaded, and the hours around dusk in the forest edge are often better than the middle of the day. Back at Phobjikha by evening for a walk out onto the sandbars, where the river splits into shallow channels and the…
Day 5 — Departure A final dawn walk across the marsh and then the drive back through the Dochula Pass to Paro. If the timing of your flight is generous, the Gangtey Monastery road above the valley is worth the forty minutes — the ridge above it looks back across the whole park.