Bhutan Trekking and Adventures 

The once-isolated kingdom of Bhutan lies along the lofty ridges of the eastern Himalayas. Its landlocked location--between India, on the east, south, and west, and the Chinese region of Tibet, to the north--gives the country its political significance.

Bhutan may be divided into three regions--the Great Himalayas, the Lesser Himalayas, and the Duars plain. Alpine pastures on the high ranges of the snow-capped Great Himalayas are used for grazing yaks in the summer months. In the Lesser Himalayas the fertile valleys of central Bhutan are relatively flat and broad and are fairly well cultivated and populated. Along the southern border of Bhutan lies the Duars, which forms a strip 8 to 10 miles (13 to 16 kilometres) wide. With extremely heavy rainfall of from 200 to 300 inches (500 to 760 centimetres) a year, the entire Duars tract is hot, and steamy and is covered with dense semitropical forest and undergrowth.

The northern part of the Duars immediately bordering the mountains consists of a rugged, irregular, and sloping surface. At the foot of the mountains small villages are found in forest clearings, but most of the area is covered with dense vegetation inhabited by elephants, deer, tigers, and other wild animals. The southern part of the Duars bordering India is mostly covered with grassy parkland and bamboo jungle. A wildlife sanctuary has been established in the area. It contains many valued species of animals, including the golden langur, a slender long-tailed monkey that is rare elsewhere in the world.

Most of the Bhutanese people are of Tibetan ancestry. Known as Bhote or Bhutia, they share a common heritage of Tibetan culture and religion. Their language is Dzongkha, a Tibetan dialect. Dzongkha is also the official language of Bhutan. The Bhutia live mainly in northern and central Bhutan, and their religion is a form of Buddhism. In the southern part of the kingdom there is an ethnically mixed population of mostly Nepalese settlers whose religion is Hinduism. Their chief language is Nepali.

Although paved highways connect various parts of the kingdom, yaks, mules, and ponies are still used as a mode of transportation on rough mountain roads. Bhutan has two airports--at Paro and Yangphulla.

Trekking tours became popular after the country was opened for tourism in 1974. There is a telephone system that operates between main towns, but Thimphu, the capital, has the only service to places outside of the country.
 

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