Day 1: PARO INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT – PARO (L/D)
Upon arrival at Paro International airport, you will be met by your specialist botanical guide . In the afternoon explore the beautiful town of Paro.
Dinner and overnight at your hotel in Paro.
Day 2: TAKTSANG MONASTERY OR TIGER’S NEST (B/L/D)
After breakfast, take a short drive to the base of the famous Taktshang Monastery or Tiger’s Nest, which clings to a sheer rock face at a height of 2600m above sea level. The climb is quite steep, but ponies are available for those who feel they cannot make the climb themselves.
The main temple was built around Guru Rinpoche’s meditation cave in 1684 This incredible monastery clings to the edge of a sheer rock face which plunges 900 meters into the valley below. Legend has it that Guru Padmasambhava, the tantric mystic who brought Buddhism to Bhutan in 747 AD, flew here on the back of a flying tiger, Dorje Drolo.
After lunch, visit Ta Dzong an ancient watchtower, which now houses the National Museum. Below the museum is the Rinpung Dzong (literally meaning “Heap of Jewels”), the centre of civil and religious authority in this valley, built in 1646.
Dinner and overnight at your hotel in Paro.
Day 3 – 15: PARO – JHOMOLHARI – PARO (B/L/D)
Today set out on the Yaksa Trail. Trek through rice paddies, then through magnificent woodlands steadily gaining height as you follow the course of the Pachhu, the snow-melt swollen river. By the end of the third day you will come out of the forests and into high alpine pastures, screes and rocky terrain. Spectacular views over the Himalayan mountains now come into view. Overnight campsites have been selected to allow a sensible pacing by distance and a measured increase in camp heights. However, having climbed to 4000 m in only three days, you will now spend two nights at this altitude to prepare for further climbs into the mountains. The mountain scenery is stunning with the great bulk of Mount Jhomolhari at 7314m and the deeply fluted snow spire of Jichu Drake at 6989m dominating the skyline. After a day examining the varied plant life near our camp, you will start to climb higher into the mountain peaks to the next camp in a high corrie at 4730m. You will spend two nights here and a full day exploring the varied plant habitats from wet meadows to rocky outcrops. On the following day, you should reach the Nyilela Pass at around 5000m where the screes provide home for many wonderful plants.
The next morning you will cross into another high valley with many more wonderful botanical finds. From here you will track south over three more high passes, the Bontela, the highest at 4980m (called Pangtela in Fletcher’s ‘A Quest of Flowers’), Takhungla and Thombula to arrive back at the first camp site in the river valley before a final day’s walk out.
These passes were all visited by Frank Ludlow in 1949 and few have had the opportunity of looking at the plant life here since then.
Day 16: END OF TREK – DRUKGYEL DZONG – THIMPHU (B/L/D)
On the last day of our trek, you will have a relatively easy half day’s walk though rough and rocky, but downhill terrain. You will once again be able to see crops being grown before arriving at Drukgyel Dzong. There a vehicle will be waiting to take you to your hotel in
Dinner and over night at your hotel in Thimphu.
Day 17: THIMPHU AND THE SACRED WANG CHHU VALLEY (B/L/D)
Breakfast at your hotel, then a scenic drive into the upper reaches of the Wang Chhu Valley which is home to both the Tango and Cheri Monasteries. Here you will have the chance to visit one or both of these amazing monasteries which are located high on adjacent hillsides surrounded by lush forests.
Dinner and overnight at your hotel in Thimphu.
Day 18: HIMPHU – PARO INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT (B)
After breakfast drive to Paro International Airport for your departure from Bhutan.
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