Majestic Birding. 15 nights 16 days.
Day 1: Catch an early morning flight to paro, your route parallels the mighty Himalayan mountain chain and if weather is good you should see Mounts Everest. Clear your immigration formalities and met our guide at exit. Now we’ll drive east through enchanting valley with its gaily-decorated shingle-roofed house and willow-fringed river. Red –Billed choughs are quit common in this valley .As we head east we’ll stop to search for Ibisbill and Brown Dipper, with luck we might encounter a regional specialty such as Rufousfronted Tit.
Halt in Thimphu.
Day 2: We’ll head east out of Thimphu, up to the western Slop of the Dochula, the first of a series of high altitude road passé that we’ll explore. Entering the pristine mixed forests of Hemlock, Fir, Oak, Magnolias and Rhododendrons, quarrelsome Nutcracker and Yellow-Billed Blue Magpie are common. Most of our tour will be from roads, which is well paved, however today we’ll venture off road on to trial that enable us to explore the forest more thoroughly. Be alert as you might come across Wards- Trogon.
Camp in Punakha.
Day 3: Hike along the unpaved road for your brain brush up from your long time stress. Today we’ll explore braided channels of Mo Chu River, and bird rich sub-tropical forest it contains. Some time we will see White Billed, one of the Bhutan’s rarest birds. We are sure to encounter several parties of brightly colored Minivets, noisy striated laughing thrush and also see more Ibisbill. Whole host of forest species such as Bay woodpecker, Red headed Trogon and wedge-tailed Pigeon, waits to be discovered. Firecapped Tits breeds here as does White Gorgeted- Fly catcher and the rare Yellow vented Warbler. We’ll also search for varieties including lesser short wing, spotted and pygmy Wren- Babblers and two or three different types of Tesia.
Camp in Punakha.
Day 4: After breakfast, continuing east, past Wangdi Phodrang Dzong burnt down by fire in year 2012 and under construction. We will make series of brief stop to scan the braided river channel. We should also check forest edges and explore small patch of cultivation. We’ll enter the productive forest near the end of journey and will stop here to look for spices such as Blood Pheasants, Satyr Tragopan and Majestic Himalayan Monal. Spotted Laughing thrush, yellowish- billed bush babbler, rusty-flanked tree creeper, white- browned bush robin and white winged grosbeak also occurs here.
Halt in Phobjikha.
Day 5: Leaving Gangtey we’ll follow the twisting road up to Pelela pass and into Central Bhutan. A stand of ringal bamboos extends for about 3 miles below the pass and will search here for specialties such as Great and brown Parrot bills and Golden breasted Fulvetta , surely one of the world’s most attractive passerines.
Halt in Trongsa.
Day 6 & 7: Today drive towards south of town to our camp site Tongtongphy. Our main target at the start of journey is rare and little known Yellow-rumped Honey guide, but we should also see a number of other species, perhaps including Fire- capped tit. Entire length of this spectacularly forested valley is also good are for endangered Golden Langur monkey. In this two night search as many species as you can, camping in modern walk inn, spacious tents and sleeping on comfortable camp bed erected for us by our teams.
Halt in Tongtongphy.
Day 8: Retracing our route we’ll head back north through Trongsa before climbing over a bamboothronged pass into the first of the four Bumthang valleys. The scenery suddenly changes to broad grassy valleys and rolling hillsides covered in spruce and fir and the avifauna changes equally abruptly. Nutcracker can be common, though we’ll have to spend a little more time searching for region’s real specialties, Slender-billed scimitar Babbler, Falvous, Brown and Great Parrot bill, white- browned and Rufous- breasted bush Robins and dark -rumped Rose finch.
Halt in Bumthang.
Day 9: Start early continuing our circuit east and searching for Pheasants which could include Monal, Satyr Tragopan, and Blood pheasants. We will climb and eventually cross, the Thrumshing La which is at 12465 ft. is Bhutan’s highest motor able pass. The road then plunges dramatically down into rich semitropical rainforest and we find ourselves on the Lingmethang road, perhaps Asia’s premier birding road.
Many of Bhutan’s most sought- after birds can be found here including Chestnut-breasted Partridge, Wards Trogon, the majestic Rufous- necked Hornbill, Blue napped Pitta, Blue fronted Robin and Sikkim Wedge-billed, Long-billed and Bar winged Wren Babblers.
Halt in Sengkhor.
Day 10 & 11: Spent the day exploring the fabulous, lush primary forest near Lingmethang in search of area specialties. We are sure to see many new birds , and while not all of these are rare, many of them, such as Slender-billed and coral-billed Scimitar Babblers, scaly and blue-winged Laughing thrush, Great Rufous-headed Parrot bill, Broad- billed Warbler, White- napped Yuhina, and Rufous- throated WernBabbler are poorly known and unfamiliar to most birders.
Camp in Lingmethang.
Day 12: Leaving the campsite continue journey east to Tashigang, a small town in north east Bhutan. We will spend night in hotel for refreshing and laundry but have a leisure time in finding black-tailed Crake
Halt in Trashigang.
Day 13: Today our journey will take us through series of villages and we’ll stop to visit Buddhist temple, before continuing over several forest-covered passes and down equally spectacular river valley. Easternmost Bhutan is poorly known ornithological and we will make several exploratory birding stops aimed forest near Narphung before we reach to our campsite.
Camp in Narphung.
Day 14: Our campsite at Narphung is in the heart of prime mid- altitude forest and provides us with opportunities to study the birds of this rich biotope. We’ll spent entire day birding between Narphung and Deothang having breakfast and lunch at spot. Today’s targeted species include Mountain Imperial Pigeons, Dark-rumped swift, Long- tail broad bill, Rufous necked Laughingthrush and we stand another chance of encountering beautiful Nuthatch.
Camp at Deothang.
Day 15: Explore the forested hill slopes around Samdrup Jongkhar, bustling border town. Here we may find Grey peacock Pheasants, Pied Falconet, Dark rumped Swift, weathered Hornbill, Whistling Hawkcuckoo, Pin-tailed Green Pigeon, Violet Cuckoo and sultan Tits.
Halt in Samdrup Jongkhar.
Day 16: After early Breakfast drive to Gawahati airport to catch your next flight.
Tashi Delek & End of Tour.