The Phobjikha Valley, and the black-necked cranes that winter there

The Phobjikha Valley lies in the mountains of central Bhutan, at about three thousand metres, a broad, open, glacial valley of marshes, meadows and potato fields, ringed by forested hills. It is one of the loveliest valleys in the country, and quite unlike the steep, narrow valleys found elsewhere. On a spur above its western side stands Gangtey Gonpa, a monastery founded in the seventeenth century, one of the most important Nyingma monasteries in western Bhutan, overlooking the valley floor.

The valley is best known for its winter visitors.

The black-necked crane

The black-necked crane is the only crane in the world that lives and breeds at high altitude. It nests in the summer on the wetlands of the Tibetan plateau and in Ladakh, and in the autumn it migrates south over the Himalaya to winter in lower valleys in Tibet, China and Bhutan. It is a tall, elegant bird, pale grey, with a black head and neck, a small red cap and a black tail. It is listed as near threatened, with a world population of only some thousands.

Phobjikha is the most important wintering site in Bhutan. Several hundred cranes arrive each year, usually from late October or early November, and stay until about February or March, when they return to Tibet. They feed in the marshes and fields of the valley floor by day and roost in the wetlands at night. Their calls, a loud, trumpeting bugling, carry across the valley.

The Bhutanese regard the cranes with great affection and reverence. They feature in folk songs and dances, and local tradition holds that on arriving and leaving, the cranes circle the monastery of Gangtey three times. The cranes are protected, and the valley has a special status. Rather than string overhead power lines across it, which would have been dangerous to the birds, Bhutan buried the electricity cables underground when it brought power to the valley.

The crane festival

Each year in November, Gangtey Gonpa hosts a festival in honour of the cranes. Schoolchildren and local people perform dances, some of them in crane costumes, songs and plays on conservation themes in the monastery courtyard. It is a small, local festival, quite different from the great tsechus of the dzongs, and charming for that reason. A crane information centre in the valley, run by a Bhutanese conservation charity, has telescopes for watching the birds from a respectful distance.

The valley has done more than bury its cables. Local people, working with conservationists, have managed the marshes and fields so that the cranes have places to feed and roost, and visitors are asked to keep their distance and stay quiet. The cranes are counted each year, and their numbers have been watched closely as a measure of how well the valley is doing. It is a small example of the way Bhutan tries to balance development and conservation.

Visiting the valley

The cranes are present only in winter, roughly from November to February, which is also when the valley is coldest, often with frost and sometimes with snow. At other times of year, Phobjikha is still a beautiful place to visit, with walks across the valley floor, through pine forest and past villages, and the monastery to explore. But the cranes are elsewhere.

Explore Worldwide's Festivals of Bhutan, eleven nights, has departures in March, October and November. Its places include the Phobjikha valley and Gangtey Monastery, with Paro, the Dochu La pass, Punakha, Thimphu, the Tiger's Nest and Kyichu Lhakhang, and Kathmandu in Nepal. A November departure gives a chance of seeing the first cranes.

G Adventures' Journeys: Wonders of Bhutan, nine nights in September and October, includes Gangtey Gonpa and the Phobjikha valley. G Adventures' Signature: Bhutan and the High Himalayan Valleys, seven nights in May and September, includes the Phobjikha and Gangtey valleys too. These run outside the crane season, but they include the valley's walks, its monastery and its quiet.

If seeing the cranes is your aim, check dates carefully, and bring warm clothes. The valley floor is frosty in the mornings, and the birds are at their most active then.