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 01 — Paro to Phobjikha, into the glacial bowl Drive from Paro over the Dochula Pass and down into the Phobjikha valley, arriving in time for the light to go gold across the black mountain walls above the Chari river. Evening is a slow walk on the valley floor with the naturalist, who explains what you are likely to hear after dark and what it…
Day 02 — Royal Manas: dawn tracking in the lower park Into Royal Manas National Park before first light, tracking on foot where the vehicles cannot follow. This is the best of the five days for tiger sign and for the mixed herds of blue sheep and serow on the lower slopes, with the naturalist reading spoor, scrape and scat the way you would read a pag…
Day 03 — The upper park and the snow leopard's ground A full day higher in the park, in the steep conifer forest and broken rock that snow leopard use, with tracking runs of six to eight hours broken by lunch in a forest rest house. Sightings here are genuinely uncertain, and the naturalist will tell you so at breakfast rather than selling you a day t…
Day 04 — Cranes on the Phobjikha marshes Out of the trees and onto the valley floor, where black-necked cranes winter in the marshes between India and Tibet, a few hundred birds on a valley floor ringed by cliffs. The walk is done with a conservation officer of the Royal Manas park, and includes the counting protocol the park itself uses…
Day 05 — Phobjikha to Paro and departure A last dawn on the valley floor, then the drive back over the Dochula to Paro. Photographic mornings are best spent here, where the light comes down the length of the valley; the naturalist will help you separate the frames worth keeping from the ones that are only a memory of a very good hour.