Phobjikha

Situated on the west flank of the Black Mountains that separate it from central Bhutan's Trongsa district, Phobjikha Valley is a wide, flat glacial carving of such extraordinary beauty that for some Bhutanese, it is their favorite valley of all. Endangered black-necked cranes take winter refuge here between late October and early March, in an annual migration of hundreds of miles from China's Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau. Locals have long revered these cranes as heavenly birds and bestowers of good luck, and the marshy valley floor is abundant in a unique dwarf bamboo that the cranes favor. The Crane Festival, popular with locals and tourists alike, welcomes them back every year on November 11. Thirteen other globally threatened bird species also find sanctuary in this quiet and remote valley, a good portion of which is officially protected area managed by Bhutan's Royal Society for the Protection of Nature (RSPN). Avifauna outnumber the 4,700 or so human residents, and Phobjikha has remained almost entirely agrarian while some other parts of Bhutan race ahead in development. Overhead transmission lines for electricity are forbidden, and calls to devote more valley land to growing its distinctively sweet potatoes have so far been thwarted. Phobjikha is part of Wangdue Phodrang dist...