Dates & Prices |
BOOK NOW |
Dates: 15th – 30th May 2025
Price: £4,495 places available
Single Room Supplement: £495
Deposit: £500 per person
Price Includes: All meals, accommodation with private facilities, ground transport, services of guides, tourist taxes $100 per day, holiday report
Not Included: Flights, travel insurance, drinks & any other personal items
Leaders: Sonam Dorji
Group Size: Minimum of 2 and a maximum of 4 guests plus 1 leader
Grade: Gentle paced walks in a variety of terrains. Guests must be prepared for some days which include long drives due to the nature of the locations and terrain needed to cover to find our target areas and species
Holiday Highlights
- An exclusive and unique spring butterfly tour visiting 3 important parks of Bhutan
- Many beautiful butterfly species & we can expect to record 200-300 during our visit
- Due to the low recording levels & geographical position of places we will go there is a real chance to add new species to the countries list (which already exceeds 800 species).
- Led by a Bhutanese butterfly expert, who has been studying the butterfly and other fauna of Bhutan for years
- Experience a pristine landscape, where snow-capped peaks rise above primeval forests and beautiful traditional villages!
- Other great wildlife to see alongside the butterflies, such as the endangered Golden Langur and Rufous-necked hornbill.
- Small group to ensure the very best wildlife observation and photographic opportunities are available
A unique new spring butterfly tour to the Kingdom of Bhutan!
Situated in the Eastern Himalayas, on the path of the ancient Silk Road, the Kingdom of Bhutan is a delicious enigma for many travellers – a peaceful, Buddist democracy renowned for pioneering the concept of gross national happiness, Bhutan is also famous amongst naturalists in the know for its incredible biodiversity – this sparsely populated and little-visited country remains largely unspoilt, a rare gem in these changing days of the 21st century. This unique butterfly tour will take you to Western and South central areas of Bhutan, covering 3 important parks of Bhutan : Jigme Dorji National Park, Jigme Singye Wangchuck National Park, Royal Manas National Park and also the Royal botanical Park. Of the 800+ species of butterfly recorded in Bhutan, we can expect to see between 200 – 300 during our visit. One interesting species potentially awaiting discovery is the Yellow-crested Spangle (Papilio elephenor). It has observed only twice in India, close to the border with Bhutan, where our guide has already made some new discoveries. Imagine how exciting it would be if we were able to find & record it as a county first on this tour! Your guide for this adventure will be Sonam Dorji. He graduated from Sherubtse college in eastern Bhutan with a B.Sc. in Physical science. He worked as a communication officer in an Environmental NGO in Bhutan for several years. He began butterflying in 2010 and since then has been engaging actively in butterfly and wildlife promotion in Bhutan. He has already made a significant contribution towards the knowledge of butterfly fauna in Bhutan, including the recording of several species for the first time in the country. During the recent pandemic, he discovered the elusive Kaiser I hind in Bhutan, plus a location where Bhutan Glory (Bhutanitis lidderdalii) and Ludlow’s Bhutan Glory (Bhutanitis ludlowi) fly together, something which had not previously been observed elsewhere. We’ll expect to see mammals the likes of the beautiful and globally endangered Golden Langur and, with a national bird list approaching 800 species, we’ll confidently expect to see some special species – including members of the dramatic hornbill family amongst others. The habitats we’ll visit will vary from lowland forest to alpine passes, ensuring that we maximise our exposure to as many butterflies, birds and mammals as possible. We’d be delighted for you to join us on our pioneering tour to beautiful Bhutan!
Day 1: Arrival and meet at Paro. Overnight at Paro (2200 m)
Day 2: After breakfast we’ll drive to Chelela Pass (4000 M) . We’ll take a packed lunch and spend our day butterflying for high altitude species.
Day 3 : Today we’ll go to Punakha. On the way we will stop to do some butterflying in the Thinleygang area (2000 M).
Day 4: Punakha. Drive to Jigme Dorji National Park (1500m)
Day 5: Morning drive to Jigme Dorji National park. Afternoon, drive to Trongsa (2000 M).
Day 6: Trongsa. Butterflying around Mangdechhu hydropower roads. In late afternoon we will drive to Tingtibi and stop at White-bellied Heron eco camp
Day 7: White-bellied Eco camp (700 m). Do Butterflying around Tama road, Dakhphel road, Jigme Singye Wangchuck National Park.
Day 8 : Halt at White-bellied Eco camp
Day 9: Halt at Pantang (a simple Eco lodge) at 150 M. This area is one of the most butterfly abundant area and forms part of Royal Manas National park.
Day 10: Halt Pantang. (250 m)
Day 11: Halt at Trongsa. Early morning butterflying along the highway.
Day 12 : Drive to punakha. On the way we will make various stops for Butterflying.
Day 13: Halt at Paro. Further exploration of Jigme Dorji National Park. In the afternoon we will drive to Paro via Thimphu.
Day 14: Hike to Taktshang (Tiger’s Nest Monastery (3000m)
Day 15 : Departures
Sonam Dorji graduated from Sherubtse college in eastern Bhutan with a B.Sc. in Physical science. He worked as a communication officer in an Environmental NGO in Bhutan for several years. He began butterflying in 2010 and since then has been engaging actively in butterfly and wildlife promotion in Bhutan.
He has already made a significant contribution towards the knowledge of butterfly fauna in Bhutan, including the recording of several species for the first time in the country.
During the recent pandemic, he undertook a lot of field work. He discovered the elusive Kaiser-i-Hind (Teinopalpus imperialis) in Bhutan, plus a location where Bhutan Glory (Bhutanitis lidderdalii) and Ludlow’s Bhutan Glory (Bhutanitis ludlowi) fly together, something which had not previously been observed elsewhere.
Since then, he has been documenting the life cycle of B. ludlowi, as well as continuing to record different species in close consultation with Greenwings, his chosen partner for ecotourism.
Sonam has boundless energy and enthusiasm for the nature of Bhutan and is committed to helping conserve it. He believes strongly in involving the local people in order to achieve that and has been instrumental in setting up a number of educational activities with local children in the area where the two Glories were found. He has also been able to demonstrate the potential benefits of ecotourism, by using funds raised from his work to invest in local facilities and encouragement of the production of various nature-related arts and crafts for local people to generate an extra income from.
Greenwings plans to help Sonam develop his work, partly by using some of the proceeds generated from our Bhutan tours. He has also been awarded a grant from The Swallowtail & Birdwing Trust.
Reports to follow
