<< Country Evening in Gangtey

01/24/19 - From Monastery to Wetlands

As much as we hated to leave Amankora Gangtey, we set out to the local dzong, the monastery on the hill across the valley. The monastery was fascinating enough, but then we headed through the adjacent village, down and into the pine forest on the monastery hill. We saw black necked cranes in the fields. They love that stubble.

We walked through the forest, past daphnes and dwarf bamboo, and emerged to an overlook adorned with prayer flags. There were black necked cranes in the wetlands below. Then we made our way down to the wetlands, crossing on a cow damaged causeway and watching for cranes as we went. We saw some flying and as we followed the road we saw many others, some nearby and some in the distance. Apparently, this has been a great year for the black necked cranes.


Amankora Gangtey - Why would we ever leave?

The monastery

Some detail

Prayer wheels

Monastery dogs

The village on the hill

People hard at work, unlike us

Black necked cranes enjoying field stubble

A daphne in bloom

Pine forest

Prayer flags overlooking the valley

Descending to the wetlands

Cottoneaster

Across the wetlands

Cranes in flight

More wetlands

More black necked cranes

Even more cranes in the wetlands

The road to our ride home

Keywords: bhutan