To its people, Bhutan goes by the name Druk Yul, or the mysterious ‘Land of the Thunder Dragon’. Isolated for centuries by its mountainous terrain, this land is home to one of the least disturbed cultures in the world, with timeless traditions and Buddhist beliefs, and one that guards its natural heritage with pride.

 

Bhutan itself can be divided into three major geographic zones – the low plains and valleys of the south, the mid-altitude forests, and the mountains of the inner Himalaya that form the edge of the Tibetan Plateau. Agriculture is limited to narrow valley floors, and a vast network of inaccessible valleys, whose forests cover almost two thirds of the total land area, are a stronghold of Eastern Himalayan species, left undisturbed as a result of a low population density and approachable as a result of the respect for nature shown by the Buddhist culture.