Lunana Gewog

History of Hydropower Development in Bhutan

Hydropower is the backbone of Bhutan's modern economy and the defining feature of its relationship with India. From the 336 MW Chhukha project commissioned in 1986 to the full commissioning of Punatsangchhu-II in 2025, state-led run-of-river development has transformed state finances while concentrating external debt and export earnings in a single sector and a single buyer.

Masang Gang

Masang Gang (also spelled Masa Gang) is a mountain peak in northern Bhutan with a summit elevation of 7,158 metres, making it the second-highest mountain in the country after Gangkhar Puensum. It remains unclimbed, as Bhutan has prohibited mountaineering on peaks above 6,000 metres since 2003.

Bhutan's Film Industry

Bhutan's film industry emerged in 1989 with the first feature film and has grown into a modest but culturally significant sector producing 15 to 20 films annually. The industry faces challenges of limited infrastructure and competition from foreign media but has gained international recognition through directors like Khyentse Norbu and Pawo Choyning Dorji.

Hema Hema: Sing Me a Song While I Wait

Hema Hema: Sing Me a Song While I Wait is a 2016 Dzongkha-language drama directed by Khyentse Norbu, set in a forest where masked individuals gather every twelve years for a hidden ritual. The film premiered at the 69th Locarno Film Festival and was barred from public screening in Bhutan in early 2017 by the Bhutan InfoComm and Media Authority over its use of religious masks.

Glacial Lake Outburst Floods (GLOFs) in Bhutan

Bhutan faces one of the highest risks of glacial lake outburst floods (GLOFs) in the world. With 2,674 glacial lakes — 25 of which have been identified as potentially dangerous — the threat is accelerating as climate change drives rapid glacial retreat. The catastrophic 1994 Lugge Tsho GLOF killed 21 people and devastated the Punakha Valley, and the growing Thorthormi Tsho lake remains a major concern. This article examines the science, history, and mitigation efforts behind one of Bhutan's most serious environmental challenges.

Punakha Dzong

Punakha Dzong, formally Pungtang Dechen Photrang Dzong ("Palace of Great Bliss"), is the second oldest and second largest dzong in Bhutan. Built in 1637–38 by Zhabdrung Ngawang Namgyal at the confluence of the Mo Chhu and Pho Chhu in the Punakha valley, it served as the seat of Bhutanese government until 1955 and remains the coronation site of every Druk Gyalpo.

River Systems of Bhutan

Bhutan's river systems rise from Himalayan glaciers and drain through steep forested gorges into the Brahmaputra plain, sustaining the kingdom's agriculture, generating its primary export commodity in hydroelectric power, and posing significant flood risks from glacial lake outbursts and monsoon flooding.

Travellers and Magicians (film)

Travellers and Magicians is a 2003 drama film written and directed by the Bhutanese lama and filmmaker Khyentse Norbu (Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse Rinpoche). Shot in Dzongkha on location in central Bhutan, it is widely described as the first feature film made entirely inside the country, and it played a foundational role in the emergence of a Bhutanese film industry.

Disaster Management Act of Bhutan, 2013

The 2013 statute creating Bhutan's formal disaster-management framework, the National Disaster Management Authority, and dzongkhag-level disaster risk reduction obligations after the 2009 Mongar and 2011 Sikkim earthquakes.

Cordyceps Industry in Bhutan

Cordyceps sinensis, known locally as yartsa gunbu and marketed internationally as "Himalayan gold," is one of Bhutan's most valuable non-timber forest products. Harvested at altitudes above 3,500 metres in seven dzongkhags during a tightly regulated May-June season, cordyceps has become the primary cash income source for thousands of highland households, with auction prices reaching Nu 4.3 million per kilogramme for top-quality specimens.

Lunana

Lunana is one of the most remote inhabited regions on Earth, a gewog in the Gasa District of northern Bhutan situated at elevations above 4,000 metres. Surrounded by glaciers and glacial lakes, Lunana is known for its extreme isolation, its vulnerability to glacial lake outburst floods (GLOFs), and the resilient yak-herding community that calls it home.

Mo Chhu and Pho Chhu Rivers

The Pho Chhu (Male River) and Mo Chhu (Female River) are the twin rivers that converge at Punakha to form the Punatsangchhu, also known downstream in India as the Sankosh. The Pho Chhu drains the glaciers of Lunana and carries Bhutan's most documented GLOF risk; the Mo Chhu rises in Lingshi and Laya. Their confluence below Punakha Dzong is one of the most culturally and politically significant river junctions in Bhutan.

Wangchuck Centennial National Park

Wangchuck Centennial National Park is the largest protected area in Bhutan, covering 4,914 square kilometres in the north-central highlands. Established in 2008 to commemorate the centenary of the Wangchuck monarchy, the park protects high-altitude ecosystems including alpine meadows, glacial lakes, and the habitat of the snow leopard, tiger, and red panda.

Blue Sheep in Bhutan

The bharal or Himalayan blue sheep (Pseudois nayaur) is a wild caprine of Bhutan's northern alpine zone and the principal prey species of the snow leopard. Although classed by the IUCN as Least Concern globally, in Bhutan it is closely monitored for its role in supporting snow leopard conservation. Surveys in Jigme Dorji and Wangchuck Centennial National Parks have placed local densities among the highest recorded in the eastern Himalaya.

Climate and Weather of Bhutan

Bhutan's climate varies dramatically from subtropical in the southern foothills to alpine in the northern highlands, shaped by the country's extreme altitudinal range from approximately 100 metres to over 7,500 metres. The Indian monsoon dominates the rainfall pattern, delivering the bulk of annual precipitation between June and September. Understanding Bhutan's climate zones is essential for visitors, researchers, and policymakers concerned with agriculture, biodiversity, and the growing impacts of climate change.

Sherab Dorji (actor)

Sherab Dorji is a Bhutanese actor, musician, and filmmaker best known for his lead role as Ugyen Dorji in Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom (2019), Bhutan's first Oscar-nominated film. He won the Best Actor award at the Festival International du Film de Saint-Jean-de-Luz for his performance.

Snow Leopard in Bhutan

Bhutan is home to an estimated 100 to 200 snow leopards (Panthera uncia), primarily in the alpine zones of the northern districts. Conservation efforts including camera trap surveys, anti-poaching patrols, and community-based livestock insurance programmes aim to protect this elusive predator while mitigating conflicts with highland herders.

Lingshi

Lingshi is a remote village and gewog in the Thimphu District of northwestern Bhutan, situated at approximately 4,010 metres near the base of Jomolhari. It is known for Lingshi Dzong, a historic fortress that guarded the trade route to Tibet, and serves as a gateway for several of Bhutan's most celebrated high-altitude treks.

Bhutan International Marathon and Snowman Race

The Bhutan International Marathon is an annual road-running event launched in 2014, and the Snowman Race is a high-altitude ultra-marathon traversing the Laya–Lunana region, launched in 2022 by King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck as a climate-change advocacy event.

Snowman Trek

The Snowman Trek is a high-altitude long-distance trek in northern Bhutan, widely regarded as one of the most difficult treks in the world. Spanning approximately 356 kilometres over 25 days, the route traverses remote valleys from Laya to Lunana, crossing numerous passes above 5,000 metres, with a completion rate estimated at less than 50 per cent.