Merak Gewog

Climate of Bhutan

The climate of Bhutan spans tropical lowlands to permanent ice within about 170 kilometres north to south, producing three broad zones — subtropical southern foothills, temperate central valleys and alpine north — each with distinct temperature and rainfall regimes. The country is dominated by the Indian summer monsoon, holds constitutionally mandated forest cover above 60 per cent, and is documented as carbon-negative, yet is also among the world's most exposed high-mountain states to warming, glacial retreat and glacial lake outburst floods.

Yak Herding in Bhutan

Yak herding is a traditional pastoral livelihood practised by highland communities in northern Bhutan, particularly the Layap of Laya and the Lunap of Lunana. Yaks provide essential products including butter, cheese, wool, and meat, and serve as pack animals in the high-altitude terrain. The semi-nomadic herding lifestyle faces increasing pressure from modernisation, climate change, and rural-to-urban migration, prompting efforts to sustain these communities and their cultural heritage.

Trashigang District

Trashigang District (Dzongkha: བཀྲ་ཤིས་སྒང་རྫོང་ཁག) is the largest and most populous district in eastern Bhutan, serving as the political and commercial centre of the eastern region. Home to the historic Trashigang Dzong and a diverse population including the Sharchop people, it is known for its rich cultural traditions, weaving heritage, and dramatic mountain landscapes.

Trashigang Town

Trashigang Town is the administrative headquarters of Trashigang District and the largest town in eastern Bhutan. Perched on a hillside above the Drangme Chhu river at an elevation of about 1,100 meters, it serves as the commercial, educational, and administrative hub for the most populous district in eastern Bhutan.

Wamrong

Wamrong is a commercial town and dungkhag (sub-district) centre in Trashigang District, eastern Bhutan. Situated on the lateral highway roughly midway between Trashigang and Samdrup Jongkhar, the town serves as a transit hub and market centre for surrounding agricultural communities.

Ethnic Groups of Bhutan

Bhutan is home to several distinct ethnic groups, principally the Ngalop of the western highlands, the Sharchop of the east, and the Lhotshampa of the southern foothills. Smaller indigenous communities, including the Kheng, Bumthap, and nomadic Brokpa, contribute to a diverse social fabric shaped by geography, migration, and state policy.

Nomadic Yak Herders of Bhutan

The nomadic and semi-nomadic yak herders of Bhutan, known as Brokpa (and related groups including Bjop and Lakhap), are highland pastoral communities who practise transhumant yak herding across the country's northern alpine regions. Concentrated in areas such as Merak and Sakteng in Trashigang, Laya in Gasa, and highland valleys of Bumthang, Haa, and Paro, these communities face growing pressures from climate change, youth migration, and declining yak populations.

Sakteng Wildlife Sanctuary

Sakteng Wildlife Sanctuary is a protected area in eastern Bhutan established in 2003, covering 740.6 square kilometres of temperate and alpine ecosystems in the Trashigang and Samdrup Jongkhar districts. It is notable as the only known wildlife sanctuary in the world created partly to protect the habitat of the migoi, the Bhutanese equivalent of the yeti, and is home to the semi-nomadic Brokpa people.

Trashigang

Trashigang ("The Jewel Fortress") is the largest district in eastern Bhutan and home to the commercial hub of the eastern region. Centred on the historic Trashigang Dzong, built in 1659, the area encompasses 15 gewogs, Sherubtse College, and culturally significant communities including Radhi and Merak-Sakteng.

Polyandry in Bhutan

Polyandry — the marriage of one woman to two or more men, almost always brothers — was historically practised among highland yak-herding communities in northern and central Bhutan, including the Layap of Gasa District and the Brokpa of Trashigang. The arrangement prevented the fragmentation of scarce land and livestock. The practice has largely vanished over the past three decades, accelerated by the legalisation of cordyceps collection in 2003 and the resulting influx of cash income into highland economies.

Brokpa Funerary Practices

The Brokpa people of Merak and Sakteng in Trashigang District, eastern Bhutan, practise distinctive funerary traditions including sky burial (jhator) and water burial. In sky burial, the body is folded by breaking the spine, carried to a designated hilltop site, and offered to vultures. In water burial, the remains are cut into 108 pieces and cast into a river. These practices reflect the Brokpa belief in the impermanence of the physical body and the merit of offering it to other living beings after death.

Blessed Rainy Day (Thrue-bab)

Blessed Rainy Day, known as Thrue-bab in Dzongkha, is one of Bhutan's most unique and beloved public holidays, celebrated annually around late September to mark the end of the monsoon season. The holiday is rooted in the belief that the first rains following the monsoon's retreat have special purifying qualities, and Bhutanese people traditionally bathe outdoors in rivers and streams to cleanse themselves of spiritual impurities, bad karma, and physical ailments. The date is determined by astrologers based on the Bhutanese lunar calendar, making it a moveable holiday that typically falls between mid-September and early October.

Women in Bhutan

Women make up roughly half of Bhutan's population and head about 37.7 per cent of households. Their social position is shaped by matrilineal land inheritance in much of western and central Bhutan, a high female labour-force share in agriculture, distinctive marriage customs including surviving pockets of fraternal polyandry in Laya and among the Brokpa, and the accelerating feminisation of rural life as men migrate to towns and to Australia. This article covers the demographic and social profile of Bhutanese women; rights, law and political representation are treated at Gender equality in Bhutan.

Medicinal Plants of Bhutan

Bhutan's rich biodiversity supports a traditional medicine system known as Sowa Rigpa ("the science of healing"), which uses over 200 medicinal plant species to produce more than 100 poly-ingredient formulations. Integrated into the national healthcare system since 1967, Bhutanese traditional medicine is practised through 65 hospitals and health units, with all medicines manufactured by the state-owned Menjong Sorig Pharmaceuticals.

Livestock and Yak Herding in Bhutan

Yak herding is a centuries-old pastoral tradition practised by highland communities in Bhutan, particularly in the districts of Gasa, Bumthang, Haa, and Trashiyangtse. Yaks provide butter, cheese, wool, hair, meat, and transport in areas above 3,000 metres where crop cultivation is impossible. The herding communities of Laya, Lingshi, and Merak-Sakteng maintain distinctive cultural identities closely tied to their pastoral livelihoods. However, yak herding in Bhutan faces mounting pressures from climate change, declining pasture quality, labour outmigration, and the increasing integration of highland communities into the cash economy.