Soe Gewog

Soe Gewog (also Soe Yaksa) is a high-altitude administrative block (gewog) in the far north of Thimphu Dzongkhag, Bhutan. It is one of the three highland gewogs under Lingzhi Dungkhag, alongside Lingzhi and Naro, and lies along the border with the Tibet Autonomous Region of China at the foot of Jomolhari.^[1]

The gewog occupies steep, glaciated terrain at altitudes ranging from roughly 3,800 metres to over 5,000 metres. It is the smallest gewog in Bhutan by population: as reported in recent coverage it had around 200 residents living in some 28 households, who herd a combined stock of roughly 1,461 yaks.^[2]

Economy and community

Life in Soe centres on yak herding. Households move with their animals between seasonal pastures, and yaks provide meat, dairy, hair for tents and ropes, and transport. The remoteness of the community is reflected in the way herders have adopted mobile messaging to share the whereabouts of grazing yaks across the wide highland pastures. Electricity reached the gewog in 2016, followed shortly by mobile 3G coverage, easing some of the isolation of one of the country's most far-flung settlements.^[2]

Wildlife

The high pastures of Soe lie within prime snow-leopard habitat. Under the National Snow Leopard Survey of 2015–2016, around eight snow leopards were estimated in Soe and about sixteen in the wider Lingzhi area, and herders of the Soe Yaksa community recorded camera-trap footage of the elusive cat at an altitude of about 4,499 metres.^[3]

Trekking

Several of Bhutan's best-known trekking routes pass through or near Soe, including the Jomolhari Trek, the Snowman Trek, the Laya–Lingzhi route and the Soe-Yaksa trek. The proximity of Jomolhari and the surrounding glaciers makes the gewog a waypoint for high-mountain trekkers, even as yak herding — the mainstay of the resident community — faces pressures from climate change and rural out-migration.

References

1. Soe Gewog — Dzongkhag Administration, Thimphu (Royal Government of Bhutan)
2. WeChat brings home missing yaks in Soe — Bhutan Media Foundation
3. Yak herding on the decline in highlands of Thimphu — Kuensel