Bumdra Trek

Day 1: Sang Choekor Monastery – Bumdra Monastery
Hike to the yak pasture below Bumdra Monastery from Sang Choekor Buddhist College (2,800 m). The adventure starts with a drive up to the Sang Choekor early in the morning to begin the climb to Bumdra. A ridge’s initial, one to two-hour ascent can be strenuous, but the majority of it will be spent in cool shade. When we arrive at a clearing with prayer flags, we will be treated to a breathtaking panorama over the Paro and Do Chhu valleys. The Chhoe Chhoe Tse Lhakhang (temple), which is perched on a mountainside, is a 1- to 2-hour hike away. When we reach the final, high climb on the trek, a temple will be seen with views of the Paro airport and the snow-capped Himalayas. We hike through the ancient forest for around 40 minutes before arriving at a large meadow with sacred chortens and prayer flags after another 20 minutes of hiking past ruins and flapping prayer flags. At Bumdra Monastery (also known as the cave of a thousand prayers), we’ll stay the night.
Before returning for evening, we can explore the monastery after lunch and go to the peak’s northernmost (4000m) point for a greater perspective of the Himalayas

Day 2: Bumdra Monastery – Tiger Nest
It is time to either head back into the valley immediately after a substantial meal or wait for a while to take it all in and possibly put some prayer flags of our own. The monks’ winding trail eventually leads us back into the old pine and rhododendron woodland. We see the golden temple roofs below after about an hour or two of descent, and we soon encounter the first of many as we make our way back from the wilderness.
Before arriving at the gardens of Sangtopelri (Heaven on Earth), where you can fearlessly stare over the edge and directly down onto the elaborate Taktsang roofs in the cliff far below, the trail twists across the mountainside between the monasteries and temples. After an hour, we arrive at Taktsang’s gates and can see across the gorge to where there is a steep slope to a waterfall and an ascent on steps that leads to the Tiger’s Nest itself.
Beginning in Sangachhoekhor Shedra. It takes about three and a half hours to hike. The height of the Bumdra campground is 3,800 metres above sea level. On the way, we make a brief ‘Tshamkhang’ or hermitage break for lunch. After lunch, it will just take us an hour to reach our campsite, giving us plenty of time to stroll about and explore. If you’re up for it, we can visit an ancient sky burial place higher up the mountain top after taking a tea break at the camp site.
A sky burial is a funeral custom in which the body of the deceased is left on top of a mountain to rot in the open air or to be devoured by scavenger animals, particularly carrion birds. The purpose of the sky burial is simply to dispose of the body in the most charitable manner possible and to give even in death, but it is no longer used.)