Wangchuck Centennial National Park in northern

Bhutan Bhutan (; dz, འབྲུག་ཡུལ་, Druk Yul ), officially the Kingdom of Bhutan,), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is situated in the Eastern Himalayas, between China in the north and India in the south. A mountainous ...

is the kingdom's largest

national park A national park is a nature park, natural park in use for conservation (ethic), conservation purposes, created and protected by national governments. Often it is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state dec ...

, spanning over five

districts A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivisions o ...

, occupying significant portions of northern Bumthang,

Lhuntse Lhuentse,is a town and headquarter of eponymous Lhuentse District in northeastern Bhutan. It is about 70 km from Mongar, 145 km from Trashigang and 452 km from the national capital Thimpu. Nearest airport is Yongphulla Airport 130 km away. Lhuen ...

, and

Wangdue Phodrang District Wangdue Phodrang District ( Dzongkha: དབང་འདུས་ཕོ་བྲང་རྫོང་ཁག་; Wylie: ''Dbang-'dus Pho-brang rdzong-khag''; previously spelled "Wangdi Phodrang") is a dzongkhag (district) of central Bhutan. This ...

s. It borders

Tibet Tibet (; ''Böd''; ) is a region in East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are some other ethnic groups such as Monpa people, ...

to the north and is bound by tributaries of the Wong Chhu (Raidāk) basin to the west. Wangchuck Centennial directly abuts

Jigme Dorji National Park The Jigme Dorji National Park (JDNP), named after the late Jigme Dorji Wangchuck, is the second-largest National Park of Bhutan. It occupies almost the entire Gasa District, as well as the northern areas of Thimphu District, Paro District, Puna ...

Bumdeling Wildlife Sanctuary The Bumdeling Wildlife Sanctuary (also spelled Bumdelling or Bomdeling), which contains the former Kulong Chu Wildlife Sanctuary, covers in northeastern Bhutan at elevations between and . The sanctuary covers most of Trashiyangtse District ...

, and

Phrumsengla National Park Phrumsengla National Park (Dzongkha: ཕུརམ་སེང་ལ་རྒྱལ་ཡོངས་གླིང་ག), formerly Thrumshingla National Park, in central Bhutan covers just over across four districts of Bhutan, districts, but pr ...

in northern Bhutan, and is further connected to

Jigme Singye Wangchuck National Park Jigme Singye Wangchuck National Park (formerly Black Mountains National Park) covers an area of in central Bhutan. It protects a large area of the Black Mountains, a sub−range of the Himalayan Range System. The park occupies most of the Tro ...

in central Bhutan via

biological corridor A wildlife corridor, habitat corridor, or green corridor is an area of habitat connecting wildlife populations separated by human activities or structures (such as roads, development, or logging). This allows an exchange of individuals between ...

s. Thus, most of northern Bhutan is part of these protected areas. Wangchuck Centennial was established on December 12, 2008 in honor of the

Wangchuck dynasty The Wangchuck dynasty () have held the hereditary position of Druk Gyalpo ("Dragon King") of Bhutan since 1907. Prior to reunification, the Wangchuck family had governed the district of Trongsa as descendants of Dungkar Choji. They eventually o ...

, founded in 1907. It contains headwaters of four major river systems: Punatsang Chhu/

Sankosh River Sankosh (also Mo Chu, and Svarnakosha) is a river that rises in northern Bhutan and empties into the Brahmaputra in the state of Assam in India. In Bhutan, it is known as the Puna Tsang Chu below the confluences of several tributaries near the ...

Mangde Chhu Mangde Chhu or Tongsa river flows in central Bhutan traversing roughly north–south. The river rises in Wangdue Phodrang district (or dzongkhag in Dzongkha), near Gangkhar Puensum, Bhutan's highest peak at . Bhutan's main east–west highway c ...

, Chamkhar Chhu, and

Kuri Chhu The Kuri Chhu, also known as the Lhozhag Xung Qu (tib. lho brag gzhung chu) or Norbu Lag Qu (tib. nor bu lag chu), is a major river of eastern Bhutan, that has formed a scenic valley with high peaks and steep hills. Kuri Chhu is a tributary of th ...

. Wangchuck Centennial also contains the various middle-Himalayan ecological biomes, ranging from blue pine forests to alpine meadows, at altitudes from to .

Administration

Head office

The National Park Head Office is located at Nasiphel in the upper Chamkhar Chu basin in

Bumthang District Bumthang District (Dzongkha: བུམ་ཐང་རྫོང་ཁག་; Wylie: ''Bum-thang rzong-khag'') is one of the 20 dzongkhag (districts) comprising Bhutan. It is the most historic dzongkhag if the number of ancient temples and sacred s ...

. It can be reachable by a 22km farmroad from Chamkhar town in Bumthang.

Field Offices

To cater to the large area the park covers, three range offices and two guard posts are established.

Flora and fauna

Flora

During a survey in October 2008, a total of 693 species of vascular plants were recorded from the National Park.

Fauna

Mammals

The park is known to be home to a total of 43 species of mammals and of which 8 are totally protected in Bhutan. This includes the

Royal Bengal Tiger The Bengal tiger is a population of the ''Panthera tigris tigris'' subspecies. It ranks among the biggest wild cats alive today. It is considered to belong to the world's charismatic megafauna. The tiger is estimated to have been present in ...

Snow Leopard The snow leopard (''Panthera uncia''), also known as the ounce, is a Felidae, felid in the genus ''Panthera'' native to the mountain ranges of Central Asia, Central and South Asia. It is listed as Vulnerable species, Vulnerable on the IUCN Red ...

Leopard The leopard (''Panthera pardus'') is one of the five extant species in the genus '' Panthera'', a member of the cat family, Felidae. It occurs in a wide range in sub-Saharan Africa, in some parts of Western and Central Asia, Southern Russia, a ...

Himalayan Black Bear The Himalayan black bear (''Ursus thibetanus laniger'') is a subspecies of the Asian black bear found in the Himalayas of India, Bhutan, Nepal, China, and Pakistan. Description It is distinguished from '' U. t. thibetanus'' by its longer, thicke ...

Leopard Cat The leopard cat (''Prionailurus bengalensis'') is a small wild cat native to continental South, Southeast, and East Asia. Since 2002 it has been listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List as it is widely distributed although threatened by hab ...

Himalayan Musk Deer The white-bellied musk deer or Himalayan musk deer (''Moschus leucogaster'') is a musk deer species occurring in the Himalayas of Nepal, Bhutan, India, Pakistan and China. It is listed as endangered on the IUCN Red List because of overexploitatio ...

Himalayan Serow The Himalayan serow (''Capricornis sumatraensis thar''), also known as the thar ( , ), is a subspecies of the mainland serow native to the Himalayas. It was previously considered its own species, as ''Capricornis thar''. It is the official state ...

and the

Bhutan Takin The Bhutan Takin (''Budorcas taxicolor whitei'') is a vulnerable subspecies of Takin native to Bhutan, North Eastern India, Western part of China, and Tibet. The main threats to the Bhutan Takin are hunting and habitat loss. Range, behaviour, an ...

. The

Tibetan Wolf The Himalayan wolf (''Canis lupus chanco'') is a canine of debated taxonomy. It is distinguished by its genetic markers, with mitochondrial DNA indicating that it is genetically basal to the Holarctic gray wolf, genetically the same wolf as the ...

is seen only in this park in Bhutan.

Birds

The survey in 2008 recorded a total of 250 bird species in the park.

Butterflies

42 species of butterflies have been recorded from within the National Park and from the nearby buffer zones.

Tourist Attraction

Nomads Festival

This is a two days event organized by the National Park in collaboration with various stakeholders where the nomadic highlander from various parts of Bhutan gather to celebrate their unique culture and tradition

Bumthang Cultural Trek

This is an easy 3 days trek where numerous Buddhist temples are on the way and a pass called Phebila.

Drapham Dzong Ruins

Drapham Dzong in the upper Chokhor valley is an important archaeological site in Bhutan. It was built by Chokhor Deb in the second half of the 16th century.

Dhur Tshachu

The Dhur Tshachu or the Dhur hotspring is located on the popular Snow Man Trek II which takes 25 days. The trek starts from Paro in western Bhutan and ends in Dhur village in Bumthang. This hotspring is visited by people for its therapeutic values. There are seven different hotsprings within the area. The hotspring lies on the bank of the upper Mangdechu. Though this hotspring is part of a major trekking route, it can be reached from two places without taking the 25 days snowman trek route. One route starts from Sephu in Wangdue Phodrang and another starts from Dhur Village in Bumthang.

References

{{authority control National parks of Bhutan Protected areas of Bhutan Protected areas established in 2008 Bumthang District Gasa District Lhuntse District Trongsa District Wangdue Phodrang District