A ground-breaking new luxury helicopter safari in Bhutan reveals parts of this isolated Himalayan kingdom rarely encountered by the outside world.
Bhutan, The Land of the Thunder Dragon, remains high on many intrepid travellers’ bucket lists, and for good reason. This mountainous kingdom is blissfully nestled in a time warp, where traditional garb is the national norm, where roads are at best creases on the map, and where many communities remain isolated from the rest of the world. Until now.
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A new Scenic Heli-Adventure from Como Hotels & Resorts has given access to some of the country’s most remote communities, thanks to a new collaboration with the Royal Bhutan Helicopter Service, the country’s fledgling air ambulance fleet, that offers well-heeled travellers two of the most captivating helicopter flights on the planet.
Of course, Bhutan takes some getting to. Only two airlines, including national carrier Druk Air, fly to the Himalayan kingdom, with only 12 pilots certified to land at Paro, the country’s only international airport. Considered one of the most challenging landings in the world, pilots are required to conduct a series of nail-biting turns as they skim above the valley floor, brightly-painted homes racing past on the steep slopes seemingly just feet from the wingtips, before slamming on the breaks upon touchdown. It’s a brilliant way to arrive at the top of the world.
The six-night Scenic Heli-Adventure includes a duo of helicopter flights as well as spectacular drives between three key Bhutanese valleys, offering access to Como’s two beautiful properties, Como Uma Punakha and Como Uma Paro, as well as some of the country’s most important shrines and landmarks, from Rinpung Dzong, a 300-year-old Bhutanese fort overlooking Paro; and the stupas of Druk Wangyal Chortens, atop the 10,000ft Dochula Pass; to the temple of the Divine Madman (who was said to have forced evil spirits into submission with his…masculinity).
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You’ll also have the chance to witness the action of the Dzongkha pitch, home to the national sport of archery, where competing team jostle and taunt each other down the length of the field in an artful tradition called kha shed that’s designed to distract archers and stoked with more than a few drops of local ara rice wine.
The first helicopter flight, between Paro and Punakha aboard a seven-passenger Airbus H130 operated by one of two helicopter pilots in the kingdom, departs Paro’s airport and climbs north above verdant rice terraces, bound for the remote village of Laya. From the air, passengers are afforded spectacular views of the Nalanda Monastery, built on a vertiginous ridge in 1757, before descending to Laya, a hidden enclave besieged by snow-topped peaks.
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Nestled more than 4,100 meters above sea level in the foothills of the Himalayas, Laya is framed by some of the kingdom’s highest peaks, including Tongshanjiabu, at 7,207 meters. This remote settlement is home to the semi-nomadic Layap people, a relatively affluent community that harvests cordyceps, a rare fungus used in traditional Tibetan and Chinese medicine.
Foreigners are extremely rare here (it’s a 15-day hike from Paro), as are helicopters, so expect to be greeted by curious locals with trains of pack ponies and mules in tow. After a picnic lunch, it’s back into the helicopter for the flight south to Punakha Valley, soaring over the sacred peaks of Jigme Dorji National Park, home to snow and clouded leopards, Himalayan black bear, red pandas, and ancient glaciers, en route to Como Uma Punakha.
In Punakha, there’s time for Como’s iconic spa cuisine, signature hot stone massages, and even white water rafting on the Mo Chu river, before you take to the skies again, this time bound for Paro. You’ll pass over the near-inaccessible ‘Utsho Tsho,’ or Turquoise Lakes of the Labatama Valley, and soar over nomadic yak-herding communities and frozen alpine pools as you descend into the Paro Valley, pausing for the ultimate photo opp at Paro Taktsang, the iconic Tiger’s Nest monastery, to which you’ll climb the next day.
From US$27,280 for two, including all meals and six nights’ lodging at COMO Uma Paro and COMO Uma Punakha.
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