15th Annual Black-necked Crane Festival, 2013

Come November 11^th and the Gangtey Gonpa Courtyard will be filled with local people and tourist to witness the 15^th Annual Black-necked Crane festival.

The festival will be organized by the Phobjikha Environment Management Committee (PEMC) involving the local people, schools and various institutions. These festivals is aimed at educating people about the need for conservation of the environment and the cranes and in the process garner the good will support of both the local people and the tourists.

The local communities, the monastic institution and the schools collaborate to present a variety of cultural performances including traditional masked and folk dances. The limelight of the festival is the locally choreographed crane dance performed by the local school children with grace and beauty.

The festival is celebrated coinciding with the birth anniversary of His Majesty the Fourth Druk Gyalpo Jigme Singye Wangchuck. The festival marks the arrival of the cranes in the valley.   The festival was organized first in 1998 by Royal Society for Protection of Nature to remind the local people about the importance of the conservation of the cranes and its habitats and also to generate some income to finance local conservation initiatives. Now the festival is organized by PEMC.

Starting last year, the PEMC introduced an entry fee of Nu. 500 for every tourist to help sustain the fund for the annual festival.  The fund will also be utilized by the committee to provide better services for the visitors who support the festival and to improve the festival programme.

Note: The BNC festival program schedule will be available on RSPN website after 10^th October 2013.