HIKE TO KILA GONPA

Drive to Chelela pass (3810m) the highest road pass in Bhutan through blue pines and rhododendron (Etho Metho) forests for 35km. On a clear day the view sweep away to snow-dome of Bhutan’s second highest peak Mt Jhomolhari (7314m). After a bracing walk along the prayer flag bedecked ridge, you can hike to Kila Goenpa for about two hours through the thick forest of rhodrodendron and siver fir. The hike even swells more with chirping of different alpine bird spieces like Himalayan Monal and Satyr Tragopan.

The vista of the vast Paro valley enfolds in front of the Kila Meditation Centre which is nestled on a cliff. The horizon stretches on. The scenery is a balm to the heart.

The meditation centre was founded in the 14th Century by Chogyal Norbu, a saint from Tibet. Before it became a meditation centre, it served as a shedra, the Buddhist school. The nuns, after they complete their studies, return to Kila Goenpa to enter the three-year retreat. The centre is today home to 6 nuns (including those entering the three-year-long retreat) and a lama.

Hiking in the unspoiled wilderness of Bhutan, where silence and solitude reign, rewards us with a true feeling of accomplishment and discovery, and creates a memory that lasts forever.