Two national parks flank Gelephu, including the country’s first, Royal Manas National Park, where travellers will soon come face to face with elephants, tigers, rhinos, clouded leopards, golden langurs and more than 360 species of birds. Among them is the critically endangered white-bellied Heron, half of whose entire world population resides in Bhutan.
“Southern Bhutan, where mountains give way to jungle, is a hidden sanctuary for the natural world,” said Matthew DeSantis, founder of the luxury travel outfitter MyBhutan, based in Thimphu. “The south has become a haven for endangered species. [It’s] one of the wildest places on our planet.”
Like so much in Bhutan, the nation is developing Gelephu’s tourism infrastructure with spirituality in mind. Buddhist masters are being invited to submit proposals for retreat centres and temples to be built in GMC. Meanwhile, Bhutan’s Central Monastic Body has proposed a dzong (a monastic and administrative fortress) with guest accommodations and spaces for dance and sacred Buddhist study.
Officials are hoping the new airport will lure hikers too. The newly announced 168km Lotus-Born Trail (opening in 2028) near Gelephu connects Bhutan’s subtropical south to its spiritual heartland. Beginning in the lowland forests where golden langurs and one-horned rhinos live, the eight-day journey climbs nearly 3,500m through rhododendron forests to alpine ridgelines in central Bhutan, and follows the footsteps of Guru Rinpoche, who brought Buddhism to Bhutan.
Southern Bhutan is home to the nation’s longest river network
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