Weekend getaway- Royal Botanical Park

Ever since I knew about this park from the wonderful Passang from PaSsu Diary, I had wanted to camp at this place. For a thousandth time I have crossed this highway but never had the interest or the time (you may say it) to explore further into the woods, into the park. I have failed miserably in appreciating the best Mother Nature has to offer :(.

  

A 45 minutes drive away from the capital towards Punakha/Wangdue, the Royal Botanical Park in Lamperi spreads over 12,000 acres of protected land. It features a rhododendron garden; children’s play ground, a camping ground and information centre for visitors. It also has a cafeteria, biking trails and a beautiful lake, Baritsho Lake.  

The fateful day was on the last weekend. We had our supplies and tents packed for the night and in a group of six we ventured out into our adventure for the night. Just before closing, i.e at 5 pm we reached the park and after having to go around looking for the park manager, we had the permission to camp there for the night.  

Excited and all joyous we had our tent pitched and went around collecting firewood for the bonfire, leased out the boat and had a joyful ride and played in the children’s park. It was so wonderful to have the 12, 000 acres of park just to ourselves and for a moment I imagined myself being in the Garden of Eden, obviously the serpent must have been somewhere around, Shhhh!!! 

The cool weather and the serene environment was a real feast to the eyes, it had rained the previous night and the earth was still damp from the rain. This did not deter us from the camping mood. It was a perfect getaway after a rough week. 

Daylight soon gave way to nightfall and we had our bonfire ready. In the darkness you could feel the eerie sounds of the night. This must have freaked all of us and soon we were sharing the scary movies stories and stories of bear and the tigers LOL. After that no one wanted to stay back. Making the excuse of “it might rain”, we immediately packed our stuffs and silently sneaked out of the park towards Thimphu promising a mega comeback later in the month of autumn when the weather is warm and the sun is plentiful. Of course with a large group haha.You may start planning yours as well.