Black-Necked Crane Festival

Dawazam farms the remote Phobjikha Valley in Bhutan. She rises at dawn to tend potatoes, wheat or turnips on her family’s land. 

But once her agricultural tasks are done, she picks up her mobile phone to tend to a far more lucrative crop -- tourists. 

For generations the lives of farmers here have been dictated by the seasons as crops come and go. But now they’re making a play for traveler dollars too.

Dawazam, 48, is one of the leading lights of the Black-Necked Crane Festival, an event created and launched in 1998 with the sole aim of pulling in tourists.

It didn’t come about from greed. The idea is to help conserve both the rare cranes and local communities.

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