What was once a dense and impenetrable forest in Chuzergang is now emerging as a thriving wildlife habitat. At Dzombabi, volunteer-driven efforts and long-term ecological planning under the Gelephu Mindfulness City Project are beginning to draw wildlife back, offering a model for coexistence between people and nature.
Today, the landscape at Dzombabi has changed. Cleared, reshaped, and replanted, Dzombabi has been transformed into a functional habitat through the efforts of thousands of volunteers working across hundreds of acres.
Once the land was opened up, planting began. Banana, maize, Napier grass, bamboo, tapioca, and sugarcane were introduced, species carefully selected to provide food and support for wildlife. The once overgrown forest floor is now covered with young vegetation that is beginning to serve its purpose.
At the centre of the site is a waterhole, supported by a two-kilometre channel that was revived and cleared to ensure a steady flow of water throughout the year, creating a reliable resource for wildlife.
Dasho Dr Lotay Tshering, Governor, GMC said, “In the plans of the Gelephu Mindfulness City, we have thought about the habitat of all wildlife, places for them to stay, food to eat, and water to drink. When all of this is made available, it becomes a natural habitat. In the future, this can become a model for how development should be done.”
While volunteers have completed their work and left the site, foresters continue to monitor the area regularly, tracking wildlife movement through camera traps and field visits.
That monitoring is now showing results. Since April 16, a herd of around seven elephants has been regularly visiting the waterhole. Camera trap footage has also captured barking deer, hog deer, wild hare, and peafowl feeding, drinking, and moving through the habitat.
Phub Dhendup, CFO of Divisional Forest Office in Sarpang “While monitoring the hidden cameras that we have here in the site, we have witnessed that the elephants and other wildlife have started to come here and played at the waterhole site and drank the water. This means we have been successful with the works that we all have done so far.”
Dzombabi is designed for all wildlife, with a particular focus on elephants. Elephants require large quantities of food and water daily, up to 150 to 200 kilograms of food and around 300 litres of water. In the absence of these resources, they often move into nearby villages, leading to human-wildlife conflict.
CFO Phub Dhendup said “The area is part of the GMC’s ecological corridor. With guidance from the Governor’s office and insights from the ERM, we have conducted the habitat enrichment activities in the ecological corridor area. The area is about 325 acres in total and this place will provide immediate relief to the wildlife and will also help reduce the human elephant and human wildlife conflict in the community.”
The natural plateau of the Chuzergang hills is expected to guide wildlife movement, while the site forms part of a larger ecological corridor along the Mao River.
In time, it will connect to Royal Manas National Park and Phibsoo Wildlife Sanctuary, allowing wildlife greater freedom to move.
Future infrastructure is also being planned with wildlife movement in mind, including the 14.3-kilometre highway from Gelephu to Tareythang. Sections of the road passing through the Dzombabi habitat will be built with raised structures and dedicated wildlife crossings to ensure safe and uninterrupted animal movement.
Dzombabi, which locals say means “a place where people meet,” had long become inaccessible as the forest thickened. Today, it is once again becoming a meeting place, this time for wildlife.
The return of wildlife to Dzombabi highlights one key message, conservation efforts, when done right, do work.
Passang Dorji
