Buli Tsho
Buli Tsho is a two-hectare lake in thick forest south of Buli village, in Nangkor Gewog — a rough forest road and about fifteen minutes on foot from where the driving stops. Allow an hour there. It is closed to visitors for roughly three months every autumn.
Why is Buli Tsho closed in autumn?
Because of the harvest. The community shuts the lake for about three months a year — “during harvest season from September to November”, in the words of the Nangkor Gup, the elected head of the gewog — on the understanding that disturbing the water while the crop is coming in brings calamity on the villages below.
How long it runs is not settled. Three months is the account we trust most, because it comes from the gewog itself; other tellings give two months, or the eighth Bhutanese month alone. Ask us before you plan an autumn visit — the dates are set locally and they move with the lunar calendar.
There are also restrictions on who approaches on a given day — anyone recently bereaved or who has handled a body among them. Your guide will raise it; it is not something to work out at the gate.
Who is the lake?
Tshomen Kuntu Zangmo, also called Buli Menmo — the guardian deity of Kheng Buli, and the lake is understood as her palace rather than as her home.
She is described everywhere as half woman, lower half snake. Tshomen is usually Englished as “mermaid”, and the translation is fair enough; the picture it gives you is not.
The story has her arrive from Tibet in the 17th century, following her brother, who became the Buli Ponpo — the local chieftain. In the telling people give most often she took a night’s shelter in a village house, was seen once in her true form, and was gone by morning, leaving a butter churn behind. The household prospered from then on. Buli’s people still make offerings and hang khadar for her, for prosperity and against sickness.
What is actually there?
A small lake, ducks on it, and a made path around it. The gewog has built footpaths, put in bins and fenced the water, and there is a gate with a caretaker. People come to worship rather than to sightsee, and locals read the lake’s brightness: if the colour goes dark and dull, it is taken as an inauspicious sign.
There is a small fee collected by the gewog at the lake, and it pays for the rituals and offerings made there. Entrance fees are included in every tour we run, so it is not something you handle yourself.
How high is it?
We don’t publish a figure, and that is deliberate. The altitude given for Buli Tsho everywhere online is 1,372 metres — and at the exact coordinate those same sources give for the lake, two independent elevation models read about 1,580 metres. Two hundred metres apart, and nothing we can reach settles it, so the panel leaves it out rather than pick.
See things to do in Zhemgang for the rest of the district.
Tours that visit Zhemgang
Bird Watching Tour
Frequently asked questions
When is Buli Tsho closed?
For about three months every year, over the harvest — roughly September to November. The Nangkor Gup put it that way to BBS in 2019: the community does not disturb the lake while the crop is coming in. Accounts of the exact window differ — some give two months, one gives a single Bhutanese month — so if your trip falls in autumn, ask us before you build a day around it. There are also local rules about who may approach on any given day, including anyone recently bereaved or who has handled a body; your guide will ask.
How do you get to Buli Tsho?
A rough forest road, then about fifteen minutes on foot. The lake sits in thick forest at a place called Baer-pang, south of Buli village in Nangkor Gewog, and Buli is roughly 17 km east of Zhemgang town. There is a gate and a caretaker, made footpaths and a fence around the water — this is a visited place, not an abandoned one.
What is the story of Buli Tsho?
The lake is held to be the palace of Tshomen Kuntu Zangmo, also called Buli Menmo — a guardian deity described as half woman and half snake, not the fish-tailed mermaid the English word suggests. She is said to have come from Tibet in the 17th century, following her brother, who became the Buli Ponpo, the local chieftain. In the best-known telling she stayed a night in a village house, was glimpsed in her true form, and was gone by morning — leaving a butter churn behind, and the household prospered afterwards.
Is there an entry fee at Buli Tsho?
Entrance fees are included in every tour we run, so there is nothing for you to pay at the gate. There is a fee, though: the Nangkor Gewog Administration collects a small one, and it goes on the rituals and offerings made at the lake. The gewog office has also built the footpaths, put in bins and fenced the water.
Tailor-made travel
Begin your journey to the Last Shangri-La
Every Little Bhutan itinerary is private and tailor-made. Tell us what draws you to Bhutan — festivals, treks, monasteries, food — and we will design the journey around it.