The Kingdom of Bhutan has adopted a very cautious approach to tourism in an effort to avoid the negative impact of tourism on the country’s culture and environment. All tourists must travel on a pre-planned, pre-paid, guided package tour through a registered tour operator in Bhutan or their counterparts abroad. The rate is fixed and controlled by the government.

There are still plenty of takers wanting to explore the breathtaking terrain of this astonishing country. The tourism industry in Bhutan is founded on the principle of sustainability, meaning that tourism must be environmentally and ecologically friendly, socially and culturally acceptable and economically viable. The number of tourists visiting Bhutan is also regulated to a manageable level because of the lack of infrastructure.

The Bhutanese name for Bhutan, Druk Yul, means ’Land of the Thunder Dragon’. Existing archives trace Bhutanese history back to AD450, although many of the intervening events remain a mystery. Guru Rinpoche is believed to have brought Mahayana Buddhism to Bhutan from Tibet in the eighth century. Bhutan, the world’s last Buddhist kingdom, first became a coherent political entity around the 17th century and has never been conquered or ruled by another foreign power.

Trade agreements with India have been essential to the Bhutanese economy since the 1940s. Yet despite its close relations with Delhi, Bhutan has occasionally switched its support to its other great neighbour, China. Over the years, relations with China have been dominated by the issue of Tibet; thousands of refugees entered Bhutan after the Chinese occupation of Tibet in 1959 and the country has become a centre for Tibetan exile politics.

The refugee issue also dominates relations with Bhutan’s other neighbour, Nepal. Tens of thousands of Bhutanese refugees are housed in camps in the east of the country. Most are ethnic Nepalis whose citizenship is in dispute. (The Bhutanese population is divided between two main ethnic groups – the Nepalis and the Drupka.) The Nepali government wants them to return to Bhutan; the Bhutanese refuse to take them.

38,364 sq km (14,812 sq miles).

2.3 million (2006 estimate). It should be noted that population estimates vary hugely for Bhutan - some are as low as around 810,000.

59.4 per sq km.

Thimphu. Population: 35,000 (UN estimate 2003).

Constitutional Monarchy.

Dzongkha is the official language. A large number of dialects are spoken, owing to the physical isolation of many villages. Sharchop Kha, from eastern Bhutan, is the most widely spoken. Nepali is common in the south of the country. English has been the language of educational instruction since 1964 and is widely spoken.

The Tantric form of Mahayana Buddhism (Drukpa Kagyu) is the state religion; the majority of Bhutanese people follow the Drukpa school of the Kagyupa sect. Those living in the south are mainly Hindu.

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The lifestyle, manners and customs of the Bhutanese are in many respects unique to the area. The strongest influence on social conventions is the country’s state religion, and everywhere one can see the reminders of Buddhism and the original religion of Tibet, Bonism. There are no rigid clan systems and equal rights exist between men and women. The majority of the Bhutanese live an agrarian lifestyle. In 1989, it was made compulsory for citizens to wear national dress in public; the men wear a gho, a robe resembling a dressing gown with upturned white silk cuffs and knee-high socks, whilst the women wear a kira, a sari-like garment that is furnished with ornate brooches and worn over a wrap-around skirt. Bhutan has outlawed the sale of tobacco products, and also banned smoking in public places. The political leaders of the country have also been religious leaders historically. For years the country has deliberately isolated itself from visitors, and has only recently opened up to the outside world, a policy which is now to some extent being reversed. But Bhutan continues to bear the hallmarks of seemingly peculiar customs borne from legacy and legend. Giant phalluses can often be seen painted onto walls, etc, in order to ward off evil spirits. Dogs are regarded as being the highest animal lifeform, with the best chance of being reborn as humans. They are treated with reverence and often run freely and noisily through villages. Climbing some of the Himalayan peaks is banned due to the belief that the mountains are the repository of the gods. Similarly, swimming, or even throwing stones into rivers, is forbidden: it is thought to disturb the souls of deities.

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King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck since 2006.