Yeti Highway
Posted by: Loren Coleman on December 12th, 2010
The Abominable Snowpeople, Abominable Snowman, or Yetis have been in the news recently.
First up, it seems that locals in the habitat of the Yeti are excited by a new road being built through their area. According to the Hindustan Times, the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) of Arunachal Pradesh (a state of India, located in the far northeast) is developing a road through Bhutan to have faster access to the western district of Tawang, around 550 km northeast of Assam capital Guwahati.
In close proximity to this road is Bhutan’s Sakteng Wildlife Sanctuary — a 650 sq km reserve created specifically to protect the habitat of the Yeti or Abominable Snowman, known in Bhutan as the Migoi, or strong man.
This road via Udalguri in Assam connects the Bhutanese district of Trashigang before terminating at Tawang. “This road is expected to be completed in three years,” Tawang deputy commissioner Gamli Padu said.
There is a sense of fear among the locals. But they are intrigued by the possibility of this unknown cryptid, this legendary monster, known for scaring campers, boosting tourism in Tawang.
“We fear the yeti,” says Tawang-based trader Yishe Jungney. “But we know it means no harm unlike them,” he added, pointing towards Tibet.
The BRO, though, has refused to talk about the road through the tiny Buddhist country. “We are only working on a shortcut to Tawang that reduces travel from Guwahati by 93 km,” said a senior officer of the 14 Border Roads Task Force based in Tenga, 205 km south of Tawang.
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Loren Coleman no longer writes for Cryptomundo. His archived posts remain here at Cryptomundo.
When I was recently on expedition ,one of the things I and the rest of the team postulated about was whether the Mande-Burung travelled over the forested areas between Bhutan and India. I have been wanting to go to that part of Bhutan for years,but it isn’t exactly cheap in that country!