What's Special about Us
Druk Expeditions is a boutique tour agency, which focuses on sharing its vast local experience of Himalayan regions and countries. We, like you, value meaningful journeys to lands that open the heart and deepen understandings.

Based in the heart of New Delhi, India, Druk Expeditions is an amazing team of people, situated in even the most remote areas, who can offer you, unique and customizable trips to places such as Bhutan, Ladakh, Zanskar, Nepal, Tibet and most of India’s more interesting destinations like Kerala, the Golden Triangle, and the Buddhist circuit.

We are dedicated to offering our guests a safe and unforgettable experience. To do this we must be trustworthy, efficient, and offer the most comfortable available for your budget. Our personalized service creates customized itineraries that meet each person or group’s particular requirements.

Druk Expeditions has always had a spirit and soul at its heart. Its first founder, some 14 years ago now, was the late His Holiness Ngawang Jigme, the 9th Shabdrung of Bhutan. His diamond like spirit is carried at the heart of our agency to this day.

We believe travel is about having fun, bringing a deeper meaning and depth to our lives and being socially responsible to the communities in which we visit. We introduce our guests to local peoples and their traditions and in the future we will increasingly offer ways in which our guests can also give back to the places they travel. Druk Expeditions already supports Khachodling Trust – a spiritual and humanitarian organization working in the Himalayan regions. See www.khachodling.org

With so many wonderful places to see and experience we recommend you take a look through our destinations guide and our sample Druk Tours. Then contact us to talk further. We can personally customize a trip that meets your needs and interests.

Our Druk Expeditions Team

Honesty, integrity and the best possible service

Karma Sonam Gyatso – Manager

Karma has had the travel bug since he was very young. At the age of 6 he, like so many children of the high Himalayas, was sent to boarding school on the plains or for him it was in the lower hills of Himachaal. His family all lived in Ladakh and once a year he would get to travel the long journey home for the holidays. He remembers those journeys well – finally back home in the deep snow of Ladakh’s frozen winter, he enjoyed happy, cosy times with his large extended family - snowfights, Ladakhi stew, and momos with chilli sauce spread amidst long chats with his brothers, uncle, grandmother and aunts. Each year he came to explore different routes to home, or sometimes the family would gather in other Himalayan locations, like Manali or Jammu.

Nowadays, Karma’s maternal family often hosts a meal for our Druk Expeditions guests. Their modest home is set amidst an apricot orchard and guests enjoy warm hospitality, good food and a true Ladakhi kitchen – all the special things Karma loves about his native land. Travel has afforded him the opportunity to truly value the wisdom of his ancient culture and this is what he loves about his work with Druk – how sad he was when as a child he had forgotten his mother tongue because he lived so far away – now he is able to show others his beautiful land and culture high in the Himalayan mountains.

Karma is quiet, deep and efficient. He is the mainstay of our Druk team and keeps our office together with joy and diligence. He loves to play basketball and ping pong and was once a champion marathon runner! Must be all those days of being a young guide in those Himalayan mountains!

Karma feels he has found his home and life’s work at Druk – he always loved travel and serving people and here he gets to do that in a meaningful way.

Dhargyal – Ticketing Officer

Born in U Tsang Tibet in a small farming village, Dhargyal sometimes has to pinch himself to realize how far he has travelled in his life. As a boy Dhargyal lived on the highest plateau of the world – he played amidst long barley stems, and with yaks and cows, and most he remembers the many occasions of celebration where family and community came together to sing, dance, play archery and have horse races. As a boy he says, he felt so clearly how each family and community member, held a strong commitment and respect to their inner spiritual life - this, he carries with him wherever he travels.

Now, Dhargyal lives on the hot plain of India in one of the busiest cities of the world! Yet it is here that his strong, active and independent spirit has come to shine through. In India, he was, at first, cared for by his grandfather, a very learned Tibetan medicine doctor – a personal physician to His Holiness Dalai Lama. After the passing of his grandfather, he and the other 9 relatives who were watched over by him, were all taken care of by Tibetan Children’s Village in Dharamsala and Gopalpur.

As Dhargyal loves to cook he entered the food and beverage industry. Having learnt Indian, Chinese and many other styles, his personal favourites remain Tibetan momos and can you imagine – Japanese cuisine! Dhargyal can and has cooked delicious food anywhere and everywhere – he looks for good ingredients and is creative and talented - skills good to have on any journey!

Apart from travelling from the highest land to the low plains and loving the adventure of it all, Dhargyal loves sports and active activities – soccer, basketball, swimming and cricket, trekking and even gardening. Like everyone on our Druk team Dhargyal is passionate about his home and what its ancient wisdoms and culture have to teach us in this modern age. He values sharing this and he himself is a calm, steady, joyous and respectful person to have on our team.

Konchok Chokyi – Guide to Zanskar

Lauren Galvin, also known as Konchok Chokyi, has been living on and off in the Zanskar region of Ladakh since 2006. After her first trip to Zanskar as a volunteer English teacher at Khachodling nunnery, Lauren decided she wasn’t ready to leave the nuns after only 3 months. Instead, Lauren took a leave from her studies at Smith College, where she was studying philosophy, and remained in India for the next two years. She has spent every summer since 2006 and one very long winter in Zanskar, when roads close and communication with the outside world is nearly impossible. Since then, Lauren has become fluent in Zanskari, and has recently begun studying colloquial and classical Tibetan in order to read and translate Buddhist texts.

Lauren has lived closely with the Buddhist nuns in the area and acts as field officer for the NGO - Gaden Relief. Lauren is committed to improving the living conditions of nuns and lay women in Zanskar. She is also working on research projects that include oral histories of nuns and maternal health. Lauren enjoys trekking in the mountains, learning Buddhist texts and mediation, infusing Zanskari food with new ingredients and flavours, and learning about self-sufficiency techniques and appropriate technology such as passive solar building. She is a student of Khandro Thrinlay Chodon, the religious head of Khachodling nunnery in Zanskar, and the nunnery that she considers her home. She continues to serve Khandro-la and assist with the Khachodling projects especially in Zanskar.