Bhutan, the last Buddhist Kingdom in the Himalayas, the hidden kingdom, Shangri-La. A place of mystery, where the spiritually unknown is revered and everpresent, where mountains are unclimbed and happiness is a state celebrated and eversought. Such is this small nation in the Eastern Himalayas as presented and thought to be by the few who ever come to know about its existence. Such perception and ideals are reason enough to seek a journey to its surprisingly well protected culture and way of life, but a more tangible, simpler reason to visit has been found: Bhutan is, in many ways, the quietest country in the world.
Through a noble curiosity to seek comfort in travel, the African travel company Go2Africa conducted a study of every country using a methodology they developed called the Noise-Free Nations Index. The index scores nations out of a hundred based on their level of population density, tourist density, rural land, protected land, vehicle density, airport density, and train density, to determine how quiet they are for the people within them. Their research discovered that Bhutan, with a score of 89.44, is the quietest nation on Earth. Numerous factors can be attributed to this ranking and score, from 70 percent of the country being forested, the Himalayan terrain, the strict Sustainable Development Fee that limits tourist numbers via price, our low population of around 800,000 Bhutanese, or our lack of trains. The truth of the matter, however, presents Bhutan, the Land of the Thunder Dragon, Druk Yul, the small nation sandwiched in between the giant states of China and India, as a greatest country in the world for those who wish to escape the constant and often terrifying noise of today, for those who wish to hear themselves and observe the world as they may see it themselves. That Bhutan is a place, beyond it all, of peace through a quiet and familiar comfort.