I've been meaning to write a short review because I visited Motithang back in January. We didn't see many other overseas visitors there, and international tourism to Bhutan continues to be prohibitively expensive, but I really enjoyed the 90 minutes we spent at Motithang.
The main attraction obviously are the takin (Budorcas taxicolor), which as the name implies is why the preserve exists in the first place. There was a herd of approximately a dozen animals, and my understanding is that they have had breeding occur in the past year. Access to the enclosure is through a slightly elevated walkway, which provides good visibility of the animals on both sides of the path. (Relative to the takins at Pyin Oo Lwin botanical gardens in Myanmar, the visibility of the animals was much better at Motithang.)
Intermingled with the takins, there were a few yak (Bos grunniens) and several red muntjac (Muntiacus vaginalis) and sambar (Rusa unicolor). Again there was good visibility of the yak and muntjac, but the sambar seemed to prefer remaining higher up the slope in the shade of the trees, so they were harder to see. We spent about 45 minutes lingering on this path, watching the takin; the walkway was currently being extended up the hill, but it wasn't clear if that's to have a larger overall paddock or more discrete enclosures.
From the far end of the walkway (or as far as it went with the construction work), we retraced our steps to a fork in the path, which cuts across the paddock to a side exit onto a public footpath. On the way, there's a small enclosure of wild boar (Sus scrofa) and individual cages beneath the path for two emblematic Bhutanese ground-dwelling birds: Himalayan monal (Lophophorus impejanus) and Satyr tragopan (Tragopan satyra). Although the bird enclosures were quite small, and visibility wasn't ideal, we were able to see them through the fencing - and the male monal's plumage is absolutely beautiful.
From this side exit, most visitors were taking the path straight back to the entrance, but if you turn the other way then you can follow the public footpath up the hill following the external fence of the preserve. And I strongly recommend doing that because there are several distinctively Himalayan species which were too far away from the walkway inside the preserve to be seen clearly, but were very visible through the external fence: bharal (Psuedois nayaur), Himalayan goral (Naemorhedus goral) and mainland serow (Capricornis sumatraensis).
Overall, we really enjoyed our visit. The preserve is small and basic, but the animals generally had access to a significant area of space. The main paddock is extensive, with rolling terrain and a stream running through the middle. With the area being heavily wooded with pines, it's a pleasant space to walk around even before you see the animals. Previous reviews have complained that the entry price is quite high just to see takins. In practice I suspect most people able to afford tourism in Bhutan are probably not too likely to be concerned about the cost of tickets to enter the preserve, but adding multiple species of birds, goat-antelope and deer has created a much broader visitor experience. (I've seen reports that it's intended to add red panda also.) Having takin, yak, goral, serow and bharal in a single location essentially allows a visitor to see all of Bhutan's bovids at once.
Unrelated to the review above, later on in our trip I spent a very long day on winding Bhutanese roads trying to see Gee's golden langur (Trachypithecus geei) in the wild. My guide had warned me several times that we might not be successful, but we got very lucky and had a couple of hours watching a group foraging in trees below the road on a steep hillslope!
The main attraction obviously are the takin (Budorcas taxicolor), which as the name implies is why the preserve exists in the first place. There was a herd of approximately a dozen animals, and my understanding is that they have had breeding occur in the past year. Access to the enclosure is through a slightly elevated walkway, which provides good visibility of the animals on both sides of the path. (Relative to the takins at Pyin Oo Lwin botanical gardens in Myanmar, the visibility of the animals was much better at Motithang.)
Intermingled with the takins, there were a few yak (Bos grunniens) and several red muntjac (Muntiacus vaginalis) and sambar (Rusa unicolor). Again there was good visibility of the yak and muntjac, but the sambar seemed to prefer remaining higher up the slope in the shade of the trees, so they were harder to see. We spent about 45 minutes lingering on this path, watching the takin; the walkway was currently being extended up the hill, but it wasn't clear if that's to have a larger overall paddock or more discrete enclosures.
From the far end of the walkway (or as far as it went with the construction work), we retraced our steps to a fork in the path, which cuts across the paddock to a side exit onto a public footpath. On the way, there's a small enclosure of wild boar (Sus scrofa) and individual cages beneath the path for two emblematic Bhutanese ground-dwelling birds: Himalayan monal (Lophophorus impejanus) and Satyr tragopan (Tragopan satyra). Although the bird enclosures were quite small, and visibility wasn't ideal, we were able to see them through the fencing - and the male monal's plumage is absolutely beautiful.
From this side exit, most visitors were taking the path straight back to the entrance, but if you turn the other way then you can follow the public footpath up the hill following the external fence of the preserve. And I strongly recommend doing that because there are several distinctively Himalayan species which were too far away from the walkway inside the preserve to be seen clearly, but were very visible through the external fence: bharal (Psuedois nayaur), Himalayan goral (Naemorhedus goral) and mainland serow (Capricornis sumatraensis).
Overall, we really enjoyed our visit. The preserve is small and basic, but the animals generally had access to a significant area of space. The main paddock is extensive, with rolling terrain and a stream running through the middle. With the area being heavily wooded with pines, it's a pleasant space to walk around even before you see the animals. Previous reviews have complained that the entry price is quite high just to see takins. In practice I suspect most people able to afford tourism in Bhutan are probably not too likely to be concerned about the cost of tickets to enter the preserve, but adding multiple species of birds, goat-antelope and deer has created a much broader visitor experience. (I've seen reports that it's intended to add red panda also.) Having takin, yak, goral, serow and bharal in a single location essentially allows a visitor to see all of Bhutan's bovids at once.
Unrelated to the review above, later on in our trip I spent a very long day on winding Bhutanese roads trying to see Gee's golden langur (Trachypithecus geei) in the wild. My guide had warned me several times that we might not be successful, but we got very lucky and had a couple of hours watching a group foraging in trees below the road on a steep hillslope!