Karma Dorji (selfie with niece Kuru in Bhutan's Laya highland region)

Tutored by Buddhist monks at a young age, Karma attended high school in India and studied journalism in Germany. In the early to mid-1990s, he traveled to all 20 districts of Bhutan to cover His Majesty the Fourth King Jigme Singye Wangchuck’s visionary five-year plan for Gross National Happiness.

Following the footsteps of Bhutan’s visionary king, Karma trekked the remotest corners of the country, meeting many extraordinary people and profiling their lives in what he calls “the most formative years" of his life. In 1995, Karma received the United Nations Dag Hammarskjöld Award for Journalism from the UN Correspondents Association. Because of his unique experiences, Karma began sharing the beautiful landscape, people, and stories of Bhutan with the wider world of travelers in 1999.

BI-CULTURAL
Today, Karma divides his time between Bhutan and the rugged central coast of California (south of Big Sur Highway 1), where his American wife, Linda Wolff, grew up. Karma and Linda have two sons: Mila Dorji, a Yale Public Health School graduate who is currently Public Health Analyst for Direct Relief, the global humanitarian relief organization; and Shey Dorji, a graduate of marine science from UC Santa Barbara, working to mitigate the effects of climate change through marine research and special projects for start-up Symbrosia. Both young men are avid hikers, surfers, and free divers. They were raised bi-culturally in Bhutan and coastal California.

BOOK & LECTURES ON BHUTAN
Karma has lectured on travel and Bhutanese culture at the Smithsonian in Washington D.C., and at the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco (The Raven Crown: Royal Scepter of Bhutan’s Buddhist Kings). Karma’s book Dreaming of Prayer Flags: Stories and Images from Bhutan was released in July 2008 and launched at the Bhutan Folklife Festival, an event co-sponsored by the Smithsonian Institution and the Royal Government of Bhutan.

“Karma carries in him the spiritual heritage and wisdom of his Buddhist ancestors” ~Elvi Ruottinnen, Founder, Earthpeace Communications, (1995)