This month’s featured photography comes from photographer Kim Walker of UniquePhotoTours.com

Hidden high in the Himalayas, between northern India and Tibet, is Bhutan, a peaceful, idyllic country whose mantra is national happiness. Cliffside monasteries, medieval fortresses, lavish temples and Swiss Tudor farmhouses dot rural landscapes of terraced rice fields, mossy forests and snowy peaks. Isolated from the world by choice, Bhutan curbs modernization and mass tourism to protect its sacred heritage and preserve its culture. Only approved groups are permitted in this intriguing land where red-robed monks and villagers alike embrace ancient traditions, mythology, astrology and Buddism in their daily lives. The photo above is Taktsang, or Tiger’s Nest, one of the most sacred pilgrimage sites in the Himalayan World. The temple is perched on a granite cliff 2,000 feet above the valley floor. According to legend, Guru Rinpoche flew across the mountains on the back of a tigress to this ridge, meditated in a cave for three months, and converted the people of Paro Valley to Buddhism.