A small country Nepal located between India and China. Despite its small size Nepal has the most varied geography and cultural diversity on earth.
The unique topography encompasses Himalayan peaks, glaciers, rivers, hills, valleys, and Terai all existing within just 885km width. Himalayas, the highest mountain range on earth is in Nepal including world’s highest peak Mt. Everest. It has the deepest gorge in the world -Kali Gandaki Gorge, highest lakes, mountain passes and a collection of largest glaciers in the world. The country boasts of tropical forests in the south, evergreen temperate forests and valleys in the mid-hills and alpine vegetation in the snowline Himalayan valleys. Almost 33% of the land is covered by forests. The southern jungle of Nepal is home to many endangered animals including rhinos, tigers, elephants, bears, crocodiles etc.
Nepal is inhabited by over 100 ethnic communities having their own unique culture and dialect. Nepal is also the birthplace of Lord Buddha and the brave Gurkha soldiers.
There are altogether four world heritage sites in Nepal: Kathmandu Valley, Lumbini, Chitwan National Park and Sagarmatha (Everest) National Park. Kathmandu Valley alone has three medieval palaces, 2000 years old Buddhist stupas and Hindu shrines and a civilization dating back to tens of thousands of year.
Nepal has for centuries been a center of Eastern Philosophy. Sages like Buddha, Ved Vyas, Milarepa were born in Nepal and spend their lives propagating the Eastern knowledge and philosophy.
With the beginning of mountaineering, Nepal opened up for tourism in the 1950s. In 1953, Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay Sherpa became the first human beings to climb Mt. Everest. Today over a million tourists visit this country for mountaineering, trekking, whitewater rafting, cannoning, Bungee jumping, paragliding, rock climbing, culture and city tours, pilgrimage tours and so forth.