Nepal

Nepal sits uneasily on the shoulder of the southern Himalaya, wedged between Tibet to the north and India to the south. In length and breadth, it’s just another small country, but in height it’s a world-beater.

From the low-lying plains of the Terai, the landscape soars to the peaks of the Himalaya, including cloud-hugging Mt Everest. In fact, Nepal boasts eight of the world’s 14 tallest mountains. As well as being the tallest mountains in the world, the Himalaya are also some of the youngest – they first rose about 50 million years ago and they’re still growing.

Between the Terai, along the southern border, and the Himalaya are the landslide-scarred gorges and lush green valleys of the Chure Hills and Mahabharat Range. The heavily cultivated land between the Mahabharat Range and the Indian border supports the bulk of the country’s population – the only towns of any size in the hills are Kathmandu, Patan, Bhaktapur and Pokhara.
Beyond the Himalaya are the high-altitude deserts of the Tibetan Plateau, one of the least populated areas on earth.