Geography

Nepal is a jagged rectangular shaped country landlocked by India in the South and China in the North. It is 885 km long from the east to west with an average width of 193 km from north to south. Many writers call Nepal a “tiny” country in comparison to its large & most-populous neighbors China & India.. Nepal ranks world’s 93rd by land area. However, the country is still 3rd largest country by land area in the SAARC region. Nepal is mostly a hilly country with 77% of land covered by rock, snow, and mountains.

Geographically, Nepal has been divided into three regions – the plains or the Terai, the mountains, and the Hills. Each region is unique – geographically, culturally, as well as in terms of vegetation & animal variety.


The Himalayas: The high Himalayas of Nepal is one of world’s youngest mountain systems formed by the collision of Indian plateau with the Tibetan (or Eurasian) plateau some 55 million years ago. One of the startling facts that the early mountaineers & trekkers encountered in the high Himalayas was the fossil rocks of sea creatures


 
The Hills: The middle hills of Nepal are found within a short area of about 60 km but they constitute the largest portion of total land area. The range between low lying Churia hills (610-1524 meters) and the high Mahabharata mountains that grow up to 4877 meters cover about 64 percent of Nepal’s land area. Majority of the large towns including the capital Kathmandu lie in this range. The vast and tricky mountains provided Nepal’s military strategist to keep themselves at an advantageous position in the wars with Britain & China.

The Tarai: Terai which is the extension of the Gangetic plains constitutes about 15% land area but provide more than 50% of the country’s food requirement. Lush dense tropical forests make home for the most of the endangered wildlife species in the region. Most of the country’s national parks are in the Terai plains including the World Heritage Site listed Chitwan National Park. The national parks at Chitwan & Bardia are the region’s major protected natural habitats for such rare wild mammals like the Bengal Tiger, Asian Rhino, Asian Elephant, Gharial Crocodile, and the deer species. The elephant safari rides, bird watching, and natures walks with camping inside the jungle are favorite activities among the tourists in Nepal.