The Nepal Geography: The Land of an extreme contrast and natural wonders.
Being a landlocked country between China and India, which are the giants, Nepal is a breathtakingly beautiful country that is situated on land of 147,181 square kilometres. It is a relatively small nation that hits high when it comes to comparing the geographical and ecological diversity as it is offering a fragment of a microcosm of landscapes that stretch to the highest heights that the world can reach and to the dark and humid subtropical lowlands. The topography of the country is dramatically divided into three different belts of latitude namely the uplifted Himalayan region in the north, the rugged Middle Hill region in the middle and flat fertile Terai region in the south. This exceptionally diverse construction establishes an unexamined variety of climates, ecosystems, and experiences of man in a single national boundary.
The Himalayan region is the crown jewel of Nepal, and it occupies roughly 16 percent of the total land. It is the land of the giants with Mount Everest (Sagarmatha), the highest place on the planet with an elevation of 8848 meters. This area is a deserted and unexploited low-fertility area with harsh cold climatic situations and stones; thus, it is the least populated area in the country. The most separate ethnic group in this area is the tough Sherpa folks, who have long been followers of a high-altitude pastoral lifestyle and a seasonal life between winter and summer shelters. Other than Everest, this area has other masterful mountains such as Kanchenjunga, Lhotse and Annapurna that form a natural fortention in the frontier of the northern border of Nepal.
The Middle Hill region or the Pahad bridges the high Himalayas and low plains. This broad area is nearly 65 percent of the landmass of Nepal and the cultural and historical centre of Nepal. It is a small area that sustains less than half of the population in spite of its size since life on steep, terraced hills is difficult. It is a blend of ethnic variety, inhabited by people of Gurung, Magar, Newar, Brahmin and Chhetri. The terrain is a beautiful combination of thick forests, strictly landscaped arable terraces and steep deep river gorges. The region plays a very vital role in the conservation of the biodiversity, and some of the endangered species found here include the red panda, snow leopard, and the Himalayan black bear, as well as hundreds of species of birds in the protected regions.
The sharp contrast between the hills and the mountains, the Terai region in the south is a strip of flat alluvial plain which occupies an out of 17% of the country. This area starts at approximately 60 meters above the sea level which is the lowest point of Nepal. The Terai is the agricultural and industrial powerhouse in the country, blessed with fertile soil and subtropical climate, with majority of the industries in the country being in the Terai. It also happens to be the most congested area. The Terai is not only about human presence, but it has some of the most important ecosystems such as the Chitwan National Park and Bardiya National Park that safeguard large subtropical forests and several species easily recognized through their names such as the Bengal tiger, the one-horned rhinoceros and the wild elephants.
It is this incredible vertical squeeze as it happens that, 60 meters in Terai to the highs of the Everest at 8,848 meters in only a distance of some 150 kilometres that makes Nepal distinctly geographical. The radical variety of this range contributes to an amazing amount of plant and animal life. Amazingly, Nepal hosts about 2 percent of all flowering plants in the world, 8 percent of all birds (more than 900 species) and 4 percent of all mammals in the world. There are more than 500 species of butterflies and 600 native plant families in this biodiversity. The steep icy and wind-swept mountains of the highest hills to the humid and damp jungles of the lowlands, Nepal provides us with a total and compacted adventure across some of the most magnificent scenery that the earth has to offer, which makes Nepal a kind of heaven on earth to the trekkers, naturalists, and other adventure travellers worldwide.
