Nepal has often been described as “a yam caught between two giants” due to its position dividing the super-powers and super-continents of India and China. Scrunched up between the two continents, the land is made up of three geographical zones: the Himalaya, the Mahabharat, and the Tarai (the mountains, middle hills, and flat lands).
Nepal has a huge diversity of flora and fauna and is famed for having over 650 species of birds alone – more than the whole of the North American continent.
The Tarai region is warm and there are jungles with orchids, tigers, rhinos, hyenas, monkeys, and elephants.
Higher up in the Mahabharat hills it is cooler with a European alpine climate complete with fir trees, rhododendrons, bears, deer, and antelopes.
In among the Himalayan mountains there is little life except for small bushes and grasses and wild goats and yaks.
The Yeti
Many people thinking of the Himalaya immediately dream of the Yeti. Indeed most Nepalis believe in a number of varieties of yeti from small friendly ones to larger dangerous ones, and the Nepali government officially declared its existence in 1961.
The scary movies about the Yeti apparently originate from an incorrect translation by a reporter as “abominable snowman” instead of “little man-like animal”.
