Nepal

Sometimes described as “the biggest natural museum in the world”, Nepal’s landlocked area extends from the Himalayas in the north to the Indo-Gangetic plains in the south.

With an altitude from 70 to 8,848 metres including Mount Everest, its geography is dominated by mountains, foothills, valleys and plains, but perhaps surprisingly also includes deserts, paddy terraces, forests and marshy grasslands.

The Himalayas feed its many perennial rivers and lakes. The country hosts almost 10 percent of the world's bird species, of which 500 are found in the Kathmandu Valley. Nepal's varied topography gives rise to exotic wildlife such as tigers, rhinos, monkeys, bears, yaks and leopard.

The country has two UNESCO World Heritage Natural Sites - Chitwan National Park and Sagarmatha National Park (which includes Mount Everest).