Nepal – a tourist destination
Nepal – a landlocked country in South Asia, is mainly situated in the Himalayas but also includes parts of the Indo-Gangetic Plains, bordering Tibet, China to the north and India in the south east and west, and narrowly separated from Bangladesh, and from Bhutan by the Indian State of Sikkim.
Nepal Area : Total 147,516 km (56.956 sq mi) (93rd)
Nepal’s Capital : Kathmandu
Nepal Calling Code: +977
Nepal Time Zone : UTC+05:45 (Nepal Standard Time)
Nepal Currency : Nepalese Rupee (NPR)
Mains Electricity : 230 V – 50 Hz
Nepal Driving Side : left
Nepal Formation –
Kingdom : 25th September 1768
Federal Republic : 28th May 2008
Current Constitution : 20th September 2015
Nepal Legislature : Federal Parliament
Nepal Population – 29,192,480 (according to census report 2021)
Density : 207.01/per sq km
Nepal Religion – Hinduism : 81.3%, Buddhism : 9%, Islam : 4.4%, Christianity : 1.4%
Nepal GDP – Total : USD 122.62 billion, Per Capita : USD 4,199
Climate of Nepal
Nepal has 4 major seasons….
- Winter: December – February
- Spring: March – May
- Summer: June – August
- Autumn: September – November
Monsoon are from June till mid September.
Nepal can be visited whole year round.
Nepal – the name, first recorded from the vedic period of the Indian subcontinent, the era in ancient Nepal when Hinduism was founded.
Gautam Buddha was born in Lumbini in Southern Nepal, in the middle of the first millennium BC. Parts of northern Nepal were with the culture of Tibet.
Kathmandu valley, the centrally located, is intertwined with the culture of Indo-Aryans, and was the seat of the prosperous Newar community known as Nepal Mandala.
- The Gorkha Kingdom achieved the unification of Nepal by the 18th century.
- The Shah dynasty established the Kingdom of Nepal and later formed an alliance with the British Rulers, under its Rana Dynasty of Premiers.
- Nepal was never colonised but served as a buffer state between imperial China and British India.
- Parliamentary democracy was introduced in 1951 but was suspended by Nepalese monarchs in 1960 and 2005.
- The Nepalese Civil War in 1990 and early 2000 resulted in the establishment of a secular republic in 2008. This was the end of world’s last Hindu monarchy.
Nepal’s constitution adopted in 2015, as a secular federal parliamentary republic divided in seven provinces. Nepal was admitted to the United Nations in 1955, and friendship treaties were signed with India in 1950 and China in 1960. Nepal hosts the permanent secretariat of the SAARC. Nepalese Armed Forces are the fifth-largest in South Asia and notable for their Gurkha history.
Stupa near Dingboche village with prayer flags and mounts Kangtega and Thamserku – way to mount Everest base camp – Khumbu valley – Nepal
UNESCO World Heritage sites in Nepal
Nepal – a small Himalayan kingdom is blessed with such astonishing and unique sites that within the area of 140,800 sq km Nepal holds a considerably high number of places recognised by UNESCO (United Nations Educational Scientific Cultural Organisation) as ‘World Heritage Sites’. The list includes both Cultural and Natural sites.
8 Cultural Sites
- Kathmandu Durbar Square – Kathmandu Durbar Square is located in front of the old royal palace of the former Kathmandu Kingdom and is one of the three Durbar Squares in Kathmandu Valley in Nepal. All of which are UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
- Patan Durbar Square
- Bhaktapur Durbar Square
- Changunarayan
- Swayambhunath Stupa
- Pashupatinath Temple
- Lumbini – the Birth place of Lord Buddha
- Bouddhanath Stupa
2 Natural Sites
- Chitwan National Park
- Sagarmatha National Park