[00:00] Most people around the world know the
[00:02] country of Nepal for one thing, Everest,
[00:05] the summit of the world. That photograph
[00:08] on the poster, that bucket list
[00:10] mountain, and the fact that it's used as
[00:12] a superlative for anything remotely
[00:14] challenging. But, despite the grandeur
[00:17] of this epic mountain, it kind of steals
[00:20] the spotlight from the rest of Nepal.
[00:22] Just knowing Nepal for Everest strips it
[00:25] of almost everything that makes it even
[00:27] more remarkable.
[00:29] Because Nepal is so much more than
[00:31] Everest.
[00:32] Surprisingly, it's a geographically
[00:34] diverse country.
[00:36] In the span of only 200 km, the land
[00:38] rises from the subtropical lowlands to
[00:41] the highest point on the planet.
[00:43] That is an elevation gain of nearly 9
[00:46] km. In those 200 km, you pass through
[00:49] several different climate zones, from
[00:52] alpine tundra to jungles, from monsoon
[00:55] forest with elephants and rhinos,
[00:57] through terraced hillsides and cloud
[01:00] forests, and through high-altitude
[01:02] grasslands and glacial valleys.
[01:04] So, let's today talk about the true
[01:07] geography of Nepal
[01:09] in all its glory.
[01:50] So, when we take a look at Nepal on a
[01:52] map, the first thing you'll notice is
[01:54] the shape, a long, narrow rectangle.
[01:57] It's oriented east to west, roughly 900
[02:00] km long and 200 km wide. To the south is
[02:03] a long, open border with India. And to
[02:06] the north is the Tibetan Plateau, the
[02:08] roof of the world.
[02:09] What this means is that Nepal is
[02:11] landlocked, completely surrounded by
[02:13] just two countries.
[02:15] For a nation of over 30 million people,
[02:18] this geographical reality has profound
[02:20] consequences.
[02:21] Most trade, most imports, and all access
[02:24] to the sea must pass through India, or
[02:26] to a much lesser extent, through the
[02:28] long and difficult routes into China.
[02:31] In terms of its size, it covers about
[02:33] 147,000
[02:35] sq km.
[02:36] About the same size as neighboring
[02:38] Bangladesh. By area, it's small, but by
[02:40] topographic range, it's extraordinary.
[02:43] Home to eight of the world's 14 peaks
[02:46] over 8,000 m, including Everest,
[02:49] Kangchenjunga, Lhotse, Makalu, Cho Oyu,
[02:53] Dhaulagiri, Manaslu, and Annapurna. All
[02:56] epic peaks. No other country on Earth
[02:59] has eight 8,000ers. Those being peaks
[03:03] over 8,000 m high. But like I mentioned
[03:06] previously, Nepal is a lot more than the
[03:08] mountains. The Himalayas that run across
[03:10] the country are just the northern third
[03:12] of Nepal. The country is usually divided
[03:15] into three rough horizontal zones
[03:17] running east to west. The Terai lowlands
[03:20] in the south, the foothills of the
[03:21] Himalayas in the center, and the tall
[03:24] Himalayas in the north. Each zone is a
[03:26] different world, different climate,
[03:28] different ecology, and different
[03:30] culture. Which means to understand
[03:32] Nepal, you have to understand all three.
[03:35] So, let's do that, starting at the
[03:37] bottom, the Terai.
[03:38] Now, most people's mental image of Nepal
[03:40] begins somewhere in the high hills. You
[03:43] may have seen images of prayer flags
[03:45] strung between peaks, or monasteries
[03:47] climbing to clifftops. But the Terai
[03:50] doesn't fit that image.
[03:52] It's the flat southern strip of Nepal, a
[03:54] narrow plain sitting between the
[03:56] Himalayan foothills to the north and the
[03:58] Indian border to the south. It is the
[04:00] northern continuation of the great
[04:02] Indo-Gangetic Plain, one of the most
[04:04] fertile and densely populated
[04:06] agricultural landscapes on Earth. In
[04:09] Nepal, it is roughly 30 to 50 km wide
[04:12] and extends the full length of the
[04:13] country, east to west. Elevations in
[04:16] this region are low, mostly between 60
[04:18] and 300 m above sea level. The climate
[04:21] is subtropical, hot summers but cool
[04:23] winters, and a monsoon season from June
[04:25] to September that dumps enormous
[04:27] quantities of rain.
[04:29] This region can feel oppressively humid
[04:31] in summer with temperatures regularly
[04:32] exceeding 40° C.
[04:35] But this climate produces extraordinary
[04:36] biological richness.
[04:38] This region is home to Chitwan National
[04:41] Park, one of the finest wildlife areas
[04:43] in all of Asia. It protects a large
[04:46] remnant of the subtropical grasslands
[04:48] and riverine forest that once covered
[04:50] this entire region.
[04:52] Here live the one-horned rhinoceros,
[04:55] a species that came perilously close to
[04:57] extinction in the 20th century but has
[04:59] made a remarkable recovery in Nepal's
[05:01] protected areas. Also here, we find
[05:03] Bengal tigers and the extremely rare
[05:06] gharials, one of the strangest-looking
[05:08] crocodilian species on Earth.
[05:11] Sloth bears and leopards also call this
[05:13] area home.
[05:15] Now, surprisingly, Nepal is one of the
[05:17] few countries in the world where tiger
[05:18] populations are actually growing.
[05:20] A census conducted in 2022 recorded over
[05:23] 350 wild tigers in the country, nearly
[05:26] double the number of a decade earlier.
[05:28] It is one of the genuine conservation
[05:30] success stories of our era. This region
[05:33] is also Nepal's breadbasket. Despite
[05:35] covering only about 17% of the country's
[05:37] land area, it produces roughly half of
[05:40] Nepal's agricultural output. There's
[05:42] rice, wheat, sugarcane, and lentils that
[05:45] grow here in the rich alluvial soil
[05:46] deposited over millennia by rivers
[05:48] flowing south of the Himalayas.
[05:51] This region of Nepal is home to the
[05:53] Madhesi people. They make up about 30%
[05:55] of the country's population and are
[05:57] predominantly Hindu.
[05:59] Now, the Tarai is where Nepal meets
[06:01] India. And for the majority of the
[06:03] population here, this is not really a
[06:05] border checkpoint, but more of a porous
[06:08] way of living. Many communities straddle
[06:10] the border. Families are divided by it.
[06:12] Languages, customs, and religious
[06:14] practices flow across it. Now, let's
[06:17] move north. Between the flat Tarai and
[06:19] the soaring Himalayas, lies a part of
[06:21] Nepal where most Nepalese have lived for
[06:24] most of its history, the middle hills.
[06:27] This is a zone of complex and folded
[06:29] terrain. These ridges and valleys
[06:32] running roughly east to west cut across
[06:34] by rivers flowing south from the
[06:35] mountains towards India. Elevations here
[06:38] typically range from 300 m to about
[06:40] 3,000 m with most settlements clustered
[06:43] between 1,000 and 2,500 m. High enough
[06:46] to escape the Tarai's heat, but low
[06:48] enough to still grow some crops. The
[06:50] landscape of the middle hills is defined
[06:51] above almost anything else by one
[06:53] feature, terraces.
[06:55] Almost every hillside in the inhabited
[06:57] middle hills region has been terraced,
[06:59] cut into horizontal steps to create flat
[07:02] agricultural land on slopes that would
[07:04] otherwise be impossible to farm.
[07:06] Now, this practice of terracing in this
[07:07] region has been accumulating for over
[07:09] 2,000 years. Generations of farmers
[07:12] cutting into the hillsides, building
[07:13] retaining walls of stone, channeling
[07:15] water from one terrace to the next. The
[07:17] result is one of the most
[07:18] interesting-looking agricultural
[07:20] landscapes on Earth.
[07:22] Rice is the staple crop here. Where
[07:24] water can be brought to irrigate the
[07:25] terraces, paddy rice dominates. On drier
[07:28] slopes and higher elevations, there's
[07:29] millet, maize, wheat, and buckwheat. The
[07:32] agricultural calendar is dictated
[07:34] entirely by the monsoon here. The
[07:36] arrival of the rains in June triggers
[07:38] planting. The end of the monsoon in
[07:39] September and October brings harvest.
[07:42] Within the middle hills, one place above
[07:44] all others has defined Nepali history
[07:46] and culture, the Kathmandu Valley.
[07:49] The Kathmandu Valley is a broad, flat
[07:51] basin sitting at around 1,300 m above
[07:54] sea level. Roughly oval in shape,
[07:56] surrounded by hills on all sides, it is,
[07:58] geologically speaking, a former lake
[08:00] bed, making it extraordinarily fertile.
[08:03] The Valley is home to Kathmandu,
[08:05] Lalitpur, and Bhaktapur, three ancient
[08:09] cities that were, until the 18th
[08:10] century, three separate rival kingdoms.
[08:13] The Kathmandu Valley today contains
[08:16] seven UNESCO World Heritage Sites, all
[08:19] within roughly 30 km of each other.
[08:22] Now, the Valley's position also made it
[08:23] a trade crossroads, sitting in the
[08:25] middle hills between the Indian plains
[08:27] and the Tibetan Plateau.
[08:29] It was a natural stopping point on the
[08:31] ancient trade routes carrying salt,
[08:33] wool, and grain south from Tibet, and
[08:35] cotton and spices north from India.
[08:37] Newar merchants controlled this trade
[08:39] for centuries and grew extraordinarily
[08:41] wealthy. That wealth built the famous
[08:44] temples in this region. Today, Kathmandu
[08:46] is the capital of Nepal and home to
[08:48] nearly 1.5 million people in the city
[08:50] proper, and with the greater Valley
[08:52] approaching 3.5 million. In its chaotic,
[08:55] traffic-choked, smog-hazed, and
[08:57] endlessly alive city.
[08:59] The city core survives alongside what
[09:02] looks like endless concrete sprawl. But,
[09:05] the beauty of the city is that on clear
[09:07] days, if you look to the north, the
[09:09] Himalayas are right there, towering over
[09:12] the city of Kathmandu.
[09:15] An epic reminder that this busy,
[09:17] complicated city sits at the base of the
[09:19] tallest mountain system on the planet.
[09:22] The middle hills are cut through by a
[09:24] series of major river systems, the
[09:26] Koshi, the Gandaki, and the Karnali. All
[09:29] of them drain from the Himalayas
[09:30] southward through the hills and into the
[09:32] Terai, and then eventually the Ganges
[09:34] River.
[09:35] These rivers are among the most powerful
[09:37] on Earth in terms of sediment load. They
[09:39] carry millions of tons of eroded
[09:41] mountain material downstream every year,
[09:43] building the great alluvial plains of
[09:45] northern India. For the people of the
[09:47] hills, these rivers are both lifelines
[09:50] and barriers. They provide water, fish,
[09:53] and in some places hydroelectric power.
[09:55] But the deep gorges they carve have
[09:57] historically isolated communities from
[09:59] each other. A village on one side of the
[10:01] gorge might only be a kilometer from
[10:03] village on the other side as the crow
[10:05] flies, but hours of descent and ascent
[10:08] on foot. This geographical fragmentation
[10:10] has produced Nepal's extraordinary
[10:12] ethnic and linguistic diversity. Over
[10:14] 120 languages are spoken in a country
[10:17] the size of New York state. And now we
[10:19] move to the Himalayas.
[10:22] Now to understand the Himalayas, you
[10:23] need to look at the geologic history of
[10:25] this region. And for that, you need to
[10:27] start about 100 million years ago. That
[10:30] time, what is now the Indian
[10:31] subcontinent was not attached to Asia at
[10:33] all. It was an island, a vast northward
[10:36] drifting landmass.
[10:38] Over tens of millions of years, the
[10:40] Indian subcontinent drifted north. Then,
[10:43] around 50 million years ago, India
[10:45] collided with Asia. The seafloor
[10:47] sediments that had accumulated in it
[10:49] were compressed and crumpled upwards.
[10:51] And the collision, which actually is
[10:53] still ongoing, began building the
[10:55] Himalayas. The Indian plate is still
[10:57] pushing north. The Himalayas are still
[10:59] rising about 5 mm per year. Nepal sits
[11:03] directly on this collision zone. The
[11:05] ground beneath Kathmandu is being
[11:07] compressed, uplifted, and periodically
[11:09] shattered by earthquakes that release
[11:10] the accumulated stress of two continents
[11:12] grinding against each other. And this is
[11:15] exactly what caused the 2015 Gorkha
[11:18] earthquake in Nepal. It was magnitude
[11:20] 7.8, and it killed nearly 9,000 people,
[11:24] destroyed hundreds of thousands of
[11:25] homes, and triggered avalanches on
[11:27] Everest that killed climbers at base
[11:29] camp. It was a reminder, brutal and
[11:32] sudden, that Nepal does not sit on
[11:34] stable ground. It sits on one of the
[11:36] most geologically active zones on the
[11:38] planet.
[11:39] And here is something that you might
[11:40] find interesting. On the summit of Mount
[11:43] Everest is limestone, marine limestone
[11:46] full of fossils of tiny sea creatures,
[11:48] meaning the highest point on Earth
[11:51] was actually at the bottom of a tropical
[11:53] sea 450 million years ago. Tectonic
[11:56] forces lifted it nearly 9 km. But
[11:59] Everest is just but one mountain. Nepal
[12:02] is home to eight of the world's 14 peaks
[12:05] above 8,000 m. Each one is distinct in
[12:08] its character, in its difficulty, and in
[12:10] the history of human attempts on it.
[12:13] There is Annapurna in the west of Nepal.
[12:15] It was the first 8,000er ever summited
[12:18] by French climbers Maurice Herzog and
[12:21] Louis Lachenal. It was the first
[12:23] mountain above 8,000 m that any human
[12:25] being had ever stood on. And it remains,
[12:27] statistically, the most dangerous of all
[12:30] the 8,000ers. Its death rate is among
[12:33] the highest of any major Himalayan peak.
[12:35] Nearby is Dhaulagiri, also in western
[12:38] Nepal. It rises so dramatically from the
[12:41] surrounding terrain that early European
[12:43] surveyors briefly considered it as the
[12:44] highest mountain in the world. While far
[12:47] to the east of Nepal sits Kangchenjunga,
[12:50] the third highest mountain in the world
[12:52] at 8,586
[12:54] m. It is worshipped as a sacred deity by
[12:57] the Sikkimese people. And by tradition,
[12:59] climbers stop a few meters short of the
[13:01] actual summit out of respect, a
[13:03] remarkable act of restraint at the edge
[13:06] of one of humanity's greatest physical
[13:08] challenges.
[13:09] But the Himalayas are not uninhabited.
[13:12] People have lived in these mountains for
[13:14] thousands of years, and their
[13:15] adaptations to extreme altitude are
[13:17] among the most remarkable in human
[13:19] biology. These Sherpa people, who
[13:21] predominantly reside in the Khumbu and
[13:23] the Solo regions of Nepal, migrated from
[13:26] eastern Tibet roughly 500 years ago and
[13:28] settled in the high valleys of Northeast
[13:30] Nepal. They are famous worldwide for
[13:32] their role in Himalayan mountaineering,
[13:34] but their geographical significance goes
[13:36] far beyond guiding expeditions. They
[13:39] developed a civilization at elevations
[13:41] that would debilitate most humans.
[13:43] Sherpa communities have been in this
[13:45] environment long enough to develop
[13:46] genetic adaptations to altitude,
[13:49] including a variant of the EPAS1 gene
[13:52] that allows their bodies to use oxygen
[13:54] more efficiently at low partial
[13:55] pressures. Above the settlements, the
[13:57] landscape becomes one of the most severe
[13:59] on Earth. The high Himalayan valleys and
[14:02] passes are home to glaciers, thousands
[14:04] of them,
[14:05] covering an estimated 5,000 square
[14:07] kilometers of Nepal. And these glaciers
[14:09] are the source of the rivers that
[14:11] sustain hundreds of millions of people
[14:13] downstream in Nepal, India, Bangladesh,
[14:16] and Pakistan. The Himalayan glacier
[14:18] system is sometimes called the third
[14:20] pole after Antarctica and the Arctic.
[14:23] Now, let's leave behind the high peaks
[14:25] of the Himalayas and talk a little bit
[14:27] about Nepal's climate. And you cannot
[14:30] talk about Nepal's climate without
[14:32] mentioning the monsoon. The South Asian
[14:34] monsoon is one of the most powerful
[14:36] atmospheric systems on Earth. It is
[14:38] driven by the differential heating
[14:40] between the Indian Ocean and the Asian
[14:42] landmass. In summer, the land heats
[14:44] faster than the ocean,
[14:46] causing the air over the Indian
[14:48] subcontinent to rise. This causes moist
[14:51] air from the Indian Ocean to take its
[14:53] place. When the air hits the Himalayas,
[14:55] the greatest topographic barrier on
[14:57] Earth, it's forced upward. It cools and
[15:00] releases its moisture as rainfall,
[15:02] enormous, torrential, and possibly
[15:04] months-long rainfall.
[15:06] The monsoon typically arrives in Nepal
[15:08] in June and lasts through September. And
[15:11] in that 4-month window, roughly 80% of
[15:13] Nepal's annual precipitation falls.
[15:16] Rivers that were quiet mountain streams
[15:17] become raging torrents. Terraced
[15:20] hillsides green up almost overnight. But
[15:22] the monsoon is not uniform across Nepal.
[15:26] The middle hills and the Terai region
[15:28] receive more than 2,000 mm of rain
[15:30] annually, and over 80% of that is during
[15:33] the monsoon. However, the complex
[15:35] topography of the middle hills region
[15:37] means that there's a lot of local
[15:39] variation. But the rain shadow effect
[15:41] behind the Himalayas is dramatic. The
[15:44] high valleys of northern Nepal,
[15:45] sheltered by the main Himalayan range,
[15:48] receive only a fraction of the monsoon
[15:50] rainfall. Places like Mustang and Dolpo,
[15:53] upper valleys tucked behind the
[15:54] mountains, receive an almost central
[15:56] Asian dryness, receiving less than 200
[15:59] mm of rain per year.
[16:01] And this dry, arid region is home to one
[16:04] of Nepal's most extraordinary places.
[16:07] This is Lo Manthang, the walled city of
[16:10] Upper Mustang. It sits in a desert at
[16:12] 3,840
[16:14] m. Its mud-brick architecture and
[16:16] Tibetan Buddhist culture feel entirely
[16:18] different from the rest of Nepal.
[16:21] The monsoon also defines Nepal's
[16:23] economy. Agriculture, still the primary
[16:25] livelihood for the majority of Nepalese,
[16:28] depends entirely on monsoon timing and
[16:30] intensity. A late monsoon or a weak one
[16:33] means poor harvests and food insecurity.
[16:36] A particularly violent monsoon could
[16:38] mean flooding, landslides, and the loss
[16:40] of everything a family has built. Nepal
[16:43] sits almost exactly at the point where
[16:45] the monsoon hits the Himalayas hardest,
[16:47] which means the stakes of every year's
[16:49] rains can be enormous.
[16:52] Now that we've explored the physical
[16:53] geography of Nepal, let's talk about the
[16:56] cities of Nepal. What are they like, and
[16:58] where are they located? We already spoke
[17:00] a little bit about Kathmandu, but what
[17:03] other large cities are in Nepal?
[17:05] Well, Nepal's second largest city is
[17:07] Pokhara. It sits in a broad valley like
[17:10] Kathmandu at around 820 m above sea
[17:12] level. It's lower and warmer than
[17:14] Kathmandu, and its defining feature is
[17:17] probably Fewa Lake, a large blue-green
[17:20] lake whose southern shore has become the
[17:22] spine of Nepal's tourism industry
[17:24] outside of the Everest region. To the
[17:26] north of Pokhara lies the Annapurna
[17:28] Massif, which rises to over 8,000 m. So,
[17:32] just imagine on a clear morning standing
[17:35] at the lakeside of Fewa Lake, looking to
[17:37] your north and you see the massive
[17:39] Annapurna. And because of this
[17:41] proximity, Pokhara is actually the
[17:43] gateway to the Annapurna Circuit and the
[17:45] Annapurna Sanctuary, two of the world's
[17:48] most celebrated trekking routes.
[17:50] Hundreds of thousands of trekkers pass
[17:51] through this city each year, either
[17:53] setting out into the hills or returning
[17:55] from them. But Pokhara is not just a
[17:58] gateway for Annapurna. It's an actual
[18:00] city with over 600,000 people, and it
[18:02] has a different character than the
[18:04] larger Kathmandu. Less congested,
[18:07] greener, and significantly wetter.
[18:09] Pokhara receives more rainfall than
[18:11] almost anywhere else in Nepal. And the
[18:13] result of this are lush hills, full
[18:16] rivers, and dramatic waterfalls.
[18:18] Beyond Kathmandu and Pokhara, there are
[18:20] other cities, particularly in the Terai
[18:23] region near the Indian border. Here lies
[18:26] Biratnagar, home to jute mills, sugar
[18:28] factories, and a growing manufacturing
[18:30] sector. There is also Birgunj, the main
[18:33] gateway for goods crossing from India
[18:35] into Nepal. Now, this city processes an
[18:38] enormous proportion of the country's
[18:39] imports and has grown into a substantial
[18:42] commercial city entirely on the back of
[18:44] its border position. But Nepal's cities
[18:46] are not yet dominant in the way the
[18:48] cities of India and China or Southeast
[18:50] Asia are. But the trajectory is clear.
[18:53] Nepal is urbanizing faster than most
[18:56] people realize. And the cities being
[18:58] built now, how they are planned, and how
[19:00] they manage their growth will shape much
[19:02] of Nepal's future.
[19:04] So, we started this video talking about
[19:06] a mountain, or rather, the reduction of
[19:08] an entire country to a single iconic
[19:11] peak. But, like I said, Nepal cannot be
[19:14] defined by just one mountain. It is so
[19:18] much more than that. It is a country and
[19:20] a land that compresses much of Earth's
[19:22] environments into a small region.
[19:25] From tropical lowlands to the Earth's
[19:27] highest peaks, it tells the story of a
[19:30] collision between continents still
[19:32] unfolding underneath this beautiful
[19:33] country.
[19:35] It tells the story of people who learned
[19:37] to live in a place that most people
[19:39] would not even survive in.
[19:42] Its resourceful people terraced
[19:43] impossibly steep slopes and built cities
[19:46] on ancient lakebeds. Despite being
[19:48] landlocked, earthquake-prone, and
[19:50] dependent on monsoon rains, the people
[19:53] of this country carved out their unique
[19:55] culture. So, let's not just limit Nepal
[19:58] to Everest or the Himalayas. It is so
[20:01] much more than that, and I hope this
[20:03] video helped you realize that.
[20:05] And as always, if you'd like content
[20:06] like this, give this video a like.
[20:08] Subscribe to the channel if you haven't
[20:09] done so already, and let me know in the
[20:11] comments below if you want me to
[20:12] continue making videos about different
[20:14] countries and their geography.
[20:17] And thank you to each and every one of
[20:19] you who's followed me over the past year
[20:20] and a half.
[20:22] I've now passed 100,000 subscribers, and
[20:24] when I first started this channel, I had
[20:26] no idea that I'd be getting here.
[20:28] So, thank you to each and every one of
[20:30] you.
[20:31] And I'll catch you in the next one.
[20:33] Peace.