Makalu Barun National Park

Makalu Barun National Park protects 1,500 square kilometres of eastern Nepal beneath Makalu (8,485m), the world's fifth-highest mountain. Established in 1992 and bordering Sagarmatha National Park, it is the only protected area on earth that rises from tropical forest at 435m to an 8,000-metre summit, capturing nearly every ecological zone in a single boundary.

The park's botanical and wildlife diversity is among the richest in the Himalaya: more than 3,000 flowering plants, 440 birds, and rare mammals including red panda, snow leopard, musk deer, clouded leopard and Himalayan black bear. The upper Barun valley is one of the least-disturbed high valleys in Nepal — a glaciated sanctuary of waterfalls, forest and meadow that sees very few visitors.

A buffer zone of Rai, Sherpa and Shingsawa communities surrounds the core, and the park is managed with strong local participation. Unlike the nearby Everest region, mass tourism has never taken hold here.

Access is via a flight to Tumlingtar followed by a long road and trekking approach. The Makalu Base Camp trek and the demanding Sherpani Col route into the Everest region both pass through the park. Spring and autumn are the trekking seasons.