The
World's highest national park is the Sagarmatha national park. It is at a height of 9700 feet. The park comprises of rugged land and gorges. The Koshi Rivers upper catchment area is the main part of this park. The entire park is over an area of 1148 sq kms. It is located amidst the beautiful and huge mountains. The park houses around 26 species of colourful butterflies. It also has 118 and above species of birds. This park was set up in the year 1976. A lot of endangered species of animals like the Himalayan black bear and the snow leopard reside here. The lower part of the park has the hemlock and pine trees. Being a world heritage site, it attracts a lot of tourists.
The park's visitor centre is located at the top of a hill in
Namche Bazaar, also where a company of the
Nepal Army is stationed for protecting the park. The park's southern entrance is a few hundred metres north of Monzo at 2,835 m (9,301 ft), a one day hike from
Lukla.
In the lower forested zone, birch, juniper, blue pines, firs, bamboo and rhododendron grow. Above this zone all vegetation are found to be dwarf or shrubs. As the altitude increases, plant life is restricted to lichens and mosses. Plants cease to grow at about 5,750 m (18,860 ft), because this is the permanent snow line in the Himalayas.
Forests of pine and hemlock cover the lower elevations of the national park. At elevations of around 3,500 m (11,500 ft) and above, forests of silver fir, birch, rhododendron and juniper trees are found. The forests provide habitat to at least 118 species of birds, including Himalayan Monal, Blood pheasant, Red-billed chough, and yellow-billed chough. Sagarmāthā National Park is also home to a number of rare mammal species, including musk deer, snow leopard, Himalayan black bear and red panda. Himalayan thars, langur monkeys, martens and Himalayan wolves are also found in the park.
The partial pressure of oxygen falls with altitude. Therefore, the animals that are found here are adapted to living on less oxygen and cold temperatures. They have thick coats to retain body heat. Some of them have shortened limbs to prevent loss of body heat. The Himalayan bears go into hibernation in caves during the winter when there is no food available.
