Hi Every One This is ...........: 2009

Pasupati

One day Lord Shiva got tired of his glittering place on Mt.Kailash, his armies of ghosts and spirits, and even Parbati - his beautiful wife. Through his cosmic powers, he searched for a perfect place where he could holiday. Without telling anyone, he ran away from his place and came to live in Slesmantak Forest in the Kathmandu Valley. He gained great fame here as Pashupati - Lord of the animals - before other gods discovered his hiding place and came to fetch him.The Pashupati where he stayed has received the attention of worshippers for at least fifteen hundred years; it is the holiest Hindu pilgrimage destination in Nepal. There are linga images of Shiva along with statues, shrines, and temple dedicated to other deities in the complex. A temple dedicated to Shiva existed at this site in AD 879. However, the present temples were built by King Bhupatindra Malla in 1697. A gold-plated roof, silver doors, and wood carvings of the finest quality decorate the pagoda construction. Guheswari Temple, restored in AD 1653, represents the female "force". It is wife, who gave up her life in the flames of her father's fire ritual.Lord Shiva once more escaped from Kailash and came back to Pashupati as a hunter, but Parbati followed him disguised as a beautiful huntress. Shiva tried to seduce her, and discovering her true identity returned home shamefully.

Kirateswar Temple commemorates this rather unfortunate jaunt.A circuit of the Pashupati area takes visitors past a sixth-century statue of the Buddha, an eighth-century statue Brahma the creator and numerous other temples. Some other places to visit are Rajrajeswari Temple, built in 1407, Kailash with lingas more than 1,400 years old, Gorakhnath temple, and the courtyard of Biswarup. There are rows of Shiva shines and Hindu pilgrims from all over South Asia offering puja worship to Shiva, the Lord of Destruction.

About National Parks of Nepal

Nepal National Parks InformationGeneral InformationLangtang National ParkSagarmatha (Everest) National ParkDhorpatan Hunting ReserveMustang Conservation AreaRoyal Chitwan National ParkKoshi Tappu Wildlife ReserveShey-Phoksundo National ParkParsa Wildlife ReserveRara National ParkRoyal Bardia National ParkKhaptad (Baba) National ParkRoyal Suklaphant Wildlife ReserveMakalu-Barun National Park and Conservation AreaThe Annapurna Conservation AreaManasalu Conservation AreaKanchanjunga Conservation Area General InformationNepal is a land of extreme contrasts in climate and geography, It has a unique topography ranging from lowlands with sub-tropical jungles to arctic conditions in the Himalayan highlands. Within a mere 150 kilometers the land rises from near sea level in the south to over 8000 meters in the North. This, together with the monsoon rainfall along the south facing slopes, has resulted in compacting virtually all climate zones found on planet Earth. As a result, Nepal has been endowed with a great diversity of life-zones providing a home for a large variety of plants, birds and animals.The Terai lowlands are defined by a belt of well-watered floodplains stretching from the Indian border northward to the first slopes of the Bhabhar and the Siwalik Range. This is the richest habitat in the land with tall grasslands interspersed with riverine and hardwood sal forest .

Here one can see wildlife such as the swamp deer, musk deer, black buck, blue bull, the royal Bengal tiger, gharial and marsh mugger crocodile and the last of a breed of Asiatic wild buffalo. This area is also rich in birdlife with a variety of babbles and orioles, koels and drongos, peacocks and floricans, and a multitude of wintering wildfowl. There are five protected areas in Nepal - Koshi Tappu and Parsa in the east, Sukla Phanta and Dhorpatan for hunting in the west and Shivapuri in the. mid-mountain region. The Churia, also known as the. siwalik, is the southern most range of the Himalaya. No where do they rise above 1,220 meters, This range is famous for fossil deposits of Pleistocene mammals, among them 10 species of elephants, 6 rhinoceros, hippopotamus, saber-toothed cats, various antelopes and primates such as the orang-utan, long extinct in the subcontinent, Situated north of the Churia are broad, low valleys of the inner Terai know as the Doons. These valleys are not unlike the outer plains with tall elephant grass, swamps and ox-bow lakes where the last of the one-horned rhinoceros survive. Royal Chitwan National Park in the Inner Terai of central Nepal is the first and best protected area in the kingdom. Once one of the most famous big game hunting areas in Asia. Chitwan now offers protection to a large array of mammals such as the. one-horned rhinoceros, tiger, leopard, sloth bear and the gaur (wild bison) as well as more than 400 species of birds.Higher in the north between 2000 and 3500 meters lies the Mahabharat Range with its oak crowned crests. The hills of this midland are covered by a moist temperate forest of deodar, oak, maple and birch in which are found deer, ghoral serow, leopard and monkey, The gorgeous multi-colored lmpeyan pheasant (Nepal's national bird) is also found here with other endangered birds like the koklas and Cheer Pheasants. Protected areas in this zone include Khapted National Park in the Far-West, Dhorpatan Hunting reserve, North-west of Pokhara and Shivapuri Wildlife Sanctuary near Kathmandu.Higher still, nearer the snowline, are the alpine mountain flanks which are the haunt of snow leopard, which preys on blue sheep and the Himalayan tahr. Rarely seen are the wolf, black bears and lynx. The Sherpas, Manabga, and Dolpa-bas are some of those who farm and graze their livestock on the high mountain pastures. Langtang, Sagarmatha (Everest), Shey-Phoksundo and Rara National Parks are the protected high altitude areas of Nepal.His Majesty's Government of Nepal has set aside more than 13,000 sq. kms of protected areas that include as many bio-geographic regions as possible to assure conservation of the maximum numbers of wildlife species. These nature sanctuaries attract wildlife enthusiasts and tourists from all over the world and each park and reserve has its own attraction.All National Park and Conservation Area permits can be issued and paid for at the ACAP office in Thamel, Kathmandu. It is located in the basement of the Sanchaya Kosh Bhawan shopping centre on Tridevi Marg. Open 9am - 4pm, Monday to Friday. Remember to bring your passport along with you, as they require your details.

About Our Country "Nepal"

Nepal (Nepali: नेपाल [neˈpaːl] (help·info)), officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked country in South Asia and the world's youngest republic. It is bordered to the north by the People's Republic of China, and to the south, east, and west by the Republic of India. With an area of 147,181 square kilometres (56,827 sq mi) and a population of approximately 30 million, Nepal is the world's 93rd largest country by land mass[4] and the 41st most populous country. Kathmandu is the nation's capital and the country's largest metropolitan city.Nepal is a country of highly diverse and rich geography, culture, and religions. The mountainous north contains eight of the world's ten highest mountains, including the highest, Mount Everest. The fertile and humid south is heavily urbanized. By some measures, Hinduism is practiced by a greater majority of people in Nepal than in any other nation.[5] Buddhism, though a minority faith in the country, is linked historically with Nepal as the birthplace of Siddhartha Gautama who as the Buddha Gautama gave birth to the Buddhist tradition.A monarchy throughout most of its history, Nepal was ruled by the Shah dynasty of kings from 1768, when Prithvi Narayan Shah unified its many small kingdoms. However, a decade-long People's Revolution by the Communist Party of Nepal along with several weeks of mass protests by all major political parties of Nepal in 2006, culminated in a peace accord and the ensuing elections for the constituent assembly voted overwhelmingly in favor of the abdication of the last Nepali monarch Gyanendra Shah and the establishment of a federal democratic republic in May 28, 2008.[6] The first President of Nepal, Ram Baran Yadav, was sworn in on 23 July, 2008.