Maya Rai

A steel thali plate of rice, lentil and vegetable curries and a crisp papad - a Nepali dal bhat meal

Culture & Heritage

Dal Bhat, Momo and Everything Between: What You'll Actually Eat in Nepal in 2026

Dal bhat, momo and Nepal’s real food culture

The great white dome and gilded spire of Boudhanath Stupa, its painted Buddha eyes gazing out over the rooftops of Kathmandu, Nepal

Culture & Heritage

Kathmandu Valley UNESCO Site: 7 Monument Zones, One Inscription (2026)

Seven monument zones, inscribed together in 1979 as one World Heritage Site, are the cultural gateway every Nepal trek passes through.

4h ago · Maya Rai

Glacial lakes in the Gokyo valley, Everest region, Nepal

Climate & Environment

Nepal Has Mapped 2,070 Glacial Lakes. The One That Burst Was Not On the List.

A new ICIMOD and UNDP inventory counts 3,624 glacial lakes and flags 47 as dangerous — 42 of them in the Koshi basin. The lake that killed at least 165 people in August was not among them, because it did not exist the day before.

16h ago · Maya Rai

Tengboche Monastery beneath the Himalaya in the Khumbu, the spiritual heart of Sherpa Buddhist life

Culture & Heritage

The Sherpa: A Tibetan-Origin People, Not a Job Title (2026)

An ethnic group, not an occupation — the Sherpa of the Khumbu have their own language, Nyingma Buddhist faith and a homeland below Everest, far beyond the mountaineering fame that made their name a household word.

19h ago · Maya Rai

A male Himalayan monal (Danphe), Nepal's iridescent national bird, on a Himalayan slope

Wildlife & Nature

Nepal Has 915 Bird Species — Nearly a Tenth of the World's (2026)

One of Asia's great birding countries hides above and below the treks.

22h ago · Maya Rai

A red panda (Ailurus fulgens), the endangered bamboo-eating 'fire fox' of the eastern Himalaya, with its russet coat and ringed tail

Wildlife & Nature

Red Panda: Nepal's Endangered 'Fire Fox' of the Eastern Himalaya (2026)

Fewer than trekkers realise cling on in eastern Nepal's cloud forests — the bamboo-eating fire fox is Endangered, and the fight to save it runs on local forest guardians.

1d ago · Maya Rai

A thick haze of air pollution hanging over hills and Himalayan peaks in South Asia, dulling the light and greying the snow

Climate & Environment

Soot Is Darkening Himalayan Snow and Speeding Its Melt, 2026 Science Shows

Soot darkens Himalayan snow so it absorbs more sunlight and melts faster — a second, faster-acting driver of glacier loss alongside warming, and the one the region could switch off within weeks.

1d ago · Maya Rai

The ornately carved wooden windows and brick facade of the Kumari Ghar, the residence of the living goddess, on Kathmandu Durbar Square, Nepal

Culture & Heritage

Nepal's Kumari, the Living Goddess of Kathmandu: Tradition, Selection and the Modern Debate in 2026

A young girl is venerated as a living goddess in Kathmandu — how the Kumari is chosen, how she lives, and the debate around it.

1d ago · Maya Rai

A snow leopard (Panthera uncia), the high-altitude cat known as the 'ghost of the mountains'

Wildlife & Nature

Nepal's Snow Leopard in 2026: Tracking the Himalaya's 'Ghost of the Mountains'

The elusive high-altitude cat haunts Dolpo, Mustang and Manaslu above 3,000m. Here's where it lives, why almost nobody sees one, and how Nepal is counting and protecting it.

1d ago · Maya Rai

A wild Bengal tiger in the grassland and sal forest of the lowland Terai — the habitat of Bardia National Park in far-western Nepal

Wildlife & Nature

Bardia Is Now Nepal's Best Place to See a Wild Tiger (2026)

Nepal's wild tigers have more than tripled since 2009, and far-western Bardia National Park - wild and little-visited on the Karnali river - is now the country's best place to see one. Here is the honest guide to the comeback and your real sighting odds.

2d ago · Maya Rai