Nepal is a small landlocked country wedged between the colossal landmasses of China to the north and India to the south, east, and west. Despite covering just 147,181 km², it contains an extraordinary range of terrain — from the steaming Terai lowlands at 60m above sea level to the summit of Everest at 8,849m. The country is divided into three distinct ecological belts: the tropical Terai plains, the temperate mid-hills, and the high Himalayan zone where eight of the world's fourteen eight-thousands stand.