Langtang National Park is a

national park A national park is a nature park designated for conservation (ethic), conservation purposes because of unparalleled national natural, historic, or cultural significance. It is an area of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that is protecte ...

in north-central

Nepal Nepal, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mainly situated in the Himalayas, but also includes parts of the Indo-Gangetic Plain. It borders the Tibet Autonomous Region of China Ch ...

. It was established in 1976 as Nepal's first

Himalaya The Himalayas, or Himalaya ( ), is a mountain range in Asia, separating the plains of the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau. The range has some of the Earth's highest peaks, including the highest, Mount Everest. More than 100 pea ...

n national park and the country's fourth protected area. It covers an area of in the Nuwakot, Rasuwa and Sindhulpalchok Districts of the central Himalayan region. It contains 26

village communities A village is a human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand. Although villages are often located in rural areas, the term urban village ...

and includes the

Langtang Langtang Valley () also known as Lamtang Valley is a Himalayan valley in the mountains of north-central Nepal, known for its trekking routes and natural environment. Administrative The Langtang Valley lies in Rasuwa District, Rasuwa dist ...

valley. In the north and east it is linked with

Qomolangma National Nature Preserve The Qomolangma National Nature Preserve (QNNP), also known as the Chomolungma Nature Reserve (QNP), is a protected area 3.381 million hectares in size in the Tibet Autonomous Region of the People’s Republic of China. Located on the Roof of th ...

in the

Tibet Autonomous Region The Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR), often shortened to Tibet in English or Xizang in Pinyin, Hanyu Pinyin, is an Autonomous regions of China, autonomous region of the China, People's Republic of China. It was established in 1965 to replace the ...

. The eastern and western boundaries follow the

Bhote Koshi Bhote Koshi in Nepal and Poiqu in Tibet (both names roughly mean "Tibetan river") is the name given to the upper course (main tributary) of the Sun Kosi river. It is part of the Koshi River system in Nepal.Shrestha, A. B., Eriksson, M., Mool, ...

and the

Trishuli river The Trishuli River () is one of the major tributaries of the Narayani River basin in central Nepal. The river is formed by the merger of the Kyirong Tsangpo and the Lende Khola originating in Gyirong County of Tibet, which join together near the ...

, respectively. The Gosainkunda lake is located at an elevation of inside the park. The Dorje Lakpa range at bisects the park from west–east to south–east. The summit of Langtang Lirung is the highest point in the park at . Langtang National Park is part of the Sacred Himalayan Landscape.

History

In 1970, royal approval designated the establishment of Langtang National Park as the first protected area in the Himalayas. The national park was

gazetted A gazette is an official journal, a newspaper of record, or simply a newspaper. In English and French speaking countries, newspaper publishers have applied the name ''Gazette'' since the 17th century; today, numerous weekly and daily newspapers ...

in 1976 and extended by a

buffer zone A buffer zone, also historically known as a march, is a neutral area that lies between two or more bodies of land; usually, between countries. Depending on the type of buffer zone, it may serve to separate regions or conjoin them. Common types o ...

of in 1998. On 31 July 1992,

Thai Airways International Flight 311 Thai Airways International Flight 311 (TG311/THA311) was a flight from Bangkok, Thailand's Don Mueang International Airport to Kathmandu, Nepal's Tribhuvan International Airport. On July 31, 1992, at 07:00:26 UTC (12:45:26 NST; 14:00:26 ICT), t ...

crashed into the park. The

Airbus A310 The Airbus A310 is a wide-body aircraft, Aircraft design process, designed and manufactured by Airbus Industrie GIE, then a consortium of European aerospace manufacturers. Airbus had identified a demand for an aircraft smaller than the Airbus ...

was on approach to

Tribhuvan International Airport Tribhuvan International Airport (, , colloquially referred to as TIA) is an international airport located in Kathmandu, Bagmati, Nepal. It has a tabletop runway, a domestic terminal and an international terminal. As the country's main internat ...

Kathmandu Kathmandu () is the capital and largest city of Nepal, situated in the central part of the country within the Kathmandu Valley. As per the 2021 Nepal census, it has a population of 845,767 residing in 105,649 households, with approximately 4 mi ...

. All 113 people on board were killed. In April 2015, the village of

located within the park was destroyed by an avalanche of ice, rock and mud triggered by the

April 2015 Nepal earthquake The April 2015 Nepal earthquake (also known as the Gorkha earthquake) killed 8,962 people and injured 21,952 across the countries of Nepal, India, China and Bangladesh. It occurred at on Saturday 25 April 2015, with a magnitude of Moment magni ...

. At least 215 people were killed. In 2016, the

International Astronomical Union The International Astronomical Union (IAU; , UAI) is an international non-governmental organization (INGO) with the objective of advancing astronomy in all aspects, including promoting astronomical research, outreach, education, and developmen ...

named a 9.8km wide crater on

Mars Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun. It is also known as the "Red Planet", because of its orange-red appearance. Mars is a desert-like rocky planet with a tenuous carbon dioxide () atmosphere. At the average surface level the atmosph ...

after the village, as a tribute.

Climate

The climate of the park is dominated by the southwest summer

monsoon A monsoon () is traditionally a seasonal reversing wind accompanied by corresponding changes in precipitation but is now used to describe seasonal changes in Atmosphere of Earth, atmospheric circulation and precipitation associated with annu ...

; most of the annual precipitation occurs from June to September, and temperatures vary greatly due to the extreme difference in elevation.

Flora and fauna

Langtang National Park exhibits a high diversity of 14 vegetation types in 18

ecosystem An ecosystem (or ecological system) is a system formed by Organism, organisms in interaction with their Biophysical environment, environment. The Biotic material, biotic and abiotic components are linked together through nutrient cycles and en ...

types, ranging from upper

tropical forest Tropical forests are forested ecoregions with tropical climates – that is, land areas approximately bounded by the Tropic of Cancer, tropics of Cancer and Tropic of Capricorn, Capricorn, but possibly affected by other factors such as prevailing ...

s below m altitude to alpine scrub and perennial ice.

References

External links

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EnvironmentNEPAL ''Langtang National Park''
{{Authority control National parks of Nepal Biodiversity 1976 establishments in Nepal