All visitors must be on a group tour to enter the Kanchenjunga Conservation Area, which means that only a few visitors make it as far as the town of Taplejung, the last point of civilization (which itself is gradually recovering from a deadly and destructive earthquake that hit in September 2011).

BBC: Give me a home where the snow leopards roam

Hidden deep in a remote corner of eastern Nepal, Kanchenjunga rises to 8, 586m and encompasses a conservation area and ecological hotspot the size of Mauritius.

BBC: Give me a home where the snow leopards roam