East of the Arun and Koshi rivers, Nepal narrows into a strip of hills between Sikkim, Darjeeling and Tibet. Kanchenjunga, at 8,586 m the third-highest mountain on earth, stands on the border with Sikkim, and Makalu, 8,485 m, rises above the Barun valley to the west. Below the snow lie Limbu and Rai villages, cardamom gullies, rhododendron ridges and, in Ilam district, the tea estates that started Nepal's tea industry in the 1860s. It is the least visited part of the country by foreign travellers and one of the easiest to reach from India.
For Indian families and pilgrims, the east is close. The Kakarbhitta border is about an hour from Siliguri, and Ilam's tea country begins two hours beyond it, so a 4 or 5-night trip covers Kanyam's open tea slopes, sunrise from Antu Danda at 2,328 m and the forest lake of Mai Pokhari. Pathibhara Devi, a goddess revered by Hindus and the Limbu community, has her shrine at 3,794 m above Phungling in Taplejung: a two-day drive and a 4–5 hour climb, or a short helicopter shuttle in clear morning weather.
To the west, in Khotang district, the limestone caves of Halesi Mahadev draw Shiva devotees, Buddhists who know them as Maratika, and Kirat Rai families who treat them as an ancestral site. Halesi is 9–10 hours by road from Kathmandu or about 45 minutes by helicopter. On the plains, Koshi Tappu Wildlife Reserve is Nepal's main winter birding site and the last home of the wild water buffalo, while the Koshi Highway climbs from Dharan through Bhedetar to the old hill bazaars of Dhankuta and Hile.
Trekking here is remote and slower than in Everest or Annapurna. The Kanchenjunga circuit takes about 22 days from Kathmandu and needs a restricted area permit, a licensed guide and at least two trekkers; Makalu Base Camp takes about 18 days through Makalu Barun National Park. Lodges are simple and trails quiet. Our packages run from a 1-day Halesi helicopter yatra to the full Kanchenjunga trek, with prices in INR and USD and transport from Bhadrapur, Biratnagar or the border included.
