Nepal is a country of amazing extremes. Imagine a rectangle, 500 by 150 miles (800 by 240km), divided lengthwise into three strips. The northernmost strip is the Himalayas; Meaning "abode of snow," and includes eight of ten highest mountains in the world. The southernmost region, called the Terai, is an extension of the Gangetic plain of northern India, containing, jungles with elephants, rhinoceroses and tigers. These inhabitants contrast markedly with the yaks and snow leopard less than 100 miles (160 km) to the north. Enchantment is everywhere, be it on the shoulders of high mountains, terraced ridges ascending like stairways to sky, on quiet or rushing rivers, or in forests full of wildlife, flowers and birdsong.