With the world’s third-highest mountain, Mount Khangchendzonga, at its heart, this Sikkim national park is as much a cultural landscape as it is a natural one. UNESCO inscribed Khangchendzonga National Park in 2016, making it India’s first mixed World Heritage Site.
The park encompasses glaciers, valleys, lakes, forests and snow-covered mountains. But its importance has no geographic limits. It is deeply interwoven with the religious and cultural practices of Sikkim’s indigenous communities, especially in the sacred significance ascribed to Mount Khangchendzonga. Here, nature and belief are difficult to separate.
(Image Credits: FEWMD via UNESCO)