This is the closest national park to any capital city in the region - the gate at Sundarijal is under an hour from Thamel. Shivapuri Nagarjun wraps around the northern rim of the Kathmandu Valley and protects about 159 square kilometres of watershed forest that supplies a substantial part of the city's drinking water, which is the reason it exists. We walk in from Sundarijal, past the falls and the reservoir and up the stone stairway beside the Bagmati, entering the park at the checkpost and climbing through oak, rhododendron and pine. From there the day is shaped around the group: up to Nagi Gompa, the nunnery on the hillside at about 2,300m, which is a gentle two hours and has a good view over the valley; the full climb to Shivapuri peak at 2,732m for Ganesh Himal, Langtang and Dorje Lakpa on a clear day, which is a serious five-hour round trip; or the gentler line north to Chisapani on the ridge, which is the first day of the Helambu trek. Over three hundred bird species have been recorded in this forest, and leopard and Himalayan black bear live here, though you will not see them. We carry a packed lunch and eat it on the trail, take the descent at an easy pace, and have you back in the city by early evening. It is the best half-day in nature available from Kathmandu, and almost nobody on a standard itinerary does it.
