Designation and scope
Established in 1976 and inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1979, Sagarmatha National Park covers 1,148 sq km of the Khumbu region including Everest itself, entered via the Monjo checkpoint on the standard trekking route. The park's name uses Sagarmatha, the Nepali name for Everest, meaning roughly "forehead of the sky."
Flora by elevation band
Below 3,000 m, forests of blue pine, fir, and rhododendron dominate the lower valley. Between 3,000 and 4,000 m, birch and juniper scrub take over as tree cover thins. Above 4,000 m, alpine grassland and bare rock replace forest entirely, the same elevation band where trekkers notice the landscape turning distinctly higher-altitude in character.
Wildlife
The lower forests support the Himalayan tahr, musk deer, and the colourful Impeyan pheasant, Nepal's national bird, while snow leopards range the higher ridgelines but are rarely sighted by trekkers. Himalayan griffon vultures and lammergeiers are more commonly spotted, circling the thermals above the valley on clear days.
Entry permit
The park entry fee is one of the two standard permits required for the trek, checked at the Monjo checkpoint alongside the Khumbu Pasang Lhamu Rural Municipality trek card. See the full permits guide for current 2026 rates and where to obtain each.
Conservation challenges
Rising temperatures across the Khumbu are measurably shrinking glacial ice within the park, a trend documented by researchers studying the Khumbu Glacier directly beneath Base Camp, with implications for both trail conditions and the water supply of downstream villages.
The buffer zone around the park
A 275 sq km buffer zone surrounds Sagarmatha National Park's core 1,148 sq km, set up to let surrounding communities manage forest and pasture resources sustainably while easing pressure on the protected core. Management of this buffer zone involves local Sherpa communities directly, rather than treating the park as a strictly closed reserve.
A protected area that crosses the border
Sagarmatha National Park adjoins the Qomolangma National Nature Reserve on the Tibetan side of the border, and Nepal's park management plans explicitly treat the two as an ecologically connected system rather than two separate protected areas divided by a political line. Wildlife and high-altitude ecosystems on both sides of the frontier are managed with this connectivity in mind.
The Sagarmatha Pollution Control Committee
Founded in 1991 by local Sherpa leaders and environmental advocates, the Sagarmatha Pollution Control Committee (SPCC) is the community-based organisation responsible for waste management, trail maintenance, and climbing-related environmental regulation across the park. Every trekker who has used a rubbish bin at a checkpoint post or seen a porter carrying sacks of trail waste down to Lukla has the SPCC's decades of ground-level work to thank for it.