Bajhang बझाङ

Bajhang is among the northernmost of the Sudurpaschim hill districts, its upper valleys climbing toward Saipal at 7,031 metres — one of the high peaks of the far-western Himalaya after Api and Nampa. The Seti River rises from the Saipal range and runs south through Chainpur, a town the Nepalis call 'the city of kings' for its scatter of ruined palaces and forts left by the old Bajhangi principality that prospered on the Tibet salt trade. Khaptad National Park abuts the district's southern edge and can be approached from Bajhang as well as from Doti.

The people are largely Doteli-speaking hill communities who preserved lively trade links with Tibet until the border tightened in the mid-twentieth century. Cultural heritage here is tied to the old rajya: carved temples, oral genealogies and a pride in the Chainpur lineage survive in local life. Bajhang is one of the harder districts to reach in all of Nepal; the road from Dhangadhi takes five to six hours in a jeep under good conditions, and most trekkers access the district via Sanphebagar or along high trails from the Khaptad plateau.