The constricting altitudes of the Makalu - barun National Park and Wildlife Conservation Area create dramatic changes in climate, wildlife and plants within only a few kilometers.

• Tropical: 500 - 1000 = Sal and broad - leaved forests, cultivated fields. Wildlife includes porcupine, langur, wild boar and jackal.
• Sub- tropical:1000- 1500 = Forests of chir pine, alder and Schima-Castranopsis terraced.
• Sub-tropical: 1500-2500 =Farm land wildlife includes clouded leopard, jungle cat Himalayan black bear and Indian Muntjac.
• Temperate: 2500- 3500 = Frosts of Rhododendron, oak laurel maple magnolia and and alder Terraced farmland. Wildlife includes musk deer, red panda wolf, and Himalayan tahr.
• Sub Alpine: 3500 -4500 Forest of birch silver, fir, and rhododendron mingled with sub alpine grassland. wildlife includes Himalayan weasel, marmot, and yak.
• Alpine: 4500- 6000= Alpine grassland and juniper/ rhododendron, scrub at lower regions. mostly rock and ice with little vegetation, and wildlife above 5,000 m. snow leopard and red fox roam this zone.
• Nival- Above 6000- there are 30 Himalayan peaks towering 6000 meters and higher in the Makalu - Barun Area.
  (Source of information: Trekking Map published by The mountain institute)