Sikkim is the smallest state in India and its most vertically dramatic — 7,000 square kilometres that climb from subtropical river valleys at 300 metres to the summit of Kangchenjunga at 8,586, the world's third-highest mountain, passing through cloud forests of extraordinary biodiversity.
Sikkim became part of India in 1975 — within living memory for most of the state's older residents — and the transition from independent Buddhist kingdom to Indian state happened fast enough that the culture, the monasteries, and the political memory are all still very present. The Rumtek monastery, built by the 16th Karmapa in the 1960s, is the most important Kagyu Buddhist institution outside of China and receives pilgrims from across the Tibetan diaspora. Gangtok, the capital, sits at 1,650 metres on a ridge with views across to Kangchenjunga on clear mornings.
The Yumthang Valley in North Sikkim, at 3,600 metres, blooms with rhododendrons in April and May — 24 species, in colours from white to deep crimson — in a display that is among the most concentrated examples of Himalayan floral diversity anywhere in the world. The Gurudongmar Lake at 5,230 metres is one of the highest lakes on earth, considered sacred by both Buddhists and Sikhs, its surface frozen for much of the year.
The biological diversity of Sikkim — proportionally the most species-rich state in India — is a consequence of the altitude gradient: from subtropical rainforest at 300 metres to alpine desert at 5,000, the state passes through more ecological zones than most countries contain. Over 4,000 flowering plant species have been recorded, including 600 species of orchid, 36 species of rhododendron, and 144 species of fern. This is not a number; it is a landscape.