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Sikkim is an extraordinary place of out-standing beauty, with snow covered mountains, lush green valleys and wondrous waterfalls almost everywhere you look, with around 40 percent of the land covered by forest.

The Nepalese call it ‘Suk him’ or new home, the Tibetans ‘Denzong’ Valley of the rice, whilst the original inhabitants called it simply ‘Nye-al-ale’ Heaven. However, the later inhabitants of Sikkim have settled for ‘Su him’ beautiful home.

It has an amazing bio-diversity with more than 4,000 species of flowering plants and is famous for its rhododendrons and eco-tourism.

This former kingdom is the tiniest of East India’s states with a total area of just 7,096 sq. kilometres, and is bordered by the Tibet Autonomous Region of the People’s Republic of China to the North, Nepal to the West and Bhutan to the East.

Looming over Sikkim and shrouded by a heavy mist is the omni-present Mount Kanchenjunga, the third highest mountain in the World. Said to be a god watching over its lands and people, the Mountain is a guardian deity protecting the people it created from deep inside its vastness and all of Sikkim.

The official language is Nepali; however, other languages such as Dzongkha (Bhutanese) and Tibetan are also used to a lesser extent, with Hindi spoken widely as a second language.

With altitudes ranging from 300 to 8,586 meters from sea level, it has just 440 villages, eight towns and four districts; with three major ethnic groups, namely the Lepchas, Bhutias and Nepalis.

The original inhabitants of Sikkim are the Lepchas, which means the “Ravine folk”, and they account for about 13 percent of the population. Of indigenous origin, they used to live solely by hunting, gathering and cultivation of the thick, dense forests, where they constructed their homes. They are now concentrated in central Sikkim at the confluence of Lachen and Lachung rivers and Dickchu their language belonging to the Himalayan group of the Tibeto-Chinese language family.

The Bhutias are of Tibetan origin and account for about 14 percent of the total population and are also a Tribe, with the same language family as the Lepchas. They took refuge in Sikkim around the 15th and 16th century, and are now spread out in all the districts of Sikkim.

Several thousand Tibetan refugees also live here.

The Nepali’s are the dominant community of Sikkim however, after migrating here from Nepal around the mid – 19^th century after the victory of British India in the Anglo Nepal war when  Nepali’s were permitted to settle in large numbers in British India.

The British were also impressed by the Gurkhas incredible bravery and war-like spirit and started to move large numbers into the British army.

Darjeeling was annexed from Sikkim to British India in 1861, mainly for growing tea and the Nepali settlers introduced the terraced system of cultivation to both Sikkim and Darjeeling which turned the large tracts of hilly terrain into a place that produced high yield crops.

Sikkim prides itself on the fact that all cultures, religions, customs and “hues” are valued and harmonious and the Hindu temples Buddhist monasteries and the few Christian churches, Muslim mosques and Sikh Gurdwaras, coexist in a happy way.

Sikkim’s vision for 2015 is for a 100 percent Literate State, 5000MW of Power Generation, Poverty-Free State, Total Organic State, and Self-Reliant State.