Even the name evokes mystery, remoteness and holy tranquillity. Khaptad. Let the hard consonants roll around your tongue, recite it like a mantra, let it bring to your mind's eye the ambience of a forest faraway. Yes, Mugu and Humla are far-flung. But Khaptad has an extremeness to its isolation that is not comparable to anything that we traditionally think of as being off the beaten track.

Right in the heart of far-western Nepal, soaring like Olympus above the arid terraces of Bajhang, Doti, Accham and Bajura is Khaptad's amazing hulk. Declared a National Park in 1980 and guarded by the Royal Nepal Army, Khaptad looks like a gigantic volcanic cone forever shrouded in mist and cloud. The slopes are thickly clad in oak and rhododendron, and in the undergrowth there are orchids, lichen and thick carpets of moss. On top is a unique undulating plateau with coniferous forests and lush meadows which are covered in a metre of snow in winter, but yield to verdant and wet summers. Villagers from the surrounding valleys have traditionally moved up with their goths to spend the summer with their cows, goats and water buffalos in the pastures called "patans".

May is also the month of the annual Khaptad Mela, the full moon night when villagers in traditional finery dance all night to the beat of drums in the moonlight. The mela is also a no-holds-barred match-making festival where boys and girls from all three surrounding districts meet, pair off, and ultimately get married when they get back home. Already-married pilgrims also take time off to take a holy dip in the Khaptad spring and make a side-trip to the Shiva shrine in Shailung, the highest point in Khaptad at 3,700 m.

Because of its location at the bio-diversity crossroads of South Asia, Khaptad is a goldmine of Himalayan herbs and plants, the forests are alive with birds including the rare satyr tragopan pheasant and migratory species. The Department of Medicinal Plants runs a nursery for traditional herbs, trying not always successfully to cultivate wild plants. Conservation in Khaptad faces threats from forest encroachment, the 10,000 or so heads of livestock that summer here are creating a serious problem with soil erosion on the plateau.

The nearest road-head is at Dipayal, situated at 540 m on the banks of the Seti, sometimes a full day's drive from Dadeldhura. Three days walk to the south-east is the airfield at Sanfebagar which is connected to Nepalgunj erratically by Royal Nepal Airlines. From the depths of these hot and dusty valleys, you have to climb nearly vertical to the Khaptad plateau at 3,600 m. It is a climb that tortures your body, humbles your soul and shows you the true scale of these mountains in Nepal's wild west.

Nothing really prepares you for the dark, mysterious and sometimes even ghostly interior of the Khaptad forest. You understand why pre-historic human tribes revered forests and saw them as the homes of fairies, leprechauns and other enigmatic beasts and spirits. The locals have their own stories of mythical mongrels like half-wolf, half-humans and other animals that prowl the jungle. Leaving the main path can be dangerous, pilgrims have got lost and their skeletons found months later very near the trail which they could not find. Trekkers have wandered in circles for days before finding their way out of the forest. A guide, therefore, is a must. This is no place for solo treks. The brooks, waterfalls, ponds and lakes of Khaptad make this unique national park well worth the trouble to get to.