A mahout (a person who rides an elephant) decorates his elephant using chalk while preparing for the Elephant Festival at Sauraha in Chitwan, south of Kathmandu, December 26, 2014. Elephants and mahouts from Chitwan will participate in the Elephant festival, which involves elephant races, elephants playing an exhibition soccer match and taking part in various other sporting activities. The event will start from 26 December and will end on 30 December, 2014. (Photo by Navesh Chitrakar/Reuters)

The chariot of God Bhairab is pulled through the city centre of Bhaktapur near Kathmandu during the Bisket festival April 10, 2015. The festival, which runs for more than a week and coincides with the Nepalese New Year, involves devotees offering prayers and the pulling of two chariots, one carrying the idol of God Bhairab and the other with the idol of Goddess Bhadrakali, around the ancient city of Bhaktapur. Devotees participate in the festival with the belief that they will be blessed with good health, fortune and harvest for the coming year. (Photo by Navesh Chitrakar/Reuters)

One of the most significant challenges related to cancer in Nepal is the lack of awareness around the prognosis of the disease, as many patients, their families and even healthcare professionals consider cancer to be an incurable disease at any stage. This results in significant delays in bringing patients to hospitals, and high rates of advanced stage cancers and mortality. (Photo by Omar Havana)

Bulls fight during the Maghesangranti festival at Talukachandani village in Nuwakot district near Kathmandu, Nepal January 15, 2016. The village organizes the bullfight during the Maghesangranti festival that commemorates the start of the holy month of Magh, ushering in the coming of warmer weather and longer days. (Photo by Navesh Chitrakar/Reuters)

A girl adorned as a Living Goddess smiles as she takes part in a mass Kumari Puja prayer rituals during Indra Jatra festival in Kathmandu, Nepal on Friday, September 5, 2025. Hundreds of young girls under the age of nine gathered around the temple to offer worship for good luck, protection from evil and prevent from diseases. (Photo by Skanda Gautam/ZUMA Press Wire via Alamy Live News)

A Tibetan girl is reflected in a mirror, as she gets ready for her performance during an event organised to mark the 88th birthday celebration of their spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama in Kathmandu, Nepal on July 6, 2023. (Photo by Navesh Chitrakar/Reuters)

Participants from Newar community in traditional attire, takes part in the parade to celebrate Newari New Year that falls during the Tihar festival, also called Diwali, in Kathmandu, Nepal November 12, 2015. The Newar community observes the start of their Newari New Year 1136, in accordance with their lunar calendar, by worshipping their spiritual selves in a ritual known as "mahapuja". (Photo by Navesh Chitrakar/Reuters)

A woman and a child walk past the remains of collapsed houses damaged during the April 2015 earthquake, in Bhaktapur, Nepal March 18, 2016. The two devastating earthquakes that struck Nepal last year killed almost 9,000 people across the country. Inside the Kathmandu Valley almost 2,000 died, and some of the area's most important cultural and heritage sites were completely destroyed. As Kathmandu inhabitants prepare to mark the one-year anniversary of the event, thousands are still displaced and millions are living in temporary shelters. (Photo by Navesh Chitrakar/Reuters)