Rara Lake also known as Mahendra Lake is the largest

fresh water Fresh water or freshwater is any naturally occurring liquid or frozen water containing low concentrations of dissolved salts and other total dissolved solids. Although the term specifically excludes seawater and brackish water, it does include ...

lake in the Nepalese Himalayas. It is the main feature of Rara National Park, located in Jumla and Mugu Districts of Karnali Province. Rara National Park stretches over .

History

Rara Lake was included as part of Rara National Park in 1976. In 1976, citizens of the two villages Chapra and Rara were resettled to Nepalgunj. In September 2007, it was declared as a

Ramsar site A Ramsar site is a wetland site designated to be of international importance under the Ramsar Convention,8 ha (O) *** Permanent 8 ha (P) *** Seasonal Intermittent < 8 ha(Ts) **

Currently, this area along with the national park is being protected by the Nepali Army.

Features

Rara Lake lies at an elevation of , has a water surface of , a maximum depth of , is long and wide. It drains into the Mugu Karnali River via the Nijar River. Its water quality is characterized by high pH, conductivity and total hardness. It has been classified as

oligotrophic An oligotroph is an organism that can live in an environment that offers very low levels of nutrients. They may be contrasted with copiotrophs, which prefer nutritionally rich environments. Oligotrophs are characterized by slow growth, low rates of ...

as it is slightly

polluted Pollution is the introduction of contaminants into the natural environment that cause adverse change. Pollution can take the form of any substance (solid, liquid, or gas) or energy (such as radioactivity, heat, sound, or light). Pollutants, the ...

. The lake changes its colour up to 5 times a day depending on the climate. Rara Lake is surrounded by thickly forested hills named Chuchemara Danda at 4,087 meters and Murma at 3630m. Behind the hills, the beautiful view of Saipal Mountain of Himalayan Range can be seen from the lake. One revolution of the lake by foot takes almost five hours. During, summer season, birds as far as Siberia can be found migrating to this area.

Socio-cultural and religious values

The main occupation of the people living around the area is agriculture. People also rear goats and extract medicinal herbs and sell them for their living. Thakur society is dominant in the community. Thakur Baba’s Temple is situated in the southeast corner of the lake. Local people believe that the god Thakur shot an arrow to open the passage of the lake reducing the damage caused by flooding.

Flora and fauna

Rara Lake, being surrounded by Rara National Park, has unique floral and faunal importance with rare and vulnerable species. The park was established in 1976 to preserve the beauty of the lake and protect it from sedimentation and adverse human activities. The Park flora consists of 1074 species, of which 16 are endemic to Nepal; the fauna includes 51 species of mammals and 214 species of birds. The hills surrounding the lake is covered with coniferous forest like Himalayan cypress, West Himalayan Spruce, Black Juniper and Oak . The national flower of the country Rhododendron can also be found here. The lake holds three endemic fish species Nepalese snowtrout ('' Schizothorax macrophthalmus''), ('' S. nepalensis'') and the Rara snowtrout ''( S. raraensis'') and one endemic frog, Rara Lake frog (''

Nanorana rarica ''Nanorana rarica'' (common names: Rara paa frog, Rara Lake frog) is a frog species in the family Dicroglossidae. It is endemic to western Nepal. Its type locality is the eponymous Rara Lake located in the Rara National Park. Description Adult ...

''). Rara snowtrout ''( S. raraensis''), is the fish recorded only in this lake. 236 different species of birds can be found in the lake. Winter visitor water birds such as gadwall (''

Anas strepera The gadwall (''Mareca strepera'') is a common and widespread dabbling duck in the family Anatidae. Taxonomy The gadwall was first described by Carl Linnaeus in his landmark 1758 10th edition of ''Systema Naturae''. DNA studies have shown that ...

''), mallard ('' Anas platyrhynchos''), northern shoveler ('' Anas clypeata''), common teal (''

Anas crecca The Eurasian teal (''Anas crecca''), common teal, or Eurasian green-winged teal is a common and widespread duck that breeds in temperate Eurosiberia and migrates south in winter. The Eurasian teal is often called simply the teal due to being th ...

''), tufted duck (''

Aythya fuligula The tufted duck or tufted pochard (''Aythya fuligula'') is a small diving duck with a population of close to one million birds, found in northern Eurasia. The scientific name is derived from Ancient Greek '' aithuia'', an unidentified seabird men ...

''), common golden eye (''

Bucephala clangula The common goldeneye or simply goldeneye (''Bucephala clangula'') is a medium-sized sea duck of the genus ''Bucephala'', the goldeneyes. Its closest relative is the similar Barrow's goldeneye. The genus name is derived from the Ancient Greek ' ...

''), common merganser (''

Mergus merganser The common merganser (North American) or goosander (Eurasian) (''Mergus merganser'') is a large seaduck of rivers and lakes in forested areas of Europe, Asia, and North America. The common merganser eats mainly fish. It nests in holes in trees. ...

''), common coot (''

Fulica atra The Eurasian coot (''Fulica atra''), also known as the common coot, or Australian coot, is a member of the rail and crake bird family, the Rallidae. It is found in Europe, Asia, Australia, New Zealand and parts of North Africa. It has a slaty-bla ...

''), and solitary snipe ('' Gallinago solitaria'') reside and rest at this lake.

Climate

Summer is quite pleasant but winter is cold. The best visiting time to the lake is September/October and April to May. From December to March, the temperatures go low below the freezing point, and heavy snowfall occur up to one meter, blocking the way to the lake. April to June is warm in this region. Monsoon season between the months of July to October. The average rainfall during the ten-year period 1994–2003 was . The surface temperature of the lake was found to be and was visible below .

Transport

Even though the lake does not have connection to the national road network, there are two ways to reach Rara Lake- airways and roadways. Roadways, it takes four days to reach Rara from Kathmandu through the Karnali Highway and takes up to three days from the nearest town Jumla through means of trekking. From, Nepalgunj there is two ways to reach the lake, one is by following the salt route to Humla and another following a number of trails through Dolpo region. Through air, the nearest airport to the Rara lake is

Talcha Airport Rara Airport , also known as Talcha Airport, is a domestic airport located in Chhayanath Rara serving Rara National Park in Karnali Province in Nepal. History The airport was constructed in 1975 but was only blacktopped in 2015. Airlines and de ...

in Mugu and Jumla Airport in Jumla. There is no direct air service from Kathmandu to Mugu. Talcha can be reached from air only by getting down from Kathmandu to Nepalgunj or

Surkhet Surkhet District ( ne, सुर्खेत जिल्ला, ) is a district in Karnali Province of mid-western Nepal. Surkhet is the one of the ten districts of Karnali located about west of the national capital Kathmandu. The district's are ...

. Rara Lake is mainly served by

, which is 4 km east of the lake. Nepal Airlines,

Sita Air Sita Air is an airline based in Kathmandu, Nepal, operating domestic services within Nepal. The airline was established in 2003.The airline's main base is Tribhuvan International Airport with hubs at Pokhara Airport and Nepalgunj Airport. Histo ...

Summit Air Summit Air (8199400 Canada Inc.) is a Canadian airline headquartered in Yellowknife that operates scheduled, charter and cargo aviation throughout the Northwest Territories, Nunavut, and Yukon. Summit Air is a member of the Ledcor Group of Compan ...

, and Tara Air operate flights to both

and Jumla Airport from

Nepalgunj Airport Nepalgunj Airport is a domestic airport serving Nepalgunj in Nepal. There are plans by the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal to promote the airport to an international airport and establishing immigration, customs and quarantine facilities. Hi ...

. It takes approx. 3 hours to reach Rara Lake from

on foot. Apart from this, a public bus also runs from

to Mugu headquarter Gamgadhi. It is possible to reach from Surkhet through the

Karnali Highway Karnali Highway ( ne, कर्णाली राजमार्ग, also referred to as H13) is a highway, and is a vital transport link between two regions in Nepal. This highway links the towns of Jumla with the Karnali capital Birendranagar ...

Manma Manma ( ne, मान्मा) is the district headquarter of Kalikot District in Karnali Province, Nepal, a landlocked country of South Asia. The town is located at 29°8'60N 81°37'0E and has an altitude of 2033 metres. At the time of the 199 ...

Kalikot Kalikot District ( ne, कालीकोट जिल्ला ), a part of Karnali province, is one of the seventy-seven districts of Nepal. The district, with Manma as its district headquarters, covers an area of , had a population of 105,580 ...

and Badki in Jumla by road. Rara can be reached after about 3 hours of walking from Badki by foot.

Environmental issues

Due to over-grazing and defecation, the national park conservation officers are facing a challenge to preserve the lake. Local people are found cutting timber wood and fuel wood, which is a problem for conservation of Rara. Also during festivals visitors and local people produce a lot of wastage causing water pollution. Rara has the potential of becoming the next major place for tourists to visit. During 1997–1998, the number of tourists visiting to this place was found to be 560, but in 2007 it decreased to 87 individuals.

References

External links

www.rara-lake.comFlickr : Rara Lake
{{Authority control Rara Mugu District Karnali Province Lakes of Nepal