Rasuwa District ( ne, रसुवा जिल्ला is one of 13 districts of

Bagmati Province Bagmati Province ( ne, बाग्मती प्रदेश, ''Bagmati Pradesh'') is one of the seven provinces of Nepal established by the constitution of Nepal. The province is Nepal's second-most populous province and fifth largest provinc ...

and one of seventy-seven districts of Nepal. The district, with Dhunche as its district headquarters, covers an area of and has a population (2011) of 43,300. As per census 2011 total households in Rasuwa district is 9,778. It is the smallest district by area, among 16 districts in the ''Himalaya'' region of

Nepal Nepal (; ne, :ne:नेपाल, नेपाल ), formerly the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal ( ne, सङ्घीय लोकतान्त्रिक गणतन्त्र नेपाल ), is a landlocked country in S ...

Etymology

Origin of its name had begun as 'Rasowa' which is believed to be derived as a combination of two Tibetan words ''ra'' (meaning: lambs) and ''sowa'' (meaning: grazing) as it was known for its lamb and grazing lands. And later people started to call it Rasuwa.

Geography and climate

Its territory has elevations ranging from from mean

sea Level Mean sea level (MSL, often shortened to sea level) is an average surface level of one or more among Earth's coastal bodies of water from which heights such as elevation may be measured. The global MSL is a type of vertical datuma standardise ...

. Forests cover 31.43% of the land while 16.63% is always snow-covered. Steeply varying territory and plenty of natural blessings make Rasuwa a well-known tourist destination in

. Sightseeing places including Gosaikunda Lake, Langtang valley plus one of the hot springs in Nepal (locally called ''Tatopani'') are located in the district.

Demographics

At the time of the 2011 Nepal census, Rasuwa District had a population of 43,300. Of these, 67.4% spoke

Tamang The Tamang (; Devanagari: तामाङ; ''tāmāṅ'') are an Tibeto-Burmese ethnic group of Nepal. In Nepal Tamang/Moormi people constitute 5.6% of the Nepalese population at over 1.3 million in 2001, increasing to 1,539,830 as of the 2011 ...

, 26.9% Nepali, 1.7% Tibetan, 1.1%

Gurung Gurung (exonym; ) or Tamu (endonym; Gurung: ) are an ethnic group indigenous to the hills and mountains of Gandaki Province of Nepal. Gurung people predominantly live around the Annapurna region in Manang, Mustang, Dolpo, Kaski, Lamjung, Go ...

, 0.7% Newari and 0.6%

Sherpa Sherpa may refer to: Ethnography * Sherpa people, an ethnic group in north eastern Nepal * Sherpa language Organizations and companies * Sherpa (association), a French network of jurists dedicated to promoting corporate social responsibility * ...

as their

first language A first language, native tongue, native language, mother tongue or L1 is the first language or dialect that a person has been exposed to from birth or within the critical period. In some countries, the term ''native language'' or ''mother tongu ...

. 63.5% of the population in the district spoke Nepali and 0.5%

as their

second language A person's second language, or L2, is a language that is not the native language (first language or L1) of the speaker, but is learned later. A second language may be a neighbouring language, another language of the speaker's home country, or a fo ...

.2011 Nepal Census, Social Characteristics Tables
/ref>

Administrative divisions

The administrative division of Rasuwa comprised 5 Rural Municipalities. Following are five Rural Municipalities in Rasuwa District: Many leaders of different parties are here but only 5 mayors are here. Nepali Congress won 2 places, CPN UML won 2 place and Rastriya Prajatantrik Party won 1 seat/place. The first ever person who was elected in Rasuwa from Nepali Congress was Mr. Bal Chandra Poudel (2046 B.S). The history of other parties are not commenced yet but this district in Nepal is also the one with no VDC. The winner of election 2070 bs in this district is Mr. Janardan Dhakal.

Transportation

Rasuwa is accessible by bus from Kathmandu (national capital) via Pasang Lhamu highway (H21), with its headquarters (Dhunche) being about from

Kathmandu , pushpin_map = Nepal Bagmati Province#Nepal#Asia , coordinates = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = , subdivision_type1 = Province , subdivision_name1 = Bagmati Prov ...

. As of 2013, 3 VDCs namely Thuman, Langtang and Haku are not touched by any kind of roadway.

Tourism

Rasuwa is rich in natural resources.

Langtang Langtang valley is a Himalayan valley in the mountains of north-central Nepal, known for its trekking routes and natural environment. Administrative The Langtang valley lies in the Rasuwa district of the Bagmati Province in Nepal. Situ ...

mountain range stands to the north of Rasuwa. The northern parts of the area largely fall within the boundaries of

Langtang National Park Langtang National Park was established in 1976 as Nepal's first Himalayan national park and the country's fourth protected area. It exceeds an elevation range of and covers an area of in the Nuwakot, Rasuwa and Sindhulpalchok Districts of the ...

. Gosainkunda Lake, Ganja La Pass, and Tamang village in Bridim are the major highlights of Rasuwa for tourism. The Gosainkunda Lake, also known as "Frozen Lake", is a mountain lake in the Langtang region. There are about 108 (lakes) in this area. Saraswati Kund, Bhairab Kund, Surya Kund and Gosainkund are most important ones. Langtang valley is another attraction in Rasuwa which is aptly called the valley of glaciers; mountains rise soaring toward the sky. The valley offers pine forest, swift mountain streams, rugged rock and snow-capped peaks, grassy down and meadows strewn with daisies and wild animals. Gosainkunda Lake

References

Rasuwa District Profile 2011
* {{Coord, 28, 7, N, 85, 17, E, type:adm2nd_region:NP_source:enwiki, display=title Districts of Nepal established in 1962 Districts of Bagmati Province Himalayas