RARA Lake Nepal

The Rara Lake (Nepali: रारा लेक) is the biggest and deepest fresh water lake in the Nepal Himalayas. It is the main feature of the Rara National Park, located in the Jumla and Mugu Districts.[1] In September 2007, the lake was declared a Ramsar site, covering 1,583 ha (6.11 sq mi) including the surrounding wetland.

Rara Lake is the largest lake of Nepal, situated in Mugu district in the western part of Nepal, near Gam Ghadi (the district-headquarters of Mugu) and Talcha airstrip. It takes around 3 to 4 days of walking to reach Rara from Jumla.

The surface is around 8 square kilometer and the perimeter 9 kilometer. The length of the lake is 5 kilometers and it is 2 kilometers wide, the altitude around 3060 meter and the max. depth is 167 meter.

Rara is an unique spot in Nepal. The lake is situated in the Rara National Park and because of its remote location and the violence/threat of a revolutionary communist group (Maoists)  the lake has been visited by only few tourists in the past. Only in the second half of 2006 the situation improved and foreign visitors do not need to pay the high fee of around $100 per person to these Maoists anymore.

Due to its remoteness the surroundings of Rara Lake are both poor and quite unspoiled, which, for such a beautiful place, is very unusual in an era of extensive traveling and booming tourist business world wide. We hope the Nepali government, local residents, travel agencies and tourists will make efforts to conserve this area.  Attention for the conservation is especially important at this very moment (year 2007/2008), since Rara might face a rise in  the number of visitors now the region is more accessible and tourists will start searching for alternatives to the Annapurna region now roads are (being) build on both sides of the famous Thorong La pass, making the Annapurna Circuit Trekking and the Jomsom-Muktinath trekking less attractive.