I had been to Rara on April 2021. My journey to Karnali Pradesh began from 7th April. It was a part of a field trip and we were on a private Pick-up Jeep, so I do not know about local vehicles and the routes and their prices. Besides that, the major things to consider while making a trip to Rara are here in this blog.
You might know about the gem of Karnali Pradesh – Rara Lake. It is a part of a 106 km2 Rara National Park at an altitude of 2,290 meters. People usually take two flights to reach this place: Kathmandu to Nepalgunj and Nepalgunj to Jumla. From Jumla, the off-road begins. There are two ways to reach Rara via Jumla, one is a newly made off road which is comparatively shorter. I will brief you how to reach Rara via road form Kathmandu.
Before sharing further information, keep this in mind, the lake is not as elegant as it has been mentioned all over the Internet. I do not want to give you false hope. It is just another “Begnas Lake” in the mountain region, but the journey to the lake is what matters. It is said that Rara changes colors, and though she looks calm and gentle on the surface, but is as deep as 167m! I was slightly disappointed after reaching the lake, then I realized I had made a lot of memories, met several kind hearted people, enjoyed new dishes, shared culture and laughter, and that’s what matters at the end of the day!
Information about Rara Lake:
- District: Mugu
- Region: Rara National Park, 106 km2
- Altitude: 2290 m
- Maximum length: 5.1 km
- Water Volume: 10,682 m3
- Depth: 167m
- Specialty: 1074 species, 51 – mammals, 214 – birds, color changing lake
- Activities at Rara Lake: Horse-riding, boating, hiking, photography
- Prohibited things at Rara Lake: Fishing, swimming, throwing garbage
Itinerary:
Day 1: If you have your own vehicle like jeep or bike, starting at 6:00 am, you can reach Surkhet by 8:00 pm or 9:00 pm. It is best to book a hotel beforehand as it is not a popular city by night time. It is not fun if you are not with an enjoyable company because most of the time you are inside the vehicle. We stayed at Peace Land Lodge, Birendranagar. (Contact: +977 9868094524)
Day 2: If you do not want to do sightseeing of Surkhet, it is recommended to begin the second day drive as early as 6:00 am. By 4:00 pm you will reach Manma. You can have lunch on your way to Manma. We had ours at New Karnali Riverside Hotel and Lodge, Tallo Dhungeshwar, Dailekh. It has a great view of Karnali River and there’s a hanging bridge too. After crossing Dailekh, we reached Manma. It is a place at Kalikot. We stayed at Hotel Kot Durbar (Contact: 087-440034)
The room and lunch/dinner prices were reasonable like NPR 1000 and NPR 200 to 400 (depending upon veg and non veg food) respectively.
Day 3: It is recommended to start early, because on your day 3, you will reach Mugu if you speed up. We started at 8:00 am in the morning after a light breakfast and crossed Jumla and entered Rara National Park. We had lunch at Kalikot and dinner at Mugu. The thing is, you can enter inside Rara National Park till 6:00 pm only. So, hurry up and make sure there’s a booking of your hotel rooms beforehand.
Day 4: We reached Rara after 10 minutes’ drive from hotel at the parking lot of Rara and after a short hike of another 20 minutes we made it to the lake. Make sure you reach the lake around 7:00 am so that you can do boating. We missed it. You can do horse-riding. For those who want to skip hiking, horse-riding is available. I didn’t do the horse-riding because I’m against animal cruelty.
These routes and vehicle mentioned in the itinerary is for a private jeep. Not all kinds of vehicles can make it to Rara as the road is difficult. You can find excavators on your way which can delay you by hours. The construction works are rapidly taking place and I think the condition will be worse when monsoon begins. So, make a better research, book hotels beforehand, carry enough water and food with you, and go in a group.
Things to remember/consider:
- Rara lies in Mugu, and you need to know about the people in Mugu. They are generous and friendly, but not hygienic. Make sure you have extra bedsheet that you might want to wrap before sleeping in the homestay of Mugu. I had to face that problem.
- You might not find stores between two villages which might be located at a distance more than 50 km on your way to Rara! So, it is better to carry enough food and water with you.
- Carry warm clothes no matter what season or month you visit Rara to protect yourself from cool breeze in the evening.
- Carry first-aid and medicines as you might not find any health facilities once you are on the hills and away from the headquarter.
- Carry power bank for your gadgets as some places in Karnali Pradesh has no electricity supply. Even there’s no network so you might be contactless for a while.
If you want to know more in detail about Karnali Pradesh, there’s another blog in my website: www.blog.aleenarayamajhi.com.np
Aleena Rayamajhi
5/2/2021
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