Rara
National Park (106 sq km)
Rara National Park in the far
northwestern part of the country offers a representative sample of the region’s
flora and fauna. Sprawled over Mugu and Jumla districts the heart of the park
is the country’s biggest lake, Lake Rara, from where the park gets its name.
The lake is as deep as 167 meters at
some places, and drains into the river Mugu Karnali via Naijar khola. The park
is mainly covered with coniferous forest while the area around the lake is
dominated by blue pine, rhododendron, juniper, spruce, oak and cypress and
found around 3,000 meters while at higher altitude pine, spruce and fir are
more common.
The rich vegetation of the park is a
home to the endangered red panda, musk deer, Himalayan black beer, leopard,
jackal, Himalayan Thar, wild yellow-throated martin, wild dog, wild boar,
common langur, rhesus macaque and common otter. During winter the park abounds
in bird varieties like coots, great-crested grebe, black-necked grebe, red
crested pochard, mallard, common teal, merganser and gulls. Migrant water fowl
and gallinaceous birds can also be seen during certain seasons.
As for water life in the lake, the
snow trout is the only fish recorded so far.
- Activities: Trekking
- Accommodation: Camping
- Access: Fly to Jumla from KTM via Nepalgunj and then 3 day walk, or by bus from Nepalgunj to surkhet(114km) and then a week’s walk
- Best Season: Feb-Apr and Oct-Nov
- Park headquarter: Hutu
