Pokhara Sub-Metropolitan
City (Nepali: Pokhara Upa-Mahānagarpālikā) is the second
city of Nepal with
264,991[2]inhabitants
and is situated about 200 km west of the capital Kathmandu.[3] It serves as the headquarters
of Kaski
District, Gandaki
Zone and the Western Development Region Pokhara is one of the
most popular tourist destinations in Nepal Three out of the ten highest
mountains in the world —Dhaulagiri, Annapurna I and Manaslu — are
situated within 30 miles (linear distance) of the city, so that the northern
skyline of the city offers a very close view of the Himalayas Due
to its proximity to the Annapurna mountain range, the city is also a base for
trekkers undertaking the Circuit through the ACAP regio of the Annapurna ranges
in the Himalayas.
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Geography
Pokhara is situated in
the northwestern corner of the Pokhara Valley,[8] which is a widening of
the Seti
Gandaki valley that lies in the midland region (Pahad)
of the Himalayas. In this
region the mountains rise very quickly[9] and within 30 km, the
elevation rises from 1,000 m to over 7,500 m. As a result of this
sharp rise in altitude the area of Pokhara has one of the highest precipitation
rates in the country (3,350 mm/year or 131 inches/year in the valley
to 5600 mm/year or 222 inches/year in Lumle)[Even within the city there is a noticeable difference in rainfall
between the south and the north of the city, the northern part of the city
situated at the foothills of the mountains experiences proportionally higher
amount of precipitation. The Seti Gandaki is the main river flowing through the
cityThe
Seti Gandaki (White River) and its tributaries have created several gorges and
canyons in and around the whole city which gives intriguingly long sections of
terrace features to the city and surrounding areas. These long sections of
terraces are interrupted by gorges which are hundreds of meters deepThe Seti
gorge runs through the whole city from north to south and then west to east and
at places these gorges are only a few metres wide. In the north and south, the
canyons are wider.]
In the south the city
borders on Phewa
Tal (4.4 km2) at an elevation of about 827 m
above sea level, and Lumle at
1,740 m in the north of the city touches the base of the Annapurna mountain range. 3
eight-thousand meter tall peaks (Dhaulagiri, Annapurna, Manaslu) can be seen
from the cityTheMachhapuchhre (Fishtail)
with an elevation of 6,993 m is the closest to the cityhe porous
underground of the Pokhara valley favours the formation of caves and several
caves can be found within the city limits. In the south of the city, a
tributary of the Seti flowing out of the Phewa Lake disappears
at Patale Chhango (पाताले छाँगो, Nepali for Hell's Falls, also called Davis
Falls, after someone who supposedly fell into the falls) into an underground
gorge, to reappear 500 metres further south To the south-east of Pokhara
city is the municipality of Lekhnath,
a recently established town in the Pokhara valley, home to Begnas Lake
Climate The climate of the city is sub-tropical;
however, the elevation keeps temperatures moderate: summer temperatures average
between 25 to 35 °C, in winter around - 2 to 15 °C. Pokhara and
nearby areas receive a high amount of precipitation. Lumle, 25 miles from the Pokhara city center,
receives the highest amount of rainfall (> 5600 mm/year or
222 inches/year) in the country.Snowfall is not observed in the valley,
but surrounding hills experience occasional snowfall in the winter. Summers are
humid and mild; most precipitation occurs during the monsoon season (July -
September). Winter and spring skies are generally clear and sunny.
History
Bindhyabasini Temple in the evening
Phewa
lake in 1982
Pokhara lies on an
important old trading route betweenChina and India. In the 17th century it was part of
the Kingdom of Kaski which was one of the Chaubise Rajya (24 Kingdoms of
Nepal, चौबिसे राज्य) ruled by a branch of the Shah Dynasty.Many of
the hills around Pokhara still have medieval ruins from this time. In
1786 Prithvi
Narayan Shah added Pokhara into his kingdom. It had by then
become an important trading place on the routes from Kathmandu to Jumla and from
India to Tibet.
Pokhara was envisioned
as a commercial center by the King of Kaski in the mid 18th century A.D.when Newars of Bhaktapur migrated to Pokhara,
upon being invited by the king, and settled near main business locations such
as Bindhyabasini
temple, Nalakomukh and Bhairab Tole. Most of the Pokhara, at the
time, was largely inhabited by KhasBrahmin,Chhetri, Thakuri
and Dalits), the major
communities were located in Parsyang, Malepatan, Pardi and Harichowk areas of
modern Pokhara and the Majhi community near the Phewa LakeThe
establishment of a British recruitment camp brought larger Magar andGurung communities to Pokhara.At present
the Khas, Gurung (Tamu) and Magar form the
dominant community of Pokhara. There is also a sizeable Newari population
in the cityA small Muslim community
is located on eastern fringes of Pokhara generally calledMiya Patan.
Batulechaur in the far north of Pokhara is home to the Gandharvas or
Gaaineys (the tribe of the musicians). The nearby hill villages around
Pokhara are a mixed community of Khas and Gurung.Small Magar communities are also present
mostly in the southern outlying hills. Newar community is almost non-existent
in the villages of outlying hills outside the Pokhara city limits.
From 1959 to 1962
approximately 300,000 exiles entered Nepal from neighbouring Tibet following its annexation by China. Most of the Tibetan exiles then sought
asylum in Dharamshala and other Tibetan exile communities
in India. According to UNHCR, since 1989, approximately 2500 Tibetans
cross the border into Nepal each year, many
of whom arrive in Pokhara typically as a transit to Tibetan exile communities
in India. About 50,000 - 60,000 Tibetan exiles reside in Nepal, and
approximately 20,000 of the exiled Tibetans live in one of the 12 consolidated
camps, 8 in Kathmandu and 4 in and around Pokhara. The four Tibetan settlements
in Pokhara are Jampaling, Paljorling, Tashi Ling, and Tashi Palkhiel. These
camps have evolved into well built settlements, each with a gompa(Buddhist monastery), chorten and its
particular architecture, and Tibetans have become a visible minority in the
city.
Until the end of the
1960s the town was only accessible by foot and it was considered even more a
mystical place than Kathmandu. The first road was completed in 1968 (Siddhartha
Highway) after
which tourism set in and the city grew rapidly. The
area along the Phewa lake, called Lake Side, has developed into one of the
major tourism hubs of Nepal.[
Location
Machhapuchhre (Fishtail)
mountain, 6993 meters
The municipality of
Pokhara spans 12 km from north to south and 6 km from east to west
but, unlike the capital Kathmandu, it is quite loosely built up and still has
much green space The
valley is approximately divided into four to five parts by the rivers Seti,
Bijayapur, Bagadi and Fusre. The Seti Gandaki flowing through the city from
north to south divides the city roughly in two halves with the business area of
Chipledunga in the middle, the old town centre of Bagar in the north and the
tourist district of Lakeside (Baidam) to the south all lying on the western
side of the river. The
gorge through which the river flows is crossed at five places at K.I. Singh
Pul, Mahendra Pul and Prithvi Highway Pul from north to south of the city
respectively. The floor of the valley is plain and resembles Terai due to its gravel like surface and
has slanted orientation from northwest to southeast. The city is surrounded by
the hills[ overlooking
the entire valley.
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