Gandaki Zone,Kaski District (Pokhara Phewa Lake)

Pokhara

Phewa_Lake
पोखरा) is a city of close to 200,000 inhabitants in central Nepal located at 28.25 N, 83.99 E,, 198 km west of Kathmandu. It is the Headquarter of Kaski District, Gandaki Zone and the Western Development Region. It is also one of the most popular tourist destinations in Nepal. It is also called the Switzerland of Nepal.
* 1 Geography
* 2 History
* 3 Structure
* 4 Tourism and Economy
* 5 Pokhara Airport
* 6 Tourists Places in Pokhara
* 7 Lakes & Rivers
* 8 Universities and Schools in Pokhara

Geography

Pokhara is situated in the northwestern corner of the Pokhara Valley, which is a widening of the Seti Gandaki valley The Seti River and its tributaries have dug impressive canyons into the valley floor, which are only visible from higher viewpoints or from the air. To the east of Pokhara is the municipality of Lekhnath, another town in the valley.
In no other place do mountains rise so quickly. In this area, within 30 km, the elevation rises from 1000 m to over 7500 m. The Dhaulagiri, Annapurna and Manaslu ranges, each with peaks over 8000 m, can be seen from Pokhara and there is a lake named Phewa Lake, three caves (Mahendra, Bat and Gupteswor) and an impressive falls(Patale Chhango or David’s Fall) where the water from the Phewa Lake thunders into a hole and disappears. Due to this sharp rise in altitude the area of Pokhara has one of the highest precipitation rates of the country (over 4000 mm/year). Even within the city there is a noticeable difference in the amount of rain between the south of the city by the lake and the north at the foot of the mountains.

The climate is sub-tropical but due to the elevation the temperatures are moderate: the summer temperatures average between 25 – 35°C, in winter around 5 – 15°C.

In the south the city borders on Phewa Tal (a lake of 4.4 km² at an elevation of about 800 m above sea level), in the north at an elevation of around 1000 m the outskirts of the city touch the base of the Annapurna mountain range. From the southern fringes of the city 3 eight-thousanders (Dhaulagiri, Annapurna, Manaslu) and, in the middle of the Annapurna range, the Machapuchare (Nepali: Machhapucchare: ‘Fishtail’) with close to 7000 m can be seen. This mountain dominates the northern horizon of the city and its name derives from its twin peaks, not visible from the south.

[edit] History

Pokhara lies on an important old trading route between Tibet and India. In the 17th. century it was part of the influential Kingdom of Kaski which again was one of the Chaubise Rajaya (24 Kingdoms of Nepal) ruled by a branch of the Shah Dynasty. Many of the mountains around Pokhara still have medieval ruins from this time. In 1752 the King of Kaski invited Newars from Bhaktapur to Pokhara to promote trade. Their heritage can still be seen in the architecture along the streets in Bagar (Old Pokhara). Hindus, again, brought their culture and customs from Kathmandu and settled in the whole Pokhara valley. 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.

From 1959 to 1962 some 300,000 refugees came to Nepal from neighbouring Tibet, which had been annexed by China. Four refugee camps were established in the Pokhara valley: Tashipalkhel, Tashiling, Paljorling and Jambling. These camps have evolved into settlements. Because of their different architecture, prayer flags, gompas and chorten, these can easily be distinguished from the other settlements.

Until the end of the 1960s the town could only be reached by foot and it was considered even more a mystical place than Kathmandu. The first road was finished in 1968 after which tourism set in and the city grew rapidly. The area along the Phewa Lake developed into one of the major tourism hubs of Nepal.

पोखरा
Location in Nepal
Coordinates: [show location on an interactive map] 28°24′N 83°99′E / 28.4, 84.65
Country     Nepal
Development Region     Western
Zone     Gandaki Zone
District     Kaski District
Government
Mayor     Area
Total     11.6 sq mi (30 km²)
Water     1.7 sq mi (4.4 km²)
Population (2006)
– Total     200,000
– Ethnicities     Gurung,Newar
– Religions     Buddhist,Hindu,Christian
Time zone     GMT +5:45 (UTC)
Website: http://www.visitingnepal.com/pokhara-travel-and-tour-41.html