Pokhara
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| Pokhara valley, Nepal |
Pokhara is known to be a popular tourist destination. The tourist district is along the north shore of the Phewa lake (Baidam, Lakeside and Damside). It is mainly made up of small shops, non-star tourist hotels, restaurants and bars. Most upscale and starred hotels are on the southern shore of the Phewa Lake and southeastern fringes of the city where there are more open lands and unhindered view of the surrounding mountains. Most of the tourists visiting Pokhara trek to the Annapurna Base Camp and Mustang. To the east of the Pokhara valley, in Lekhnath municipality, there are seven smaller lakes such as Begnas Lake and Rupa Lake. Begnas Lake is known for its fishery projects.
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. Pokhara, the city of lakes, is the second largest city of Nepal after Kathmandu. 3 eight-thousand meter tall peaks (Dhaulagiri, Annapurna, Manaslu) can be seen from the city. The Machhapuchhre (Fishtail) with an elevation of 6,993 m is the closest to the city. The 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, 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.
Temples, gumba and churches
There are numerous temples and gumbas in and around pokhara valley. Many temples serve as combined places of worship for Hindus and Buddhists. Some of the popular temples and gumbas are:
- Tal Barahi Temple (located on the island in the middle of Phewa Lake)
- Bindhyabasini Temple
- Sitaladevi Temple
- Mudula Karki Kulayan Mandir
- Sunpadeli Temple(Kaseri)
- Bhadrakali Temple
- Barahi Island Temple
- Radhakrishna Temple, Bindhyabasini
- Kumari Temple
- Akalaa Temple
- Kedareshwar Mahadev Mani Temple
- Matepani Gumba
- World peace pagoda
- Akaladevi Temple
- Monastery (Hemja)
- Nepal Christiya Ramghat Church, established in 1952 (2009 BS), in Ramghat area of Pokhara is also the first church in Nepal.
After the occupation of Tibet by China in 1950 and the Indo-China war in 1962, the old trading route to India from Tibet through Pokhara became defunct. Today only few caravans from Mustang arrive in Bagar. In recent decades, Pokhara has become a major tourist destination, it is considered as tourism capital of Nepal. in South Asia mainly for adventure tourism and the base for the famous Annapurna Circuit trek. Thus, a major contribution to the local economy comes from the tourism and hospitality industry. A lot of tourists visit Pokhara every year. Tourism industry is one of major source of income for local people and the city. There are two 5-star hotels and approximately 305 other hotels that includes five 3-star, fifteen 2-star and non-star hotels in the city.
Many medieval era temples (Barahi temple, Bindhyabasini, Bhadrakali, Talbarahi, Guheshwori, Sitaldevi, Gita mandir temple, Bhimsen temple) and old Newari houses are still a part of the city (Bagar, Bindhyabasini, Bhadrakali, Bhairab Tol, etc.). The modern commercial city centres are at Chipledhunga, New Road, Prithvi Chowk and Mahendrapul (recently renamed as Bhimsen Chowk).
The city promotes two major hilltops as its viewpoints to view the city and surrounding panorama, World Peace Pagoda built in 1996 across the southern shore of Phewa lake and Sarangkot which is located northwest of the city. In February 2004, International Mountain Museum (IMM) was opened for public in Ratopahiro to boost city's tourism attractions. Other museums in the city are Pokhara Regional Museum, an ethnographic museum, Annapurna Natural History Museum which houses preserved specimens of flora and fauna, and contains particularly extensive collection of the butterflies, found in the Western and ACAP region of Nepal; and Gurkha Museum featuring history of the Gurkha Soldiers. The city also has recently been adorned with a bungee jumping site (second in Nepal) titled Water Touch Bunjee Jumping. Also, a cable car service has begun construction joining Fewa Lake with World Peace Stupa led by the government of Nepal which is expected to boost the tourism industry of the place exponentially.
Since the 1990s Pokhara has experienced rapid urbanization, as a result service sector industries have increasingly contributed to the local economy overtaking the traditional agriculture. An effect of urbanization is seen in high real estate prices, which among the highest in the country. The major contributors to the economy of Pokhara are manufacturing and service sector including tourism; agriculture and the foreign and domestic remittances. Tourism, service sector & manufacturing contributes approximately 58% to the economy, remittances about 20% and the agriculture nearly 16%.
Military
Pokhara region has a very strong military traditions with significant number of its men being employed by the Nepali army. The Western Division HQ of the Nepalese Army is stationed at Bijayapur, Pokhara and its Area of Responsibility (AOR) consists of the entire Western Development Region of Nepal. The AOR of this Division is 29,398 km2 and a total of 16 districts are under the Division. The population of the AOR of Western Division is 4,571,013. Both British Army and the Indian Army have regional recruitment and pensioners facilitation camps in Pokhara. The British Gurkha Camp is located at Deep Heights in the northeast of the Pokhara city and the Indian Gorkha Pension Camp is in the south-western side of the city, Rambazar.
Hotels and lodges
There are more than 250 tourist category hotels and lodges in Pokhara of which two (the Fulbari Resort and Pokhara Grande) are ranked 5-star. Pokhara provides lodging and fooding from backpackers to deluxe ranges.
Trekking Agencies
Pokhara is the major tourism Hub in Nepal. Tourism plays a vital role in Pokhara since thousands of tourists visit Pokhara every year and majority of people are involved in tourism sector. There are many trekking agencies in Pokhara that provide several trekking programs and iteniaries for the tourists. Some of the major trekking regions are Annapurna region, Everest region, Langtang region, Manaslu region, Rara/Jumla region and Kanchanjanga/ Makalu region.
Education
The higher secondary level and post higher secondary level educational institutions in Pokhara include;
- Pokhara University
- Prithvi Narayan Campus (PNC)
- IOE Western Region Campus
- Saraswati Adarsha Vidhyashram
- Sagarmatha Higher Secondary School
- Janapriya Multiple campus (JMC)
- Janapriya Higher Secondary School (JHSS)
- Pokhara multiple campus
- Gandaki College of Engineering and Science,
- Pokhara Engineering College,
- Institute of Forestry - Pokhara Campus,
- Pokhara Nursing Campus affiliated to the Tribhuvan University
- Manipal College of Medical Science affiliated to Kathmandu University
- Amarsingh Model Higher Secondary School
- Himanchal Boarding School
- Kantipur Dental College (KIHS)
- Gandaki Medical College
Hospitals
- Manipal Teaching Hospital
- Western Regional Hospital
- Charak Hospital
- Fewa City Hospital
- Kaski Sewa Hospital
- Fishtail Hospital
- Metrocity Hospital (MCH)
- Sewa Hospital and Research Centre
- Himalaya Eye Hospital
- Hemja Hospital
- Kaski Model Hospital
- Lake City hospital
Public Transit
Pokhara has extensive privately operated public transportation system running throughout the city, adjoining townships and nearby villages. The public transport mainly consists of local and city buses, micros, micro-buses and metered-taxis.
Intercity Connections
Pokhara is well connected to rest of the country through permanent road and air links. The main mode of transportation are public buses and the Purano Bus Park is the main hub for buses plying country wide. The all-season Pokhara Airport with regular flights to Kathmandu, Mustang are operated by various domestic and a few international airlines. A new international airport is being constructed in the southeast of the city. Flights from Kathmandu to Pokhara take 30 minutes.
Rivers and lakes in and around Pokhara
One of the many gorges formed by the Seti River in Pokhara
Pokhara valley is rich in water sources. The major bodies of water in and around Pokhara are:
Lakes
- Phewa Lake
- Begnas Lake
- Rupa Lake
- Rivers
- Seti Gandaki (Seti Khola)
The sporting activities are mainly centered in the multipurpose stadium Pokhara Rangasala (or Annapurna Stadium) in Rambazar. The popular sports are football, cricket, volleyball, basketball etc. The Sahara Club is one of the most active organizations promoting football in the city and organizes a South Asian club-level annual tournament: the Aaha Gold Cup. Additionally, the Kaski District Football Association (KDFA) organizes Safal Pokhara Gold Cup, which is also a South Asian club-level tournament and ANFA organizes local Kaski district club-level Balram KC memorial football tournament. There are several tennis courts and a golf course in the city. Nearby Sarangkot hill has developed as a good attraction for adventure activities such as paragliding[ and skydiving. The Pokhara city marathon, high altitude marathon are some activities attracting mass participation. Adventure sports such as base jumping, paragliding, canyoning, rock climbing, bungee jumping, etc. are targeted towards tourists.
Music
The universal instruments used in Nepalese music include the madal (small leather drum), bansuri (bamboo flute), and saarangi. These instruments are prominent features of the traditional folk music (lok gít or lok geet) in Pokhara, which is actually the western (Gandaki, Dhaulagiri and Lumbini) branch of Nepali lok geet. Some examples of the music of this region are Resham Firiri and Khyalee Tune. The lok geet started airing in Radio Nepal during the 1950s and artists such as Jhalakman Gandharva, Dharma Raj Thapa are considered pioneers in bringing the lok git into mass media. During early and late 1990s, bands from Pokhara like Nepathya started their very successful fusion of western rock and pop with traditional folk music. Since then several other musical groups in Nepal have adopted the lok-pop/rock style producing dozens of albums every year. Another important part of cultural music of western Nepal, and hence Pokhara, is the Panché Baaja, a traditional musical band performed generally during marriage ceremonies by the damaai musicians. The musical culture in Pokhara is quite dynamic and in recent years, Western rock and roll, pop, rap and hip-hop are becoming increasingly popular with frequently held musical concerts; however, the traditional lok and modern Nepali music are predominantly favored by the general populace. More musical concerts are held in Pokhara than in any other city in the country.
Media and communications
Media and communication were quite limited until the 1990s. However, in the following decade there has been a proliferation of private media in print, radio and television. There are 18 privately owned local FM stations in Pokhara valley; an additional 4 FM stations from Kathmandu have their relay broadcast stations in Pokhara, making a total of 22 FM stations.[94] Among them there are six Community radio Stations, They are Himchuli FM - 92.2 MHz, Gorkhali Radio -106 MHz, Samudayik, Radio Sunaulo F.M - 107.2 MHz and Radio Gandaki 90.2 MHZ, Radio Hemja 88.5 MHz. There are two local television stations: GoldenEye Television and Gandaki Television. Approximately 14 national daily newspapers, in Nepali are published in the city[95][96][97] along with several other weekly and monthly news magazines. All major national newspapers published in Kathmandu have distributions in Pokhara. A number of online news and entertainment-based websites are also based in Pokhara. Popular technology based web-magazine TechSansar also started from Pokhara city. Pokhara has got 3G networks of both Nepal Telecom and Ncell. Majority of the people in the city access internet through mobiles, numerous cyber cafes and local wireless ISPs. Most tourist restaurants and hotels also provide WiFi services. Wi-Fi hotspot by Nepal Telecom using Wi-MAX technology, started in Feb. 2014, is accessible in most parts of the city for a fee. There are several ISP providers in Pokhara namely Worldlink, Pokhara Internet, Subisu, Websurfer, Radious Communication.
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