The Nepali word "Pokhari " (Nepali: पोखरी, Nepali pronunciation: [ˈpokʰʌɾi]) means "pond". Pokhara is a variant of Pokhari as the city has numerous ponds.
History
By radiocarbon dating and investigating the alluvial deposits of Pokhara Valley, researchers have found that there were at least three large medieval earthquakes in 1000, 1255, and 1344 AD. Up to 9 cubic kilometres of conglomerates, massive mud and silt show indications of one or several megafloods that emanated from the Sabche Cirque in the Annapurna range.[12]
Pokhara lies on an important old trading route between China and
Chaubisi 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.[13]
The first settlement of the valley is theorized to have taken place when the first King of
Newars from Kathmandu (Bhaktapur) to develop the present-day market (i.e., old market) in the 1770s. Prior to that people were settled in the peripheral hills.[14]
Pokhara was envisioned as a commercial center by the King of Kaski in the mid 18th century A.D.
Phewa lake
in 1982
The nearby hills around Pokhara are covered by
Khas community.[21] Small Magar communities are also present mostly in the southern outlying hills. A 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 neighboring
chorten and its particular architecture, and Tibetans have become a visible minority in the city.[23]
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)[24] after which tourism set in and the city grew rapidly.[25] The area along the Phewa lake, called Lakeside, has developed into one of the major tourism hubs of Nepal.[26]
Geography
Middle Hills
Due to the high population density and the frequency of natural disasters, western Nepal is considered one of the most disaster-prone regions in the world. Pokhara is considered particularly vulnerable to earthquakes and floods because the Seti Gandaki River flows through the city.[27] For example, the strongest earthquakes in the region include those of 2015 in Nepal.
Pokhara is in the northwestern corner of the Pokhara Valley,[28] which is a widening of the Seti Gandaki valley that lies in the region (Pahad) of the Himalayas. In this region, the mountains rise very quickly,[29] and within 30 kilometres (19 miles), the elevation rises from 1,000 to 7,500 metres (3,300 to 24,600 feet). 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).[30] Even within the city, there is a noticeable difference in rainfall between the south and the north: The northern part at the foothills of the mountains experiences a proportionally higher amount of precipitation.
The Seti Gandaki is the main river flowing through the city.[31] The Seti Gandaki (White Gandaki) and its tributaries have created several gorges and canyons in and around Pokhara that give intriguingly long sections of terrace features to the city and surrounding areas. These long sections of terraces are interrupted by gorges that are hundreds of metres deep.[32] The Seti gorge runs through Pokhara from north to south and then west to east; at places, these gorges are only a few metres wide. In the north and south, the canyons are wider.[33]
In the south, the city borders
above sea level, while north of Pokhara, the village of Lumle at 1,740 metres (5,710 feet) touches the base of the Annapurnamountain range. Pokhara, the city of lakes, is the second-largest city of Nepal after Kathmandu. Three 8,000-metre (26,000-foot) peaks (Dhaulagiri, Annapurna, Manaslu) can be seen from the city.[34] The Machhapuchchhre (Fishtail) with an elevation of 6,993 metres (22,943 feet) is the closest to the city.[35]
The porous underground of the Pokhara valley favors the formation of caves and several caves can be found within city limits and neighboring cities as well. In the south of the city, a tributary of the Seti Gandaki River 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 in) into an underground gorge, to reappear 500 metres (1,600 feet) further south.[36][37]
Climate
The city has a humid subtropical climate; however, the elevation keeps temperatures moderate. Temperatures in summer average between 25 and 35 °C; in winter around −2 to 15 °C. Pokhara and nearby areas receive a high amount of precipitation. Lumle, 25 miles from Pokhara city center, receives the highest amount of rainfall (> 5600 mm/year or 222 inches/year) in the country.[38] 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 (June–September). Winter and spring skies are generally clear and sunny.[39]
The highest temperature ever recorded in Pokhara was 38.5 °C (101.3 °F) on 4 May 2013, while the lowest temperature ever recorded was 0.5 °C (32.9 °F) on 13 January 2012.[40]
Since the 1990s, Pokhara has experienced rapid urbanization. As a result, service-sector industries have increasingly contributed to the local economy[44] overtaking the traditional agriculture. An effect of urbanization is seen in high real estate prices, among the highest in the country.[45][46] 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 and manufacturing contributes approximately 58% to the economy, remittances about 20% and agriculture nearly 16%.[47]
Hydroelectric power plants
Pokhara has a number of hydroelectric power plants.
There are numerous temples, Gumbas (Buddhist monasteries) and Churches in and around Pokhara valley. Many temples serve as combined places of worship for Hindus and Buddhists.[49][50] Some of the popular temples, Gumbas and Churches are:
The municipality of Pokhara spans 12 kilometres (7.5 miles) from north to south and 6 kilometres (3.7 miles) from east to west but, unlike the capital Kathmandu, it is quite loosely built up and still has much green space.[52] Nepal[53] The gorge through which the river flows is crossed at five places: K.I. Singh Pool, Mahendrapul and Prithvi Highway Pool from north to south of the city. The floor of the valley is plain, 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.
In 2017, Pokhara Lekhnath Metropolitan City became Nepal's largest metropolitan city by area, occupying 464.24 km2 (179.24 sq mi)—which means the city is nine times larger than Kathmandu, 18 times larger than Lalitpur and 2.5 times larger than Bharatpur.[4]
Pokhara is known to be a popular tourist destination for visitors from all over the world. Every year, many people visit the location in order to travel to the Annapurna range and famous religious place muktinath.
Mustang. To the east of the Pokhara valley, there are seven smaller lakes such as Begnas Lake, Rupa Lake, Khaste lake, Maidi lake, Neureni lake, Dipang lake. Begnas Lake is known for its fishery projects.[60]
In recent decades, Pokhara has become a major tourist destination: it is considered the tourism capital of Nepal,[9] mainly for adventure tourism and the base for the famous Annapurna Circuit trek. Thus, a major contribution to the local economy is made by the tourism and hospitalities industry. Tourism is the primary source of income for local people and the city.[61] There are two 5-star hotels and approximately 305 other hotels that includes one 4-star, five 3-star, fifteen 2-star and non-star hotels in the city.[62]
International Mountain Museum at Ratopahiro, Pokhara
The city promotes two major hilltops as viewpoints to see the city and surrounding panorama:
The Pokhara region has a very strong military tradition with a significant number of its men being employed by the Nepali army.
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 the British Army and the Indian Army have regional recruitment and pensioners facilitation camps in Pokhara. The British Gurkha Camp[74] is located at Deep Heights in the northeast of the Pokhara city and the Indian Gorkha Pension Camp[75]
is on the south-western side of the city, Rambazar.
Electricity and water supply
Electricity in Pokhara is regulated and distributed by the NEA Nepal Electricity Authority. Water supply and sanitation facilities are provided by the Nepal Water Supply Corporation ( NWSC ).
Pokhara has more than eight hundred private and public high educational institutions. There are several institutions of higher learning up to the doctorate level in social sciences, business, and science and technology.
Transportation
Public transit
Pokhara has extensive privately operated public transportation system running throughout the city, adjoining townships and nearby villages. Pokhara Mahanagar Bus Bebasaya Samiti (green, brown and blue buses), Mama Bhanja Transport (blue buses), Bindabashini Samiti(blue buses), Phewa Bus Bebasaya Samiti(mini micros) and Lekhnath Bus Bebasaya Samiti (green and white buses) are the private companies that provide public bus transportation facility in and around Pokhara Valley. The public transport mainly consists of local and city buses, micros, micro-buses and metered-taxis.
Intercity connections
Pokhara is well connected to the rest of the country through permanent road and air links. The main mode of transportation are Cars, Motorbikes, Public Buses, Taxis and the Purano Bus Park is the main hub for buses plying countrywide. The all-season Pokhara Airport with regular flights to Kathmandu and Mustang are operated by various domestic and a few international airlines. A new Pokhara International Airport is also present in the southeast of the city which has begun facilitating intercity and international travels.[76] Flight duration from Kathmandu to Pokhara is approximately 30 minutes.
Rivers and lakes
Begnas lake lies in the east of Pokhara valley
Pokhara valley is rich in water sources. The major bodies of water in and around Pokhara are:[77][78]
Lakes
Khaste lake
, Maidi Tal, Niureni Tal, Gude Tal, Kamal Pokhari Tal, Kashyap Tal (Thuli Pokhari)
The sporting activities are mainly centered in the multipurpose stadium
skydiving.[85] The Pokhara city marathon, high altitude marathon are some activities attracting mass participation.[86] Adventure sports such as base jumping, paragliding, canyoning, rock climbing, bungee jumping, etc. are targeted towards tourists.[87][88][89]Pokhara Rhinos represents the city in Everest Premier League
.
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 music of this region are Resham Firiri (रेशम फिरिरी)[90] and Khyalee Tune (ख्याली धुन).[91]
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.[92] 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 (पञ्चे बाजा), a traditional musical band performed generally during marriage ceremonies by the damaai musicians.[93]
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 (semi-classical) Nepali music are predominantly favored by the general population. More musical concerts are held in Pokhara than in any other city in the country.[94][95]
Media and communications
Media and communication were quite limited until the 1990s.[96] However, in the following decade there has been a proliferation of private media in print, radio and television. There are 19 privately owned local FM stations in the Pokhara valley. An additional 4 FM stations from Kathmandu have their relay broadcast stations in Pokhara.[97] There are six community radio stations and five television stations.
Approximately 14 national daily newspapers in Nepali are published in the city,[98][99][100] 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 portals are also updated from Pokhara, as well as some entertainment-based websites.[101][102] Popular technology based web-magazine TechSansar also started in Pokhara.[103]
Pokhara has got 4G network of Nepal Telecom, Smart Cell and Ncell. The 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 hotspots by Nepal Telecom using Wi-MAX technology[104] were launched in Feb. 2014, and are accessible in most parts of the city for a fee.[105][106] Subscriber based internet is provided by several private ISP providers.
^ ab"Archived copy"(PDF). cbs.gov.np. Archived from the original(PDF) on 6 February 2022. Retrieved 22 February 2022.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
^United Nations Field Coordination Office (UNFCO) (7 June 2011). "An Overview of the Western Development Region of Nepal"(PDF). Bharatpur, Nepal: United Nations: Nepal Information Platform. pp. 1–9. Archived(PDF) from the original on 23 November 2016. Retrieved 22 April 2012.
^"Pokhara, Nepal; Secondary Cities". Secondarycities.state.gov. Humanitarian Information Unit (HIU), U.S. Department of State, 2025 E St. NW, Washington, DC 20006; U.S. State Department, Humanitarian Information Unit, MapGive. Archived from the original on 13 February 2022. Retrieved 22 February 2022. Due to its exposure to natural hazards and high population density, Western Nepal is considered one of the most disaster-prone regions in the world, and the city of Pokhara is particularly vulnerable to earthquakes and floods, with the Seti Gandaki River running through the city.
^Gurung, Harka B. (2001). Pokhara Valley: A Geographical Survey. pokhara, Nepal: Nepal Geographical Society.
^Joshi, S. C.; Haigh, M. J.; Pangtey, Y. P. S.; Joshi, D. R.; Dani, D. D. (1986). Joshi, S. C (ed.). Nepal Himalaya: geo-ecological perspectives. Naini Tal, India: Himalayan Research Group. pp. 78–80.
^"Archived copy"(PDF). Archived from the original(PDF) on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 27 February 2016.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link). Retrieved 27 February 2016.
^Himalayan News Service (17 May 2013). "Project Pokhara". The Himalayan Times. Archived from the original on 3 November 2014. Retrieved 24 September 2014.
^Boke, Charis (2008). "Faithful Leisure, Faithful Work: Religious Practice as an Act of Consumption in Nepal". Himalayan Research Papers Archive: 1–21.
^Pokharel, Shailendra (2008). "Conservation of Phewa Lake of Pokhara, Nepal". The Research Center for Sustainability and Environment, Shiga University. Archived from the original on 7 August 2019. Retrieved 9 August 2019.
^Official Website, Nepalese Army. "Western Division". Kathmandu: Nepalese Army (नेपाली सेना). Archived from the original on 16 April 2012. Retrieved 8 April 2012.
^Himalayan News Service (29 January 2012). "Sahara set for Aaha Gold Cup". The Himalayan Times. Kathmandu. Archived from the original on 20 December 2013. Retrieved 8 April 2012.
^Himalayan News Service (24 October 2011). "Safal Pokhara Cup in November". The Himalayan Times. Kathmandu. Archived from the original on 20 December 2013. Retrieved 8 April 2012.
