Rara is a popular destination from trekking and tourism prospects located in Western Nepal. On the way to Rara, one can witness cultural aspects and scenery that is quite different from rest of Nepal. Route to Rara is quite rough and bumpy as the transportation aspects is not much developed.
Rara lake and Rara National Park are major attractions of this area. Mesmerising beauty of Rara lake and equally attractive national park covered with pine and Juniper forests habitated by numerous flora and fauna has been a tourist favourite since ages. In addition, the picturesque view of the snowcapped Himalayas and charismatic aroma local villages have also played a major part in attracting tourists to Rara.
Nepal has numerous places that provide excellent trekking experiences for adventure loving people. With the advancement of information flow system around the globe, the tendency of both the internal and international tourists visiting these hidden natural gems has significantly increased in the recent times.
One of the tourist destination that has been catching eye of tourists these days is Rara. This has been a favourite for people who love to trek, wander far from the city and surrender oneself to nature.
Trek to Rara begins with flight to Jumla. Over an hour flight journey from Kathmandu takes to Jumla. If direct flight is not available, one can also fly to Nepalgunj first and fly to Jumla then after.
Rara Lake
The main reason to visit Rara district is definitely the Rara lake. It is the biggest and deepest fresh lake in Nepal which receives the shimmerring water from the neighbouring Himalayas.
The lake is located inside Rara National park and is spreaded in the arena of Mugu and Jumla districts. Listed under wetland site, this lake lies at an altitude of 2.990 meters above from the sea level. It has 10.8 kms of water surface with 5.1 km length, 2.7 kms in width and 167 meters depth. The lake receives waters of Mugu Karnali river and later, gets mixed with Nijar river.
Where at Rara lake, you can indulge in various joyous activities that will further work to enhance your tour. You can ride a boat and enjoy boating in the glittering waters of Rara.
There are no motor boats available so all you have is paddle boat. Paddling all along the deepest lake of Nepal is a worthy exxperience afterall, and if you can manage boating at the morning time, it is much much better as the weather is fresh and the view of sunrays reflected on water surface is amazing.
You can also hike to Murma viewpoint. From this viewpoint, you can clearly get an overall view of whole lake, mountian peaks lying at a distance and surrounding villages.
Another exiciting thing you must definitely not miss here at Rara is horse riding. There are wild horses everywhere, galloping freely on the pastures of Rara. And when you reach there and onlook the soothing pastoral pine forests, and mesmerising pictorial environment you can’t help but jump along the wild horses.
If you are an expert at horse riding, you can easliy enjoy a free wild horse ride, else you can chat with the locals to get a ride. They will provide saddles and also guides if requested.
Since the horses are wild, it is recommended to at least talk with the locals before galloping one. There is a pretty trail for horse ride that slowly goes all around the lake and provides with amazing view of the lake. For those who would love for faster rides, there are open pastures away from the lake that lets you roam around the free space.
It is a proven fact that once you are at Rara, you cannot help but take pictures till the memory of your camera overflows. No matter the number of redundant pictures taken, it will really be a tough choice to delete any one of them. When you are at Rara, you already have more beautiful than a heaven kind of place all around to be capture through lens of your camera.
In addition, the kids of the villages are so fascinated with camera that you will definitely get some cool snaps and poses that will give tough competition to models. And what more, you don’t even need to pay them for the snaps (wink).
Rara is definitely not the place where you will see the glistening peaks like in the Everest or Annapurna or Kanchanjunga region trek. This place is completely for rejuvenating soul, embracing peaceful energy, sit back, relax and get absorbed in the nature.
It is absolutely the type of spot where you feel creative energy flowing in your veins, a perfect place to start your new novel or journal or simply sit a hammock and get lost your favourite piece of literature. It is better if you bring along a hammock with you, else you can always rent tent from nearby hotel and enjoy every moment that Rara gives you.
And the last important thing, don’t forget to enjoy some Rara noodles while at Rara. There are rare cases where you can enjoy a food in a place, where both place and food item have exactly the same name and Rara is definitely one of them.
