Pokhara is one of the most visited places of Nepal because of its natural beauty. Generally tourists visit lakes like fewa Taal, begnas Taal and caves mainly. But Rupa Taal is another lake which shouldn’t be missed when travelling to Pokhara which is less gone by and will not be as crowded as other lakes. It is located in lekhnath municipality, kaski which covers an area of about 1.35 square kilometer. It takes about a 15km drive to the east of town to reach here. It lies near to Begnas Lake. It is the third largest lake of Nepal. You can take a public bus or any private vehicle to reach here. Talbesi stream and dovan khola is the main source of this lake with its outlet tal khola.
The swan in the lake and boats to ride are attractions of the lake beside the natural beauty and the fun part is you don’t need to pay anything to visit here but you need to pay some money to ride a boat. There is not much residential area so you might have problems with accommodation but you can easily find hotels, lodge some km away. Since this lake is surrounded by forest, you can rest easily there. You can enjoy the view of water birds like cranes, swans and different aquatic animals like fishes, tortoise also. You can’t do fishing privately on your own, you need to ask official permission first. Fishes are conserved here by local people and officials. It could be one of the place for picnic for locals
You can visit a nearby hill spot about 5km up called Rupakot where you can find resorts to stay also. You can go hiking to reach to rupakot. You can enjoy the view of Annapurna mountain range, both begnas Taal and rupa Taal from there. Rupakot is also famous for its sunset view. According to locals, for sunrise sarangkot (hill station near Fewa Lake) is great and rupakot is famous for its sunset view. Begnas Taal/lake is the second largest lake of pokhara. You can enjoy that also. Begnas Taal and Rupa Taal are like twins separated by a hill.
The weather of this place is always moderate, but it is better to visit during November, December to watch migrated birds like cranes which migrate here from Serbia during the winter season.
If you are visiting Pokhara, you shouldn’t miss this wonderful place. It could be a perfect place to spend a few hours being alone and far from the crowd and city area. It is one of the underrated places of pokhara.
-Article written by: Girish Bhattarai for Land Nepal
