Nepal Country Information
Perched on the southern slopes of the Himalayan Mountains, the Kingdom of Nepal is as ethnically diverse as its terrain of fertile plains, broad valleys, and the highest mountain peaks in the world. It contains eight of world's 10 highest peaks, including Mount Everest and Kanchenjunga - the world's tallest and third tallest - on the borders with China and India, respectively. The Nepalese are descendants of three major migrations from India, Tibet, and Central Asia.
Home to the great Himalaya Mountains and Mt. Everest, this beautiful land is rich in heritage and culture. But, because of the political unrest and the unstable economy, it has left families in a daily struggle to survive. Nepal is the only official "Hindu" country in the world and hosts over 74 different tribes scattered in this mountainous region. Slightly larger than Arkansas, the population is approximately 26.4 million people.
The mountainous highlands are sparsely populated. Kathmandu Valley, in the middle hill region, constitutes a small fraction of the nation's area but is the most densely populated, with almost 5% of the population. Nepal is a multilingual, multireligious and multiethnic society.
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 the mountains rise so quickly, within 30 km, from 1000 m to over 8000 m. The Dhaulagiri, Annapurna and Manaslu ranges, each with peaks over 8000 m, can be seen from Pokhara. There is a lake named Phewa Lake, two caves (Mahendra and Gupteswar) and an impressive falls (Patale Chhango or Devi/David's Falls) 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 summers usually are a bearable 30 - 35C; the winters average around 15C and have no frost.