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Mysterious Dolpa
Published: 10/29/2009
Dolpa, an outreach district of Karnali, has been a tourist attraction, mainly due to its unique natural objects and mountainous landscape. Dolpa is often called “The Hidden Heaven”, “Mysterious Dolpa”, “Dream Land Dolpa” and “Exciting Dolpa”. Though it lacks much publicity, Dolpa has every possibility to be developed as a major tourist destination of Nepal.
Dolpa is the largest district of Nepal (area: 7,932 sq km). Shey- Phoksundo, the largest national park of Nepal, is in this district. Established around 21 years ago, the national park spreads over an area of 3,550 sq km. Considering the decent and balanced combination of natural, social, cultural and geographical aspects, the park has been proposed by His Majesty’s Government to be enlisted into the inventory of the world heritage.
Situated in the park area is Phoksundo Lake. It is the deepest lake of Nepal (about 650 metres) and the second largest from the viewpoint of area. This lake is often called the ‘Lake of Mystery’. Located at an altitude of 3,600 metres from the sea level, the lake does not harbor any living creatures. Some experts attribute this to the unfavorable low temperature. The lake covers an area of 7.6 sq km. Needless to say, the clear, blue water-mass of the lake allures any tourist at the site; the surrounding landscape and vegetation is equally fascinating. The high rugged cliffs, various types of layered rocks, gorges, hills are natural wonders. The 167-metre Suligad Fall, the highest in Nepal, according to dolpa DDC, flows out of Suligad River. The Bonpo tribal people (former Buddhist followers) of the district are unique in their cultural and social traditions. They speak Kaike language, which is believed to exist only in Dolpa.
Perhaps, impressed by these unique features of Dolpa, the famous filmmaker Eric Valli chose the district for visualizing his Oscar nominee Caravan. He selected Thinley of local Saldang as the main character. Caravan is famous internationally, especially in Franceand the film is still shown in cinema halls of major cities of France. ‘Caravan has helped promote the beauty and lavishness of Dolpa among the French, and I came to trek this area after seeing the film’, says one of the members of a French trekking team at Kagani village. Of the tourist destinations of Nepal, Dolpa is the most exquisite but least explored trekking site only.
Only few tourists, so far, have exploited the beauty and freshness of Dolpa. This area is a peerless site for the domestic tourists, let alone the foreigners. The high snow-white peaks of the north, mountain ranges, the Bheri, Suligad, Jairigad and Rupgad rivers, canyons, ravines, large and small cascades, varieties of plants/herbs, about 197 species of birds, 32 types of mammals, communities with unique cultures and social aspects and ancient religious structures including temples and Gompas (Buddhist monasteries) are the major sources of tourist attraction.
With the view to developing tourism in Dolpa, ‘Sustainable Tourism Plan of Dolpa’ has been brought out with tourism as its central focus. Introduced last year, the plan has prepared a framework and paved the way for promoting tourism in the district. If works are carried out as per the plan, it will be probably help bring the ‘Hidden Heaven of Dolpa’ to light. There are many alternative tourist paths and trekking trails in Dolpa. New and convenient trails are being identified and developed for better accessibility of the area. Different bodies and organizations related to tourism are disseminating information about the tourist activities at national and international levels.
The tourists visiting Dolpa stay for 12 days in average. Dolpa District Development Committee along with the local people has been making various attempts to lengthen the stay of tourists.Shey Phoksundo Lake of Dolpa.
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