Snow covered Rara Lake

By Harikrishna Aidi, Mugu, March 16: Rara Lake, a major tourist destination in Karnali Province, has been covered with snow since Sunday night.

According to the Rara National Park Office, snowfall since Sunday night has accumulated up to 1 foot in areas around the lake, including Hutu and Milichaur.

The lake and surrounding forest areas have turned completely white after the snowfall.

An internal tourist from Surkhet, Basudev Devkota, said that both domestic and foreign tourists were enjoying playing in the snow in the Rara area.

“Rara truly feels like a piece of heaven when it snows,” he said.

Acting Chief of the park office, Rishikesh Yadav, said this was the second snowfall in Rara this year, adding that about five inches of snow had accumulated and snowfall was still ongoing.

He said that about two inches of snow had fallen in the area in the month of December as well.

According to the office, around 10,000 domestic and foreign tourists have visited the Rara area until the end of February this year.

However, the March snowfall has disrupted daily life in the district due to cold weather.

Residents from villages to the district headquarters have been keeping warm by fire basking.

In Murma Village, located about an hour above Rara Lake at an altitude of 3,200 meters above sea level, around two feet of snow has accumulated.

Local Nanda Singh Rokaya of Chhayanath Rara Municipality-8 said that although snowfall has made farmers happy as winter crops are expected to improve, it has created difficulties in grazing cattle and collecting fodder and firewood.