A farming lake in Pokhara's eastern valley
The Pokhara Valley has a chain of lakes formed where the valley's floor of gravels and silts dammed side streams, and Begnas is the largest after Phewa, and among the three largest in Nepal. Until the 2010s the area around it belonged to the old Lekhnath municipality, a farming town east of Pokhara with seven of the valley's lakes inside its borders. It is now part of Pokhara metropolitan city. Its shores are a mix of forest, terraced fields and small settlements, with the bazaar and dam at the western end.
Life here has always followed water. Terraced rice fields step down to the lakeshore and are planted in the monsoon, when villagers wade through flooded paddies singing. The 1988 dam on the outlet stream holds water for irrigation through the dry season. Fish have been part of the local economy for decades, and the lake's floating cages and small hatcheries supply carp and tilapia to Pokhara's restaurants. Women still carry fodder and firewood along the shore paths, and children row small boats to school on some arms of the lake.
In February 2016 Begnas, Rupa, Phewa and six smaller lakes were listed together as the Lake Cluster of Pokhara Valley, a Ramsar wetland of international importance covering about 261 km2 including the catchments. A conservation committee formed in 2008 works on silting, invasive water hyacinth and sewage, the same threats that face Phewa. Visitors see the result: clear water, reed margins and herons fishing at dawn. The work is ongoing, and every visitor who carries rubbish away helps. Wardens and community groups clear weeds by hand.
