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With Lakeside and Damside now so overdeveloped, Begnas Tal and Rupa Tal , twin lakes 15km east of Pokhara, look destined to be the next big tourist discoveries. Begnas Tal, the bigger and better-known of the two, is framed by meticulously engineered paddy terraces marching right down to its shore, while Rupa, on the other side of an intervening ridge, remains pristinely hidden in a bushy, steep-sided valley. Come prepared to spend the night: several lodges can put you up, and roads and trails open up a wealth of outstanding walking opportunities. A taxi to Begnas costs about Rs200 one way. Local buses , departing every hour or so from New Road just south of Chipledhunga, take 45 minutes and tend to be crowded. The bike ride from Pokhara is getting rather grotty, although it's great to have a mountain bike or motorcycle once you get there. After the first (mostly downhill) 10km along the Prithvi Highway, turn left at the sign onto a straight, paved road, and from there it's 3km to the end of the line at the dumpy hamlet of BEGNAS : typical of so many roadhead towns, it seems to exist only as a conduit for corrugated roofing, bags of cement and other tools of progress for the surrounding hills. But Begnas Tal is just around the corner, up the road to the left immediately before the cul-de-sac where the buses stop. It's not even five minutes' walk along here to the dam at the south end of the lake, below which the Ministry of Agriculture has built a big fish farm , consisting of concrete holding tanks fed by water from the lake. Fish farming is getting to be big business here, with Chinese carp and native sahar and mahseer being raised for restaurants in Pokhara and Kathmandu. Phewa-style boats are rented out beside the lake just beyond the dam; with tent-shaped Annapurna II for a backdrop, the paddling here is at least as scenic as at Phewa Tal, and you'll practically have the lake to yourself. A good destination is the wooded peninsula at the north side of the lake, which is a bird sanctuary . A better introduction to the lakes, although it involves a fair amount of up and down, is the trail along Panchbhaiya Daada , the ridge that separates them. Starting at the bus turnaround, follow a graded dirt road north for about twenty minutes, then take the trail to the left, which ascends steadily along the ridge (bikers, stay on the road). Begnas is visible first, on the left, and then Rupa comes into view after the highest point is passed, about 45 minutes from the bus stop. Local belief has it that the lakes are husband and wife, and that an object thrown into one lake will eventually appear in the other. The things that look like fences peeping above the water of both lakes are more fish farms - Rupa Tal is said to be particularly rich in nutrients. In another ten minutes or so the trail rejoins the road and then a few minutes later reaches the half-dozen shops of SUNDARI DAADA , the jumping-off point for just about all explorations in this area. From Sundari Daada, a trail to the left descends to the lake and Begnas Lake Resort, where you should be able to get a boat back to the dam area. A bit further along the road, a trail leading off to the right, signposted "Karputar", descends to the north end of Rupa Tal and the village of Talbesi - this route makes an attractive alternative way into the Annapurna Circuit, and offers the possibility of a steep side trip to the hilltop viewpoint of Rupakot . Another 1km down the road, a trail to the left leads up to another village called Begnas and then to Begnaskot , an even better viewpoint of the Annapurnas and lake from the grassy crest of the ridge; this trail is part of the Royal Trek. The road itself swings around to Talbesi and Shyauli (13km), and is eventually supposed to be pushed all the way through to Besisahar, the starting point of the Annapurna Circuit. When buses are able to negotiate this route, expect it to vie in popularity with the one from Dumre - but also to kill off the walking route.
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