Karnali Province
Capital: Birendranagar (Surkhet) · 10 districts · 16 places
The largest and least visited province: Rara Lake, Shey Phoksundo, Humla's route to Kailash and the old Khasa kingdom of Jumla.
Karnali Province follows Nepal's longest river, the Karnali, which rises near Mount Kailash in Tibet. It is the largest province by area and the most thinly populated — a land of high valleys, walnut and apple orchards, flat-roofed stone villages and the red rice of Jumla, said to be the highest-growing rice in the world.
Between the 12th and 14th centuries the Khasa Malla kings ruled a great empire from Sinja near Jumla, and the Nepali language itself grew from the speech of this region. Today Karnali is Nepal's wild west for travellers: Rara, the biggest lake in the country; turquoise Phoksundo in Dolpa; and the Limi valley and Simikot on the pilgrim road to Kailash.
Districts of Karnali Province
Places in Karnali Province
Rara Lake
Mugu, Karnali ProvinceNepal's largest lake, a deep blue sheet of water at 2,990 m ringed by pine, spruce and juniper forest.
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Shey Phoksundo Lake
Dolpa, Karnali ProvinceNepal's deepest lake, an unreal turquoise, with a 167 m waterfall and the Bon village of Ringmo on its shore.
Read more →Shey Gompa and Upper Dolpo
Dolpa, Karnali ProvinceAn 11th-century monastery below the sacred Crystal Mountain, in the high, remote world of Upper Dolpo.
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Hidden gemDho Tarap
Dolpa, Karnali ProvinceA high valley village of Dolpo with stone houses, chortens and one of the highest schools in the world.
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Simikot and the Kailash route
Humla, Karnali ProvinceHumla's airstrip town, starting point of the walk to the Tibetan border at Hilsa and on to Mount Kailash.
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Hidden gemLimi Valley
Humla, Karnali ProvinceA hidden Tibetan Buddhist valley in far north-west Humla, with the ancient Rinchenling monastery at Halji.
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Chandannath and Jumla
Jumla, Karnali ProvinceJumla's temple town among apple orchards and fields of red Marshi rice, the highest-growing rice in the world.
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Hidden gemSinja Valley
Jumla, Karnali ProvinceThe capital of the medieval Khasa Malla empire and the cradle of the Nepali language, with ruins and ancient inscriptions.
Read more →Pachal Jharana
Kalikot, Karnali ProvinceA waterfall pouring off a cliff in the Karnali gorge country of Kalikot, which gives its name to the local municipality.
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Hidden gemDullu and the eternal flames
Dailekh, Karnali ProvinceOld Khasa capital of Dailekh, where natural gas flames burn at shrines said to mark parts of a fallen god's body.
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Hidden gemJajarkot Durbar
Jajarkot, Karnali ProvinceThe palace of the former Jajarkot kingdom, one of the Baise states, on a ridge above the Bheri river.
Read more →Syarpu Lake
Rukum West, Karnali ProvinceOne of the largest lakes in the middle hills, among terraced fields near Musikot in Rukum West.
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Hidden gemKupinde Lake
Salyan, Karnali ProvinceA sacred lake in Salyan's hills, said never to rise or fall, with fairs at the full moon.
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Birendranagar and Bulbule Lake
Surkhet, Karnali ProvinceThe planned capital of Karnali Province in the Surkhet valley, with a spring-fed lake and park at its edge.
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Hidden gemKakrebihar
Surkhet, Karnali ProvinceThe stone ruins of a 12th–13th century temple complex in a forest above Birendranagar, with Buddhist and Hindu carvings.
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Hidden gemDeuti Bajai
Surkhet, Karnali ProvinceA much-loved goddess shrine in the Surkhet valley, where devotees offer bells and pray for wishes.
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