Pokhara is a place worth visiting and ruminating. Its natural beauty has made it one of the most frequented localities outside Kathmandu Valley. In the past, if Kathmandu seemed the heart of forbidden Nepal, Pokhara was even more mysterious owing to its secluded location. Early accounts gave it a mythical air, a situation well exploited in Han Suyin's the mountain is young wherein 'Bongsor Valley' It reminiscent of Pokhara.
The earliest reference to Pokhara was made by William Kir kpatrick who visited Kathmandu in 1793; "To Pokhara; at 3 coss, cross by wooden bridge the river Seti, a very deep, but narrow (Gorge)" while describing the main route from Kathmandu to Beni. Soon after, Francis Buchanan Hamilton wrote of Pokhara as "a considerable town ... which is a mart frequented by merchants from Nepal (Kathmandu), Palpa, Malebum & C. and afforded duties that is so poor a country where reckoned considerable." Brian Hodgson, that pioneer of Himalayan research and a profile writer, mentions Pokhara casually while discussing lakes in Hamalays, "lakes are small and very infrequent. Three of four in Kumaon and two of three in western Nepal (Pokra)" Henry Ambrose Old-field also referred to Pokhara vally as being "much larger than the valley of Nepal (Kathmandu) … the largest of these lakes (in Pokhara) is said to be two days' journey by D.J.F. Newall thus: " pokra (2600 feet), whose horizontal distance is only 15 miles, with a direct altitude of 20,400 feet above it. These facts tend to suggest the astonishing scenery that must here be presented."
The first foreigner to visit Pokhara on record was the Japanese Buddhist scholar Ekai Kawaguchi during his clandestine trip to Tibet from Kathmandu in 1899. He reflected nostalgically that "Pokhara looked like a town of villas at home, the site being chosen for the beauty of its natural scenery. Bamboo-covered ravines, flower-roofed heights, rich in green foliage, picturesque because of rushing and winding streams, itself set in the midst of high mountains. Such were the characteristic features of Pokhara." Kawagushi went on to assert "that in all my travels in the Himalayas I saw no scenery so enchanting as that which enraptured me at Pokhara." The significance of Pokhara was no lost to Perceval London which he referred to as the second city of Nepal outside the Kathmandu group and estimated its inhabitants at 10,000. He went on to emphasize that "it is not a place of wealth of political importance, but its size, its fertile soil and its position on the central east-west road of Nepal combines with its official character to make it a town that is destined to play no small part in the future industrial development of Nepal."
One might turn to Charles Bruce for whom Pokhara held a particulate fascination, "There is too almost underlying, this great centre of mountain, a town and a mart which always attracted my curiosity almost beyond any other town in Nepal. No one has been there, no one has seen it, but we know that its climates almost tropical, that it can not be more than 2500 feet in altitude, that it is on the bank of great lake, and that it is an open an open valley and lies immediately at the foot of these magnificent giants Annapurna Himal. Phewa Tal is the name of the lake and Pokhara that of the town. Some day and from somewhere someone will arise who will do adequate justice to what must be one of the most impressive and beautiful sights to be found in any mountain country." The above statement may sound rhapsodic rather than realistic but the scenic grandeur enhanced by Machhapuchhre (6,997m) could alone lead a mountain lover like Bruce to muse subjectively. Even Wilfred Noyce, Another mountaineer and poet who visited Pokhara in 1957 and thought Bruce might not have been disappointed, described the view of Machhapuchre from Pokhara as the most unbelievable and the mountain itself as one of the most beautiful mountains: " Compared to that vision the Matterhorn would have looked crude, the peerless Weisshorn a flattened lump."
The myth of Pokhara must have overcome Tom Longstaff who after all his global rambling still envied, Mysterious Pokhara, tropical, low-lying by a lake and closely backed by the immense peaks of Annapurna is still beyond our ken." ((T.G. Longstaff, This My Voyage, London, 1950)) Tibor Sekeji was more fortunate and noted after his visit Pokhara that "although it lies at the foot of mountains covered with eternal snow, we, on our way, kept seeing banana and orange tree full of golden fruit." Finally turn to Toni Hagan, Whose observations deserve on foot in Nepal and as scientist: "Pokhara area shows the greatest contrasts in landscape, nowhere in the world, can the highest mountain reaching 8,000 meters level be without any intermediate mountain ranges. Pokhara is certainly one of the most extraordinary and most beautiful places in the whole world."
Pokhara valley occupied the most central location in Nepal. The country extends between the longitudes 800 East and 880 and Pokhara lies at 840 East and while the Tibetan border is 72 Kilometers north, the Indian border is 78 kilometers south of Pokhara. The plain of Pokhara at the base of Annapurna Himal makes a striking contrast with the rugged relief of the surrounding mountain country. About 124 square kilometers area of longitudinal valley floor of the Seti River is filled with gravel, sand pebbles and boulders and this diversity in content and morphology suggest a rapid deposition under diluvia conditions. The plain slopes gently downstream to the south-east and the gradient also on the edge of the tributary streams by the overflow of superficial gravels along the main Seti valley. The smaller lakes are diminishing in size due to silting whereas Phewa Tal has been enlarged by damming for irrigation and power. The hills encompassing the plain very in height from 1,200 meters in the south and east to 2,400 meters in the west and north.
The prevailing climate is humid subtropical with mean temperature above13.30 c. and summer maximum exceeding 32.80 C. Snow fall above 2,400 meters during the winter with frosts lower down. The annual rainfall average 2,581 mm and 82 percentage of precipitation occur during the summer monsoon. Local conservation causes hailstorms in autumn and strong winds during the spring are usual. The agriculture activity conforms to the seasonal rhythm and vagaries of monsoon affect farmer's prosperity of poverty.
After, establishment of Indian and British pension paying camp have given much impetus to the business activity in town. Native industries differ between the highlands and the plain according to the availability of raw materials. Apart from weaving industry, the highlanders engage in basket-making work and extracting forest products. On the plain, occupational castes specialize in primary industries such as metal works, fishing, pottery-making, and brick-making. Newly introduced industries include furniture works, rice mills, textiles and fruit-processing. Tourism that developed late has immense potential for expansion. The northern view from the airport commands a majestic panorama of Dhaulagiri (8,167m), Annapurna south (7,273 m), Annapurna I (8,091 m), Machhapuchre (6,997m) Annapurna III (7,577m), Annapurna IV (7,524m), Annapurna II (7,937m), Manaslu (8,125m) Himalchuli (7893m) etc mountains…
