Pokhara is a metropolitan city in Nepal, which serves as the capital of Gandaki Province. It is the country's largest metropolitan city in terms of area and second-largest in terms of population. The city also serves as the headquarters of Kaski District. Pokhara is located 200 kilometres west of the capital, Kathmandu. The city is on the shore of Phewa Lake, and sits at an elevation of approximately 822m. The Annapurna Range, with three out of the ten highest peaks in the world—Dhaulagiri, Annapurna I and Manaslu—is within 15–35 mi (24–56 km) of the valley.
Lake Alaotra is the largest lake in Madagascar, located in Alaotra-Mangoro Region and on the island's northern central plateau. Its basin is composed of shallow freshwater lakes and marshes surrounded by areas of dense vegetation. It forms the center of the island's most important rice-growing region. It is a rich habitat for wildlife, including some rare and endangered species, as well as an important fishing ground. Lake Alaotra and its surrounding wetlands cover 7,223 square kilometres (2,789 sq mi), and include a range of habitats, including open water, reedbeds, marshes, and rice paddies. The lake itself covers 900 km2 (350 sq mi). Lake Alaotra was declared a wetland of international importance under the international Ramsar Convention on February 2, 2003.
The Koshi Tappu Wildlife Reserve is a protected area in the Terai of eastern Nepal covering 175 km2 (68 sq mi) of wetlands in the Sunsari, Saptari and Udayapur Districts. It comprises extensive mudflats, reed beds, and freshwater marshes in the floodplain of the Sapta Kosi River, and ranges in elevation from 75 to 81 m. It was established in 1976 and designated as a Ramsar site in December 1987. It hosts Nepal's last remaining herd of the wild water buffalo.
The Terai–Duar savanna and grasslands is a narrow lowland ecoregion at the base of the Himalayas, about 25 km (16 mi) wide, and a continuation of the Indo-Gangetic Plain in India, Nepal and Bhutan. It is colloquially called Terai in the Ganges Basin east to Nepal, then Dooars in West Bengal, Bhutan and Assam east to the Brahmaputra River. It harbours the world's tallest grasslands, which are the most threatened and rare worldwide.
Rann of Kutch Wildlife Sanctuary is located in Badin District, Sindh, Pakistan.
Tso Moriri or Lake Moriri or "Mountain Lake", is a lake in the Changthang Plateau in Ladakh in Northern India. The lake and surrounding area are protected as the Tso Moriri Wetland Conservation Reserve.
Maharana Pratap Sagar in India, also known as Pong Reservoir or Pong Dam Lake was created in 1975, by building the highest earthfill dam in India on the Beas River in the wetland zone of the Siwalik Hills of the Dehra Gopipur Division Kangra district of the state of Himachal Pradesh. The Town of Gopipur is submerged in the reservoir; many families were displaced when the reservoir filled. Named in the honour of Maharana Pratap (1540–1597), the reservoir or the lake is a well-known wildlife sanctuary and one of the 27 international wetland sites declared in India by the Ramsar Convention. The reservoir covers an area of 24,529 hectares, and the wetlands portion is 15,662 hectares.
Rara Lake is the biggest fresh water lake in the Nepalese Himalayas. It is the main feature of Rara National Park, located in Jumla and Mugu Districts of Karnali Province. In September 2007, it was declared a Ramsar site, covering 1,583 ha (6.11 sq mi) including the surrounding wetland.
Lake Elmenteita is a soda lake, in the Great Rift Valley, about 120 km northwest of Nairobi, Kenya.
Wildlife diversity is a notable feature of Nepal. Because of the variance in climate, from tropical to arctic, Nepal has a large variety of plants and animals. Wildlife tourism is also a major source of tourism in the country. There are some animal species which are unique to Nepal, such as the spiny babbler. Nepal is also host to many rhododendron species. The wildlife of Nepal includes its flora and fauna. Nepal has established numerous national parks and reserves in order to protect its diverse fauna. Nepal is a biodiversity hot spot with ecoregions broadly comprising the mountainous ecoregion, the savanna and grasslands ecoregion of the terai (foothills), and the Rara Lake ecoregion, which has many endemic species.
Phewa Lake, Phewa Tal or Fewa Lake is a freshwater lake in Nepal formerly called Baidam Tal located in the south of the Pokhara Valley that includes Pokhara city; parts of Sarangkot and Kaskikot. The lake is stream-fed but a dam regulates the water reserves, therefore, the lake is classified as semi-natural freshwater lake. It is the second largest lake in Nepal; the largest in Gandaki Province after the Rara lake in the comparison to Nepal's water bodies. It is the most popular and most visited lake of Nepal. Phewa lake is located at an altitude of 742 m (2,434 ft) and covers an area of about 4.43 km2 (1.7 sq mi). It has an average depth of about 8.6 m (28 ft) and a maximum depth of 24 m (79 ft). Maximum water capacity of the lake is approximately 43,000,000 cubic metres (35,000 acre⋅ft). The Annapurna range on the north is only about 28 km away from the lake. The lake is also famous for the reflection of mount Machhapuchhre and other mountain peaks of the Annapurna and Dhaulagiri ranges on its surface. The Tal Barahi Temple is situated on an island in the lake. It is located 4 km from the city's centre Chipledhunga.
Pokhara Valley is the second-largest valley in the hilly region of Nepal. It lies in the western part of Nepal. The cities of Pokhara and Lekhnath are in the valley. It is located in Gandaki zone, 203 kilometres (126 mi) west of Kathmandu Valley. The city of Pokhara is one of the major cities of Nepal and it, like Kathmandu Valley, is extremely vulnerable to earthquakes due to its clay soil and liquefaction potential.
Harike Wetland also known as "Hari-ke-Pattan", with the Harike Lake in the deeper part of it, is the largest wetland in northern India in the border of Tarn Taran Sahib district and Ferozepur district of the Punjab state in India.
Akyatan Lagoon is a 14700-hectare wetland ecosystem that is designated as Wetland of International Importance by Ramsar Convention. A major stop over for migrating birds, Akyatan is recognized as an Important Bird Area by BirdLife International. It is the single largest green turtle rookery at the Mediterranean, holding 43% of the Mediterranean nesting population.
Bishazari Tal, also spelled Beeshazar Tal, is an extensive oxbow lake system in the buffer zone of the Chitwan National Park, a protected area in the Inner Terai of central Nepal. This wetland covers an area of 3,200 ha at an altitude of 286 m (938 ft), and is situated between the Mahabharat mountain range to the north and the Siwalik range to the south. In August 2003, it has been designated as a Ramsar site.
Tumba-Ngiri-Maindombe is the largest Wetland of International Importance in the world as recognized by the Ramsar Convention. The site covers an area of 65,696 square kilometres (25,365 sq mi) in the region around Lake Tumba in the western Congo Basin in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). This is more than twice the size of Belgium or Maryland.
Rupa Lake or Rupa Tal is a freshwater lake in Nepal located in the border of Pokhara Metropolitan and Rupa Rural Municipality of Kaski District. It is the third biggest lake in Pokhara valley of Nepal and at an altitude of 600 m (1,969 ft) covering area about 1.35 km2 (0.5 sq mi) with an average water depth 3 m and maximum depth 6 m. The lake is elongated north to south and is fed by perennial streams. Its watershed area is 30 km2, where The main inflow of water is from Talbesi stream, whereas Dhovan khola is the feeder stream with its outlet Tal khola at Sistani ghat. It supports a number of floral and faunal species. A total of 36 species of waterbirds have been recorded in the lake which represents about 19 percent of the total 193 wetland-dependent birds found in Nepal.
