Dolpa District

Dolpa district, one of the five districts of Karnali zone, is one of the seventy-five districts of Nepal, a landlocked country of South Asia. The district, with Dunai as its district headquarters, covers an area of 7,889 sq km and has a population (2001) of 29,545.

Dolpa is the largest district of Nepal covering 5.36% of total landmass of the country. Located between 28°24’ N - 29°43’ N latitude, and 82°24’ E - 83°38’ E longitude, the elevation in Dolpa ranges from 1,525 to 7,625 meters above sea level. The district borders Tibet ( China) in the north and northeast, Jumla and Mugu districts of Karnali in the west, Myagdi, Jajarkot and Rukum in the south and Mustang in the East.

A large portion of the district is protected by Shey Phoksundo National Park. The name is derived from a 12th century Shey Monastery and the deepest lake in Nepal, the Phoksundo Lake, both of which lie in the district. The park protects endangered animals like the snow leopard, musk deer and the tibetan wolf. Shey Phoksundo is the largest and the only trans-Himalayan National Park in Nepal.

It is also one of the two distrcts that lie beyond the Himalaya or the trans-Himalaya,Mustang being the other.

See also

• Zones of Nepal