Ghaghara River

Ghaghara River is also known as Gogra, Ghagra, Karnali, Nepali Kauriala or Manchu. This river starts from the Tibetan plateau which is close to the Mansarover Lake. This river crosses the Himalayan ranges in Nepal and connects with Sarda River in Brahmaghat, India. They both create a river that is Ghaghara River. It is a left tributary of River Ganges. This river’s length is 507 kilometers long that is approximately 315 miles and is the largest waterway in Nepal.

The actual meaning of the name Ghaghara River is ‘blessed water from the holy mountain’. Besides, Karnali River means ‘Turquoise River’ and is a trans-boundary permanent river on the Tibetan plateau. The total length of Ghaghara River up to its conjunction with the Ganges at Doriganj in Bihar is 1,080 kilometers which is approx 670 miles. It is the biggest tributary of the Ganges by volume and the second longest tributary of the Ganges by length after Yamuna.

Nepal Himalaya has 3,252 glacial masses and 2,323 lakes above 3,500 m above ocean level. These ice sheets spread to an area of around 5,323 km square with a possible ice saves of 481 km3. Out of this, Karnali River basin has 1,361 masses and 907 lakes with glacial masses blanket a territory of 1,740.22 km square and an expected ice save of 127.72 km cube.

In India, the authoritative regions in the Ghaghara catchment include various regions like Ambedkar nagar, Peoria, Basti, Azamghar, Barabanki Bahraich, Ballia, Gonda, Faizabad and Gorakhpur Districts. Locales like Kheri, Jaunpur, Sant Kabir nagar, Sitapur from UP as well as Siwan area of Bihar are additionally along with Ghaghara River banks.

The important towns of India along the way through Ghaghara River banks are Ayodhya, Akabarpur, Faizabad, Bahraich, Gorakhpur, Basti, Siddharthnagar, Barabanki, Deoria, Dohrighat, Gonda, Khaililabad, Sitapur, Saint Kabir nagar and Tanda in Uttar Pradesh and Chapra, Siwan, Deoria, Saran and Sonepur in Bihar.

Course

This waterway starts from a height of 3962 meters in the southern slants of the Himalayas in Tibet in the icy masses of Mapchachungo. The river streams south through Nepal as Karnali River and courses through a standout amongst the most abandoned and less discovered areas of Nepal. Seti River is a 202 Km long stream encouraging this waterway and channels the western part of the catchment and joins Karnali River in Doti north of Dundras rise. An alternate feeder stream is the Bheri waterway that is 264 Km long and empties in the eastern part of the Catchment and meets Karnali River close Kuineghat in Surkhet.

Thereafter, this river turns diagonally in the Siwalik Hills and after turning, it divides into two branches which are: Geruva and Koralia. Geruva is on the left side and Koralia is on the right side and is close to the downstream Chisapani. After that, this river rejoins the border of India located in the south direction and creates the proper Ghaghara River. The Karnali basin lies in between Dhaulagiri and Nanda Devi mountain ranges. This basin is situated in the western part of Nepal. In the north, the tributary lies in the shadow of the Himalayas. The basin structured by the waterway has a total catchment region of 127,950 sq km of which 45% falls in India. The number of inhabitants in the Basin regions in Nepal expanded from 1.9 million in 1971 to 4.7 million in 2001 and just about 25% expansion over three decades. The normal populace thickness of the Basin territory has likewise expanded to 87 km square in 2001 from 53 km square in 1981. There is a huge development of the dynamic population in the Ghaghara Basin areas.

Tributaries

The Tributaries originating in Nepal are Rapti and Gandak. The most essential branch is Sarayu River. This river starts from the south-east direction and flows through the State of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar to join the river Ganges in the town of Chapra and covers a distance of 1080 kilometers. This river has more water as compared to the Ganges before it meets the latter. Some tributaries of the river Ghaghara are-

• Bheri
• Sarju
• Kuwana
• Rapti
• Gandak
• Seti
• Dahawar
• Sarda

How to Reach

Distance from Delhi to Sitapura catchment area of Ghaghara River is 582 kilometers which is approx 362.00 miles. The average car fare is about Rs.5564/- to this place. To add variation to your journey one may add some stops. The total time of your travelling is approx 9 hours 3 minutes and it depends on the road and traffic situations. So some stops midway worth considering are:

• Jafrapur
• Lar
• Kumhrava
• Rauja Dargah
• Lucknow
• Aligarh

Present Scenario

There are a few dams which were built by the government over the Ghaghara River.

Numerous National parks are built along the Ghaghara. The secured zone of the Karnali basin constitutes almost 14% of the total Basin territory. The Basin range includes 4 out of 9 National Parks, 1 out of 3 Wild Life Reserves, the main Hunting Reserve and two out of 6 Buffer Zones of Nepal. The Basin and its impact territory alone constitute around 27% of the Protected Area, 63% of National Park, 25% of Buffer Zone, 100% of Hunting Reserve and 31% of Wildlife Reserve. The Shey Phoksundo National Park in Dopa was created in 1984 and is situated in the trans-Himalayan area of the north-western Nepal. The overflowing woods chiefly made out of blue pine, poplar, spruce, fir, cypress as well as birch provide the environment for the uncommon snow panther as well as the blue sheep along with numerous types of winged animals such as the Impeyan bird, blood fowl, cheer bird, red and yellow charged hack, rave, bush crow and snow partridge. It is recognized as a religious Buddhist site. The Rara National Park and the Royal Bardia Wildlife Park are two more parks along the banks of this river.

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