Records & People

Nepal's Deepest Lake Changes Colour Four Times a Day — and Almost No One Has Seen It

Rara Lake plunges 167 metres into the far west of Nepal, deeper than any other lake in the country, and shifts from sapphire to turquoise to violet…

By Laxman Rawal · Jul 20, 2026

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Somewhere in the far west of Nepal, five days' walk or one short mountain flight from the nearest road, a lake sits at 2,990 metres and simply changes colour while you watch it. Morning light turns it sapphire-blue. By midday it's turquoise. Cloud cover pulls…

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