Banke Districtबाँके जिल्ला

Banke is a western Tarai district on the Indian border, almost four-fifths of its 2,337 km² lying below 300 m; the Rapti river drains most of the district and the Babai its western edge, with the East–West Highway crossing the forest belt between them. It is one of the province's growth poles: the 2021 census counted 603,194 people, up from 491,313 in 2011 — 1.97% per year, among the fastest rates in Lumbini Province — at a density of 258 per km².

Demographically Banke is one of Nepal's most mixed districts: Muslims are the largest single community (18.3%), ahead of Chhetris (16.1%) and Tharus (13.7%), and Awadhi (37.2%) nearly rivals Nepali (41.8%) as the most-spoken first language. The headquarters Nepalgunj, a sub-metropolitan city, is the principal city of the western Tarai — a trade, transport and medical hub whose Jamunaha (Rupaidiha) crossing into Uttar Pradesh is one of the busiest points on the Indian border, and whose airport is the staging post for flights into the Karnali hill districts. The Bageshwari temple anchors the old town, while Kohalpur, the district's second municipality, has boomed at the junction where the Ratna Highway turns north toward Surkhet.

The district's northern forests form Banke National Park, established on 12 July 2010 as Nepal's tenth and newest national park: 550 km² of core habitat with a 343 km² buffer zone reaching into Banke, Dang and Salyan. Declared after recognition as a "Gift to the Earth", the park protects eight ecosystem types — Sal forest, mixed hardwoods and Bhabar foothills among them — and adjoins Bardiya National Park to the west, the two together forming a contiguous tiger conservation landscape of roughly 1,437 km² that holds Bengal tigers, striped hyenas and four-horned antelope.