Mugu Districtमुगु जिल्ला

Mugu's defining feature is Rara Lake, the largest lake in Nepal — about 10.8 km² (the park's own fact page prints 10.65 km²), roughly 5 km long, 3 km wide and 167 m deep, sitting at about 2,990 m amid blue-pine and rhododendron forest. Rara National Park, established in 1976 with a 106 km² core (Nepal's smallest national park) and a 198 km² buffer zone added in 2006, protects the lake and its catchment, mostly in Mugu with a portion in Jumla; the lake was designated a Ramsar wetland in 2007 and shelters three species of snow trout, with red panda, musk deer and Himalayan black bear in the surrounding forests. Visitors typically fly Nepalgunj–Talcha and walk the remaining two hours to the lakeshore.

Beyond Rara, Mugu is 3,535 km² of deeply cut, high country — nearly a third of the district is trans-Himalayan terrain between 3,000 and 6,400 m — and it has long been cited as Nepal's most remote and least developed district. It has only four local levels (one municipality and three rural municipalities), the fewest of any Karnali district. The Mugu Karnali valley behind the main Himalayan crest, today's Mugum Karmarong Rural Municipality, is culturally Tibetan and historically traded salt and grain across the border passes.

The 2021 census counted 64,549 people — one of Nepal's smallest district populations, yet growing at 1.49% a year, among the fastest rates in the province. Chhetris make up 50.5%, Thakuri 14.5% and Kami 14.4%; 86.3% speak Nepali as a first language, 91.8% are Hindu and 7.4% Buddhist. Literacy is 68.1%. With farm plots small and harvests short at altitude, household economies lean on livestock, medicinal herb collection and seasonal migration, while Rara's slowly growing trekking trade offers the district its most visible path to cash income.