Rolpa Districtरोल्पा जिल्ला

Rolpa covers 1,879 km² of rugged country in the upper Rapti hills, most of it subtropical and temperate slopes between 1,000 m and 3,000 m, walled in by ridges that rise toward 4,000 m and that long kept the district among Nepal's most isolated. The 2021 census counted 234,793 people, up modestly (0.43% per year) from 224,506 in 2011, at a sparse 125 per km². This is the heartland of the Kham Magars: Magars are the largest community at 42.8%, alongside Chhetris (35.2%) and Kamis (12.6%), and the Kham Magar language survives in the northern villages.

Rolpa's name is fixed in modern Nepali history as the cradle of the Maoist "People's War". The CPN (Maoist) built its base areas in these hills, and when the insurgency was launched in February 1996 Rolpa saw some of its first attacks and, over the following decade, some of its heaviest fighting. The village of Thabang — where 33 residents were killed and 21 traditional wooden houses burnt during the conflict — became the movement's symbolic capital, and today receives visitors as a living museum of the war years. Since the 2006 peace deal the district has pushed roads, electrification and services into once-cut-off valleys.

The economy remains one of subsistence maize, millet and potato farming, transhumant livestock herding and remittances, but tourism is growing along the Guerrilla Trek, an officially promoted route that follows wartime trails from Beni in Myagdi through the high country to Sulichaur in Rolpa. Its scenic centrepiece is Jaljala, a 3,100 m meadow ridge with a shrine of Barahi that draws thousands of pilgrims several times a year and looks north to the Dhaulagiri range. The headquarters is the small town of Liwang, seat of Rolpa Municipality — the district's only urban local level among ten.