Mahendra Cave

Mahendra Cave is a big limestone cave found in Pokhara-16,batulechaur, Kaski district, adjacent to the Kali khola. It is a rare example of a cave system with stalagmites and stalactites in Nepal. Thousands of people visit this display cave each year. Inside the cave, there is a Hindu deity Shiva statue.

Young shepherds from Pokhara discovered this cave in the late 1950s. Since since, it has remained one of Pokhara's most popular tourist destinations.

Visitors can reach the cave in thirty minutes by taxi, one hour by public bus, or two hours on foot from the Pokhara Airport. The underground tunnels are absolutely black, with water trickling from the ceiling. The cave is made of limestone, which falls to the ground and generates electrical sparks on a regular basis. Artificial lighting is given inside approximately half of the accessible cave due to the darkness.

The Mahendra Cave has around 100 meters of easily accessible passages and another 100 meters of low, unstable corridors that are entered by a collapsed channel that is just about half a meter high. The report of the 1976 British cave expedition to the region includes a study of the entire cave as well as listings of the bats and invertebrates that live there.

Location: Pokhara-16,batulechaur, Kaski district, Pokhara, Nepal