about 750 years ago, either due to tectonic movement, or other wear and tear reasons, a huge chunk of the western flank of what is now known as annapurna 4 himal, broke off and plunged into the glacier below. the resultant debris flow, as well as those in earlier and later centuries, gave pokhara valley its unique feature of sediment terraces, lakes, canyons, gorges, caves and enormous rocks strewn all over the valley floor...
one just has to look at pokhara's unique terraced gorges with its ubiquitous layers of pebbles, gravel, rocks, conglomerates, sand and silt to imagine what might have happened in these valleys centuries ago. how swathes of debris flow from the base of the himals, some 100 m deep, fanned through the valleys downstream blocking off rivers and rivulets and initiated the formation of numerous lakes in those valleys... how the seti river kept cutting through those layers of comparatively softer layers into those terraced canyons... and how, hitting the harder bedrock, got channeled into narrow gorges ... gorges so narrow that the roar of the river can be heard from bridges than span them, but cannot be seen... gorges where the rivers have carved unexplored underwater caverns...
sungava apartment in phulbari in pokhara lies on the terraces above the bend of the seti river, when it exits from a gorge in the north then makes a 's' turn to enter an0ther gorge below the yellow bridge. so exploring the river, the canyon, and the gorge is very accessible. the photos below are ones i took in early january 2026 from the bend before the seti gets swallowed into a deep gorge.
the layers -- from annapurna 2 in the background, kahun danda in the foreground, sungava apartment in its foothills, and two terraces below, the seti riverside...
...200 steps takes you down to the riverside...
...a lot of sand collects in the riverside when the mouth of the gorge gets temporarily blocked with flood debris...
...many creatures leave their mark on the fine sand...
...boulders and rocks brought down by the river down the ages litter the riverbank...
.. the other bank... and a burning ghat a bit further on the left...
...this huge rock near the mouth of the gorge bears marks of where various flood waters reached...
... looking southwards to the mouth of the gorge underneath the yellow bridge of nadipur...
.. the seti tumbling over rocks near the gorge...
...churning and frothing...
...pebbles left behind by high waters...
...centuries-old flood debris hardened into conglomerate, and contoured by the seti...
...silt, sand, grit and pebbles... solidified due to pressure and time...
...the canyon narrows into a gorge carved by the seti...
... sideways view of the water entering the gorge ...
... closer...
... and even closer...
...the depth of the gorge cut by the seti down hundreds of years... the early on layers must have been eroded easily... and as the sediment solidified and hardened seti must be facing a tougher job now...
... along the canyon walls where the grass and undergrowth have been shorn away... one can see layers of sediments that have flowed down from the himals.. rocks, silt, pebbles...
... a closer look...
... and below it, calcium rich sediment gives a snow-like cover on rocks...
...blackening machhapucchre in the backdrop... and cremation ground beyond the bend of the seti... and a huge, layered and 'autographed' rock in the foreground...
... another interesting, layered rock by the seti's bank...
... sand and boulders dumped by the seti on the other bank...
... the gorge from above... from the yellow bridge...
...what happened and shaped pokhara valley, could happen again, say the scientists, anywhere else in the himalayan belt, linked with tectonic shifts, or with natural weathering and melting of permafrost.... we, living in the beautiful, yet fragile environment, need to be aware and prepare ourselves and future generations... and nowhere can the message be taken home clearer than by the banks of the seti river... by the seti gorge!
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