page_title: Ghaghara
section_title: Endangered species
hierarchical_section_title: Ghaghara / Endangered species
caption_attribution_description: Gangetic Dolphin Platanista gangetica
context_page_description: Ghaghara, also called Karnali is a perennial trans-boundary river originating on the Tibetan Plateau near Lake Manasarovar. It cuts through the Himalayas in Nepal and joins the Sharda River at Brahmaghat in India. Together they form the Ghaghara River, a major left bank tributary of the Ganges. With a length of 507 kilometres it is the longest river in Nepal. The total length of Ghaghara River up to its confluence with the Ganges at Revelganj in Bihar is 1,080 kilometres. It is the largest tributary of the Ganges by volume and the second longest tributary of the Ganges by length after Yamuna.
  Lower Ghaghara is also known as Sarayu river and finds mention in Ramayana. Ayodhya is situated on its right bank. The Ghaghara was also the site of the battle between Amin Khan Aitigin and Tughral Tughan Khan.
context_section_description: The Karnali provides the upper range for the Gangetic river dolphin (Platanista gangetica), the largest freshwater mammals found on the Indian subcontinent. They are considered vulnerable species under CITES Appendix 1 and are classified as endangered on the IUCN Red List (IUCN, 2004). The river dolphins are legally protected animals in Nepal as endangered mammal and fall under Schedule I of the protected list of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation Act, 1973. Living at the upstream range limit, dolphins in the Karnali River are particularly vulnerable to threats from habitat degradation. Dolphins need deep pools of water. They are often found in places where human activities are most intense and they are sometimes accidentally caught by the local people who live in the lower Karnali basin. The Karnali River supports the last potentially viable population of the Ganges river dolphin in Nepal. These dolphins are at their farthest upstream range and isolated by the Girijapur Barrage (a low gated dam), located about 16 kilometres (10 mi) downstream of the Nepal–India border.
  
  A high dam has been planned for some time just upstream of the dolphins' current (or at least recent) range in the Karnali River, Nepal. If built, this structure would almost certainly eliminate the small amount of dolphin habitat in Nepal's last river with a potentially viable dolphin population. Disturbance and environmental degradation associated with geotechnical feasibility studies and bridge and road construction for the dam already may have contributed to a decline in the number and range of dolphins or susu above the Nepal-India border. The Ghaghara is the furthest upstream in the dolphin range.
  Other important protected areas and their biological and religious significance are a) Khaptad NP at 2.25 square kilometres (0.87 sq mi), 1984 - oak, fir, conifer, musk deer, leopard, black bear. Ashram of late Khaptad Baba (sage), Shiva shrine, Khaptad daha - a shallow lake; b) Dhorpatan HR at 13.25 square kilometres (5.12 sq mi), 1987- fir, hemlock, spruce, birch, junipers, grassland. Game hunting reserve; and c) Royal Suklaphanta - WR (1976) at Kanchanpur at 3.05 square kilometres (1.18 sq mi) in the Terai Sal, acacia, sisso, extensive grassland, elephant, swamp deer, tiger, hispid hare, Bengal florican.
caption: Gangetic dolphin
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