Fung Fung Jharana

Fung Fung Jharana falls roughly 100 metres down a forested face below Ranipauwa, in Kakani-4 of Nuwakot district. It is the largest of the waterfalls on this side of the Kakani ridge and, despite sitting 40 km from Kathmandu, remains oddly under-promoted — there is no entrance gate and the access path was built by the community rather than by anyone official.

Getting there

The standard route runs Kathmandu → Machhapokhari → Mudkhu → Thinpiple → Okharpauwa → Kakani → Ranipauwa, about an hour and a half of driving. Vehicles are left at Ranipauwa and the rest is on foot: one to one and a half hours downhill, partly on a community-built bharyang — a timber stair-ladder pinned to the steep section. Remember that the walk out is the same path uphill, at the end of the day, and plan the turnaround accordingly.

The road beyond Ranipauwa is unsurfaced and rough. Riders regularly describe the Ranipauwa-to-falls stretch as the hardest part of the trip.

What it is like

The water arrives as a single long drop in high flow and breaks into separate strands as the season dries, with terraced fields and forest on the approach and the Tamang settlements of the ridge above. There is no infrastructure at the base — no shops, no toilets, no railing — and the rock is slippery where the spray lands. Swimming below a hundred-metre fall in full monsoon flow is a bad idea, whatever the videos suggest.

When to go

Asar through Asoj — roughly late June to mid-October — is when the fall is at its best, which is the inverse of the normal Nepali travel calendar. Water levels rise fast during heavy rain and the approach path gets treacherous, so avoid it during and immediately after a downpour. Outside the monsoon the flow drops sharply but the walk is safer and the ridge views are clearer.

Name confusion

There is a second, larger Fungfung Jharana in Mikwakhola, Taplejung, in far-eastern Nepal, sometimes quoted at around 300 metres. They are unrelated. This page is the Nuwakot one, within day-trip range of Kathmandu.

Nearby

Lauke Jharana is the other waterfall on this flank, off the same road. The Kakani viewpoint hike runs the ridge above, and the Trishuli road below carries on to Nuwakot Durbar.