Close to the tourist centre of Pokhara, Lake Begnas has many advantages for the first-time, open-water swimmer.

BBC: Long-distance swimming in Nepal��s glacial mountain lakes

Meanwhile, tourism activities including paragliding, zip-wire flying, restaurants and lodges are spreading in the outer areas of Pokhara as well.

BBC: Nepal floods change river course and threaten tourism

Mr Poudel said even the heart of Pokhara faces the threat in the wake of the changes in the river's waterway.

BBC: Nepal floods change river course and threaten tourism

Police later flew the tourists out of the area to Pokhara, a resort town 200 kilometres west of the capital, Katmandu.

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The Seti river brings down heavy sediment of limestone and has formed several gorges in and around Pokhara, making it even more vulnerable.

BBC: Nepal floods change river course and threaten tourism

It is easily accessible from Pokhara, and even though it is at a lower altitude than Imja, it is still not surrounded by human habitation and thus, not polluted.

BBC: Long-distance swimming in Nepal��s glacial mountain lakes

As a last resort, the tempos can be used elsewhere in Nepal, but not in the towns of Pokhara and Lumbini, which rank in size after Katmandu.

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Three Ukrainians were swept to death by the unusual flood last year when they were at a hot water spring along the Seti river some 20 kilometres north of Pokhara.

BBC: Nepal floods change river course and threaten tourism