Karna Shakya

Karna Shakya (Nepali: कर्ण शाक्य) (born in April 2, 1943) is a Nepalese environmentalist, conservationist, hotel entrepreneur, writer and philanthropist. Shakya is a forester by academic qualification. He served as a wildlife officer and pioneered in establishing the first National Park in Nepal. He resigned from his government job, entered the tourism business in 1970, and now owns a chain of eco-friendly hotels in major touristic cities like Kathmandu, Pokhara, chitwan and Lumbini.

In 1998, the old neoclassical garden in Keshar Mahal was to be demolished for the construction of a commercial center. However, on the advice of Karna Shakya, Minister of Education Arjun Narasingha KC stopped the demolition work at once and declared it open to the public with a new name, Garden of Dreams.