Lonar Crater Lake, Salt Water/Soda Lake! But Ducks Swim Here!

.
I had mentioned in my earlier posts about our road trip to Ajanta, Ellora caves (posts are yet to be written!) and other places here and here.  I should have written about the places we visited one by one just as we saw them.  I didn't do it... I seem to write randomly; wrong decision!

We started from Chennai.  It was December end and so we had booked hotel rooms in Hyderabad, Aurangabad etc. for the New Year holidays, before we started.  On other days we looked for hotels in the net, went in and stayed for the night. This way, we saw many places on the way, as we wished! Just the three of us, I, my husband and son.  Our driver was driving.  This was the first trip we travelled like this, without pukka planning! But we enjoyed.

On our way from Nizamabad to Aurangabad, we came across this lake (thanks to the net!).  It was nearly 4 pm when we reached this place.  The small towns we crossed, Hingoli, Nanded, etc. had very narrow, crowded, dusty streets.  I have never seen places like these in the "northern" part of India earlier.  But everything is interesting for me! I like watching people and so never get bored!

We had an interesting lunch at a restaurant, Vatika, at Hingoli on the way. It was looking beautiful with a nicely decorated garden with designer trees etc.! A quirky bearer there said that they would specially cook vegetarian food in separate vessels for us! We had our food (which was decent) in the open garden with a cat (who resembled our Goalie) for company. However, while the restaurant looked beautiful from the outside it didn't have a proper toilet! Four stone slabs for the floor and four tin sheets on the sides with no roof! This was their toilet for LADIES and gents had a designated corner in a lawn in the rear, it seems.  We never expected this...but no other good restaurant was nearby and we already had our food! The owner promised my husband that a new toilet would be there in another two months and asked us to come there again!

The beautiful restaurant we visited, which had no toilet! Typical India!

I have never heard of this place, Lonar, before. My son had planned to visit here.  This lake is in the border town, Buldana, in Maharashtra, near Aurangabad. We had started seeing Marathi boards after Hindi and Telugu when we came near the border to Maharashtra!

Let me tell you about my impression about this lake. Then, to our friend, Wiki's details.  The narrow muddy road to this lake is deserted, nearly.  We could see some dry fields on our way.  Then we saw this lake.  It looked like a big pond.  One watch tower with rickety steps was there.  I was wondering why we came to this dry, dusty place.  Son asked me to go up the ladder, in which some rods/steps were missing!  Husband never experiments but I do! Then, son told me the importance/the story of this lake from the landing of the watch tower!

Wiki says:

Lonar is the world's third largest crater. It has its genesis nearly 50,000 years ago, when a 2 million-ton meteorite impacted the earth to create a depression 1.83 kilometers in diameter and 150 meters deep. Lonar Lake is a saltwater lake, which was created by a meteor hitting the Earth during the Pleistocene Epoch. The impact crater thereby formed, is the only hyper velocity meteoritic impact crater on basalt rock. A lake that evolved in the resulting basaltic rock formation, is both saline and alkaline in nature.

Another wiki link says: 

A series of low hills surround the basin which has an oval shape (almost round) with circumference at top of about 8 km (five miles). The sides of the basin rises abruptly at an angle of about 75°. At the base, the lake has a circumference of about 4.8 km (three miles).

Now, to the pictures, we had taken there:

Lonar Lake, Buldana, Maharashtra

Located in Buldana district of Maharashtra, this fascinating lake is believed to have been created over 5o,000 years ago due to a meteor impact which formed a depression 1.83 kilometers in diameter and 150 meters deep. Apart from the splendid beauty of the lake and a few treks, the place is famous for several temples like Daitya Sudan temple and Kamalija temple located around the lake. The lake is both saline and alkaline in nature and the historical documents say that the lake produces all the elements to make glass and soap. - See more at: http://www.thebetterindia.com/16813/travel-explored-5-offbeat-weekend-getaways-near-mumbai/#sthash.MLJruJGA.dpuf

Lonar Lake, Aurangabad. The above two pictures were taken on 29.12.14 when we were there.  The banks do not look like a jungle here. 

This picture is taken from Wiki.  The date is mentioned as September '12. Full of greenery! Different types of trees are there in separate rings, it seems! The place is home to many animals and rare birds!

Wiki says: The slopes are covered with jungle interspersed with teak trees. A belt of large trees about a mile broad runs all round the basin; this belt is formed of concentric rings of different species of trees. A ring of date-palms followed by a ring of tamarind trees (nearly 1.6 km or a mile broad) leads to a ring of babul trees, bounded on the inside by a belt of bare muddy space.
 

I am climbing the rickety old steps of the watch tower! A couple of rods were missing!

Not many trees are seen here now.

The Kamalaja devi temple seems to be very close to the lake! Looks very ancient!

A closer look at the temple. I read that people from the surrounding villages come here to attend the temple festival.  They leave all the plastic bags etc. on the bank,  which is not good for the lake.  

One more view of the lake. 

The other side of the lake.

Another panoramic view of the lake. Pl.click on all the pictures to view them clearly....

We saw a lone duck here, in this salty, alkaline/soda water.  People used to make soap in ancient days, it seems.

Wiki says: The historical document called the Ain-i-Akbari (written about C.E. 1600) states:

These mountains produce all the requisites for making glass and soap. And here are saltpetre works which yield a considerable revenue to the State, from the duties collected. On these mountains is a spring of salt water, but the water from the centre and the edges is perfectly fresh.

The lake was first mentioned in ancient scriptures such as the Skanda purana, the Padma purana and the Ain-i-Akbari^.

Buldana district in Maharashtra, where the lake is located, was once part of Ashoka's empire and then of Satavahana's.  The Chalukyas and Rashtrakutas also ruled this area. During the period of the Mughals, Yadavas, Nizam and the   British, trade prospered in this area. Several temples found on the periphery of the Lake are known as Yadava temples and also as Hemadpanti temples (named after Hemadri Ramgaya).


Though this is a salt water lake, it is surrounded by trees and so, looks like a forest. It is a residence to many types of rare birds and animals!

Wiki also says: 

The modes of formation are also entirely different and it is practically certain that the Lonar salts are derived from an unknown source in the bed of the lake. It is true that water is continually flowing into the lake and that except by evaporation there is no loss. The main feeder stream could not however supply this amount of alkali nor could the other smaller supplies coming in during the rains, for on all sides of the lake vegetation is abundant, particularly where the main stream flows in continuously. Were any quantity of alkali present in this water, vegetation would suffer considerably and, with exception of a few varieties of plants, eventually die out entirely.
 

Sun had started setting down and we left the place at last! This was on the left side of the lake.  We noticed some 6-8 peacocks on the opposite side of the lake, which looked like a barren land.

EDITED TO ADD, THE NEXT DAY: My son said that there is a Maharashtra Government's MTDC hotel nearby where tourists can stay and visit this place.

I read this article about this crate today with more beautiful photographs.

Updated on 12/6/2, read...
.