Lonar

I had always wanted to visit the Lonar crater in Maharashtra; it never failed to fascinate me through photos and whatever information I had. So when I got an opportunity to visit Aurangabad, I made a point to make a dash to this place as well. How I reached there or returned back, is another interesting adventurous story but this post is about Lonar lake.

Although Lonar lake is third largest meteorite crater in the world, there is no commercialization of the place. Travel information on the net regarding this place is very sparse and though people are aware of this lake, not many of them have visited it. It is neither a touristy place nor been taken care of, to make one. There are no signboards and one has to depend on the local people for everything. Not that I mind it one bit… it lets me interact with them. 🙂

Besides countable no. of tourists, this place is visited by researchers, geologists and scientists from all over the world as well as by the serious nature lovers or adventure seekers.

The lake is around 50 thousand years old. The water is saline in nature; my guide mentioned it has substantial quantity of sulphur and phosphorus too. The outer diameter of the lake is 1.83 kilometers and the circumference is around 6-7 Kms. Descent to lake i.e. distance from the rim to ground level is about 140 meters.

Me holding a piece of basalt rock. It is porous and very light in weight.

It was August end and