Why is Sambhar Lake famous? It is about salt desert of Rajasthan that is Sambhar Lake near Jaipur in which many Bollywood movies have been recorded.
Do you know that Sambhar near Jaipur has India's largest salt water lake where most of the country's salt is produced naturally?
This salt water lake is known as Sambhar Lake which is spread over 90 square miles i.e. about 225 square kilometers. Water from many rivers comes into this lake, including Merta, Samod, Mantha, Rupangarh, Khari and Khandela etc.
This lake is made up of salt water and shallow salt marshes which have 10 to 20 percent salinity i.e. saltiness. A company named Sambhar Salts Limited is doing the work of making and selling salt from the water of the lake.
Salt has been produced from the water of this lake for thousands of years. During the Mughal period, salt was also supplied from this lake for the Mughal emperors sitting in Delhi.
Being a Ramsar site, this lake is also a habitat for many migratory water birds like flamingos, pelicans, cranes.
Being as beautiful as the Rann of Kutch, this lake is a tourist spot as well as a favourite spot for bird lovers. To attract tourists, Sambhar Mahotsav is also organised at this place.
When there is a shortage of water in the lake, people enjoy by driving their cars and bikes here and there. Due to the movement of vehicles, salty sand dust flies behind them which looks very attractive.
To transport the salt made in the lake to the storage area, the British laid tracks in the middle of the lake and ran a train. Today, there are about 45 km of meter gauge and 25 km of narrow gauge tracks in Sambhar Lake.
Tourists visiting the lake not only see the lake but also see this unique salt train. Both Jheel and the train have appeared in films like Delhi 6, Ramleela, Sher, Gulaal, Jodhaa Akbar, Drona, Highway and Veer.
Author
Ramesh Sharma {M Pharm, MSc (Computer Science), PGDCA, MA (History), CHMS}
Disclaimer
The information given in this article has been taken from various online and offline sources, whose accuracy and reliability is not guaranteed. Readers should take this information for educational purpose only. Apart from this, the responsibility for any use of it will be on the user himself.
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