Sambhar - Salt Lake City, Rajasthan
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Sambhar is located in the North-East of Rajasthan just 60 km west of Jaipur, on Jaipur-Ajmer highway. Sambhar is India's largest saline lake, due to which the place is also known as Salt Lake City. Sambhar which means "salt" has got the distinction of providing salt for more than ten centuries. During this period the lake came under the rule of various rulers which include Sindhias, Rajputs, Marathas and the Mughals. |
Later in 1870, the lake was leased out to the British. After India's independence, the lake came under the governments rule and is being managed by Sambhar Salts Limited, a Hindustan Salts and Government of Rajasthan joint venture.
The lake covers an area of about 22.5 sq. km and is being fed by various freshwater streams of which the major ones are river Mendha and Rupangarh. A stone dam about 5-km long has been built on the lake which divides it into two parts. A salt reservoir for extracting salt is there on the eastern part of the lake. A rail trolley system built by the British to oversee different outlying points in the salt works is also there on the eastern part of the dam.
The natural beauty associated with Sambhar attracts thousands of flamingoes and other migratory birds mostly from northern Asia in the winter season. The lake is being recognized as an important wetland of international importance where tourists and visitors throng to have a view of flamingoes. The place has transformed into a top bird sanctuary and attracts loads of avid bird-lovers from across the globe. Here one can easily spot birds such as pelicans, Storks, sandpipers, redshanks, black-winged stilts, coots, and shovelers thriving on spirulina algae found in the waters of the lake.
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