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| Lonar crater |
In scientific jargon, it’s the only hypervelocity natural impact crater in basaltic rock in the world. In lay
terms, it’s as tranquil and relaxing a spot as you could hope to find, with a shallow green lake at its base and wilderness all around!!. About 50,000 years ago, a meteorite slammed into the earth here, leaving behind a massive crater, 2km across and 170m deep. And 50,000 years later we three- Abhishek, Sanjay and me decided to visit it. :)
Abhishek and I have been planning for lonar since 4 years, and we finally decided to set off for it on 24th Jan 2015. Our plan was to reach lonar by 25th morning explore it completely, stay at MTDC (fabulous rooms!) and check out majestic Ellora and Bibi Ka Maqbara on 26th, return to Mumbai on 27th morning. But we had grossly underestimated the size as well as beauty of Lonar.
As planned we took a bus from Mumbai to Jalna on the night of 24th Jan. From Jalna we were supposed to get a ST to Lonar. At the very start of our journey we got stuck in heavy traffic, it being a long weekend everybody was moving out of Mumbai, Our bus driver however showed his skills and took a shortcut not many would dare to at 12am!! It took us 2 hours to put Mumbai behind us, finally we were out of panvel and on the expressway by 12:30 am. The bus took us to jalna at 9:30 am next day and here's where our adventure started.
We had a quick breakfast opp Jalna ST depot (super spicy potato gravy with chapati!! and tea) and took ST (lal dabba) for Lonar 90 kms away. Abhishek was tracking the route on his newly acquired Windows phone Here Drive app, but ST's have a logic of their own, instead of going straight to lonar it took a long country side route, made a u turn of about 5 kms and then a pit stop for lunch!! Finally it bought us to Lonar at 2:30 pm. Having journeyed 500 kms for more than 15 hours in this sweltering heat it was 1 hell of a ride....
We decided to freshen up in our rooms before heading for lunch. the rooms were booked a month in advanced and entire MTDC was full to its capacity. MTDC was another surprise with very well furnished rooms and a location bang opposite the crater!
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| MTDC Lonar |
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| MTDC Lonar |
After checking in and freshening up we went for lunch. Abhishek and I as always ordered non veg - butter chicken hundi, chicken fry, Sanjay had kaju masala. We were so famished that we had 18 chapatis!!! The food was good and restaurant at MTDC is the only option for food here. We also met our guide Ramesh (09158925048) who agreed to show us all the beauty of Lonar. We strongly recommend him as he has extensive knowledge of the region and has accompanied teams from NASA as well.
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| View of Lonar Crater from MTDC canteen |
Ramesh told us that early morning would be the best time to circumnavigate the crater, so we fixed our tour with him next morning at 6 am. Since it was already 4 pm we decided to check out a few places nearby from an auto. The auto tour cost us Rs 150/- and covered Daitya Sudan temple, Gaumukh, Motha Hanuman temple and a tower erected for viewing Lonar. Its worthwhile to spend some time at Daitya Sudan Temple if you love architecture. The carvings here rival to those of Khajurao!! We were back at MTDC by 7pm.
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| Lonar Lake from Gaumukh |
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| At Gaumukh- from left Abhishek, Me, Sanjay |
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| A temple pillar at Gaumukh |
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| Motha Maruti Temple |
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| Daitya Sudan Temple |
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| Daitya Sudan Temple |
After coming back to MTDC we had tea and were so tired that we decided to sit in the restaurant till dinner,chatting away the evening with lonar as a perfect backdrop. Dinner was called in and comprised of simple Daal Roti. (Anything exotic now and that would have put our stomachs out of gear!!) We had planned a session of star gazing but all the travelling of previous night and todays schedule left us with no strength, so we decided to call it a day and get up early morning for a session with our guide Ramesh.
Getting up early proved a more difficult task than we thought (It being middle of winter season). Ramesh arrived dot at 6 am. We finally managed to leave our rooms at 7 am for what was to be an awesome experience of Lonar. A trail starts opposite MTDC and winds down to the base of lake in half an hour. There are many temples built around the lake. These were constructed by King Chalukya of Rashtrakuta dynasty about 1100 years ago. the architecture of all these temples is worth seeing..
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Early morning on our way to lake
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| First Temple |
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| First temple door |
We decided to do a complete walk of the lake and explore as much as we could. The entire path is through beautiful forest, which has an amazing variety of birds, temples and trees. We saw as many as 10 different birds. Ramesh was very informative and explained the nuances of architecture, surroundings, pointed various birds and also explained different types of trees.
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| At first temple, from left- Ramesh, Sanjay, Me, Abhishek |
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| The trail |
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| Brahminy Ducks (Golden Ducks) |
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| Lonar lake |
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| Carving on a Pillar |
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| Inside the 2nd temple |
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| A couple |
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| Kingfisher |
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| A spider in his web |
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| An excellent piece of art on a pillar of a temple |
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| Pillars of a Temple |
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| Samudra Manthan |
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| 2nd Temple which is infested with bats |
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| Erotic carvings on the pillar |
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| Kamlaja Devi temple |
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| Gunj |
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| Holes drilled by NASA |
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| A monkey resting on a branch |
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| Shiva linga |
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| At the end of our trail- Gaumukh |
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| Our guide Ramesh on right and another Guide of MTDC |
The entire walk took 5 hours and was the most memorable part of the tour. We were back at MTDC by 12. Here we did our brunch and left MTDC at 1 pm. Lonar - Aurangabad is 150 kms (4 hours approx) .The ST to Aurangabad was at 2:30 pm, naturally we had to cancel our plans for Ellora and Bibi Ka Maqbara. Our bus again took a long whirlwind route and just before it reached Aurangabad the bus driver refused to go further as its headlights were not working. All of us were asked to alight in the middle of Jalna-Aurangabad highway at 6:30 pm!! As we were wondering whether we'll get another transport or even manage to reach Aurangabad, suddenly ( and by good providence) the bus headlights turned on!! We lugged our bags into the bus again and started towards our destination- praying there would be no more suprises!!!
Finally we reached Aurangabad bus stop at 7:30 pm (After 5 hours!!). We decided to have dinner in Naivedya reastaurant which is known for its veg Thalis. The thali served was royal to say the least, as many as 15 different items were served which was like an icing on cake. After dinner we waited outside restaurant and finaly moved to our bus pick up point. Our bus Falcon Travels came on time at 10:15 pm and we were back on our way to Mumbai!!
Lonar gave us a lot more than we had ever imagined! Do try to take your private car on this tour instead of relying on ST buses. Its a trip worth making.
Go for it!!
