Unearthed Lonar – The Crater Lake

Gems are hard to find but most are just hidden in plain sight! That’s exactly what happened when I discovered this place few odd years ago. It was when I was reading an online article on offbeat places in and around Pune, that I came by a particular place which caught my eye. It was about a lake formed due to the high impact of a meteorite which struck the earth thousands of years ago. And when I researched further, I was pleasantly surprised to know that it was the only one of its kind all over the world. And after years, I got to see this lake through a surprising turn of events!

I had just returned from my Goa trip when my mom started talking about how she wanted to take a break from her routine. One thing led to another and we decided on a weekend trip to Lonar and Aurangabad. Both were my choices of course!

As it was a last minute decision I had to go to the MTDC local office (as their online site wasn’t working) and book ourselves a room in the only known hotel in Lonar. And as there is only one Volvo service from Pune to Lonar it pretty much limits all our choices. But never the less we were set and ready to go!

I and mom left at the fall of dusk only to reach Lonar next day early morning! Lonar is a town in Buldhana district of Maharashtra. And it is quite chilling even in the month of February. As we had conveniently forgotten our jackets back at home, we could experience the chill going down our spine as we rode in a rickshaw from the bus stand to our hotel.

It was still quite early to check into our rooms, therefore, we sat in our hotel’s restaurant. The most amazing part of our hotel was that it was situated right in front of the Crater Lake and we sat there watching the huge crater as the morning unfolded in front of us. After filling our stomachs with Maharashtrian classic pohe and sandwiches, we quickly freshened up and started walking down the trail to the lake.

The trail started right outside our hotel. And as we started descending, the lake started inching nearer to us! When it first bloomed in front of us we were mesmerized by its enormity. Even from a distance, we could make out the emerald green color of the lake shining under the sun. To top it all off, the mountains that ringed the lake made it look like an enclosed treasure!

It was quite a walk down towards the lake. In between, we saw a muster of peacocks frolicking from one place to another. I was even warned about the leopard’s that lurked in the forest which circled the lake. I was intelligent enough so as to not tell this piece of information to my mom or else she wouldn’t have trekked down with me due to fear!

On our way down we saw quite a few abandoned stone temples which had various carvings over them. We got to know later that there were more than 10 ancient temples all around the lake, of which we saw only 4. These temples could surely scare the living soul out of a person if they were to trek at night. And because of this and many other reasons like wild animals, proposed ghosts etc, etc the locals strictly banned tourists from entering that area at night.

As we traversed further through the forest we finally reached the base of the lake! As it was the end of winter season in Feb the lake was not completely filled with water. The outer ridge had a murky greenish color than the inner region.

Fun fact about the Lonar Crater Lake: It has two water regions which are completely diverse from each other. The outer region is neutral and the inner region is alkaline which basically gives the lake two pH levels. The lake even sees a difference in the vegetation of both regions. A miracle in itself!

Few calming moments at the lake and we were again ready to move towards a temple far away from our track. This was a devi’s temple and it was where we encountered the first human being on our entire journey down! He was there to maintain the temple and keep guard.

As mom started talking with him, he spoke everything that wasn’t supposed to be told to my mom! And then she got scared as hell upon listening to the news of wild animals. So long story short after a lot of melodrama and pleading on my mom’s side, that guy escorted us all the way up to our initial destination. Appreciated that guy’s efforts even if it was his lunchtime! Just so you know, it took us about an hour to climb back up.

Mom was quite mad at me for the things I hadn’t told her so in compensation we took some time out to just rest in our rooms. After we had rested enough we left in the rickshaw to see tourist attractions in Lonar. All of them contained temples.

Tip no. 1: Except for the Crater Lake there is nothing adventurous to do in Lonar. So until and unless you are excited in exploring different types of temples you might not enjoy Lonar to the fullest.

About me, I like to explore just about anything and everything, so for me, it was fun! First, our rickshaw wala took us to the Gomukh Temple. It is a short walk to the temple from the entrance. There is a spring ( Gomukh ) of water which waters a small pond and this water drains by special aqueducts to the Lonar Lake.

This Gomukh Temple offered a pristine view of the Crater Lake from above. It was architecturally awe-inspiring and quite different from the usual temples I had seen till now. Later we went to two more temples:

Motha Maruti Mandir has the biggest idol of a horizontal Hanuman whereas all other Hanuman temples have the idol sitting upright. It is believed that the stone of that idol is a piece of the meteor that caused the formation of Crater Lake!

And the last mandir that we visited was Daitya Sudan Temple, a Vishnu temple. For me, this temple was the most unique temple of them all! What with its structure and design! The dying sun illuminated the temple in its might and acted as the most scenic backdrop ever! A story made in the skies!

After we were done with the temple darshan we went back to our humble abode (it was quite humble in my defense). It hadn’t even started properly and the trip had already come to its end. At night mom and I, we just walked under the stars and saw a reverse moon inching towards the horizon instead of rising up in the sky. Outside our hotel, it was pitch dark except for the few street lights! The jungle around us looked tantalizing yet satisfying at the same time. It was a goodbye from the heart!

In the end, I would like to tell you all that the Lake is facing severe sustainability issues where the government hasn’t been able to raise funds for proper maintenance. It has degraded due to ill tourist activities and illegal deforestation by the locals. If you ever visit this place just be sure to leave the town as you found it! It is the need of this hour!

My Lonar Vlog!