Sambhar Salt Lake

Sambhar is a shallow depression of around two hundred square kilometres that fills after the monsoon and evaporates through the dry season, leaving salt that has been harvested since at least the medieval period and industrially since the nineteenth century, with a narrow-gauge railway laid across the bed to move it. When water is present, greater and lesser flamingos arrive in thousands along with pelicans, waders and ducks, making it a Ramsar wetland. When it dries, the surface becomes a white plain crossed by salt pans, dykes and the old railway, and the whole basin can be walked on.

History

The lake is named after the goddess Shakambhari, a form of Durga and the tutelary goddess of the Chauhan Rajputs. A small excavation in 1884 found terracotta structures, coins, seals and a clay stupa, and a larger one around 1934 turned up many terracotta figurines; the lake's salt production was managed by the Mughals, and afterwards its ownership was shared between the princely states of Jaipur and Jodhpur (Wikipedia, Sambhar Salt Lake).

Highlights

• The flamingos - thousands present when water levels allow, mainly in winter.
• The salt pans - worked evaporation beds and stacked salt.
• The bed railway - narrow-gauge track laid across the lake for salt trains.
• The white plain - the dried surface stretching to the horizon.

When to go

November to March; birds depend entirely on whether the monsoon filled the lake, and in poor years there are few or none. The dry white surface is at its most striking later in the season.

Good to know

Bird numbers vary hugely year to year and can be zero. Parts of the works are restricted industrial areas. There is no visitor infrastructure and no shade on the bed.

Nearby

Jaipur lies east; Ajmer is southwest.

Key facts