Journey Date : 23 Jan, 2020
Mode of Transport : Train and Bus
History of the Lonar crater
Lonar Lake, also known as Lonar crater, is a notified National Geo-heritage Monument, saline, soda lake, located at Lonar in Buldhana district, Maharashtra, India. Lonar Lake was created by an asteroid collision with the earth's impact during the Pleistocene Epoch. It is one of the four known, hyper-velocity, impact craters in basaltic rock anywhere on Earth. The crater's age is usually estimated to be 52,000 ±6,000 years, although a study published in 2010 suggests an age of 570,000 ± 47,000 years.
Travel Experience
We started the journey from Thane via Devgiri express at 9:00 PM. It was a pre-planned journey, hence we had made a reservation. We reached Chhatrapati Sambhaji Nagar (Aurangabad) at 04:00 AM, had a cup of tea outside the railway station, and waited for a bus to reach Chhatrapati Sambhaji Nagar (Aurangabad) CIDCO bus depot. At around 04:30 am, we boarded the bus and within 10 mins we reached CIDO bus depot. There was a slight change in the plan. We decided to go to Ellora caves first, then to Lonar. Around 4:00 PM we came to the CIDO bus depot from Ellora caves.
At Chhatrapati Sambhaji Nagar (Aurangabad) CIDCO bus depot we came to know that the last bus for Lonar got canceled.
*Note: Be prepared for sudden changes, keep other options ready. Inside the bus depot, some private travel agency people will come and ask your destination and they will arrange a vehicle. As there is no other option, we decided to go in a private vehicle, but the journey was very hectic, because these people would take 12 to 14 passengers in 9-seater vehicles. Because there is no other option, no passenger will refuse. If you do so, they ask you to get down.
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Stepway at Gomukh Temple, a way to Lonar lake
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Springwater pond at Gomuk Temple
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We reached 06:30 PM in Lonar. It was almost dark due to sunset. We decided to check in at the Krishna lodge opposite Lonar bus depot.
*Note: we had booked prior. There are very, very fewer restaurants available for non-veg people to have dinner or lunch at Dhaba. It will be better to arrive early and plan your dinner accordingly. The next day, in the morning around 08:00 am, we started walking towards Lonar lake. With the help of a Google map, within 10 minutes we reached the gate of Gomukh Temple. We made an entry in the register at the gate and started walking towards the lake following the steps. There is a spring water pond (Kund) where devotees are taking a bath. Without disturbing anyone, we proceeded towards the government check-post where we paid 60 Rs entry fee.
*Government had declared the surrounding area of Lonar lake as a wildlife sanctuary. Near the check-post, there is an ancient temple in a ruined condition named Kumareshwar temple. It was a pleasant surprise for us. Until now, we had seen a peacock in the cage, but this time behind the temple we saw two peacocks. They immediately fled away when they saw us. Watching a flying peacock is one of the wonderful movements of my life.
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Kumareshwar Temple
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| Yadneshwar Temple |
After a few minutes, we walked to one more ancient temple in a ruined condition named Yadneshwar Temple. After spending some time, we started walking through dense forest and reached Lonar Dargha. From there, in a very few minutes we reached Lonar lake. Entering into the lake water is prohibited as lake water is seven times saltier than seawater. We spent some time on the bank of the lake. There is an ancient temple named Kamalja goddess temple and an ancient water well, but we skipped due to hungry stomach as we had not done breakfast.
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Dense forest way towards the lake
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| View from Lonar crater |
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Top view of Lonar lake
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After having breakfast, we decided to visit
Daityasudun temple of God Vishnu. We spent some time over there and decided to go back to the room. I had some rest in the room and at 12:00 PM noon we checked out of the hotel, but we kept our bags and belongings in the hotel and went for lunch near Lonar lake. This time, we hired an auto-rickshaw and asked him to come back at 5:30 PM to pick up. After having lunch at Gulmohar restaurant, we again went to Lonar lake for sunset photos. the opposite Gulmohar restaurant, there is a gate of govt. guest house, the gate was closed, but there is a small way through metal wire fencing, from there the top view of Lonar lake is beautiful, we spend some time in taking timelapse and sunset photos.
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Daityasudun Temple
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| Daityasudun Temple |
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| The idol of Lord Vishnu at Daityasudun Temple |
Around 5:15 pm, we called the same auto-rickshaw for pick up. We went to the hotel and collected our bags and belongings. On the opposite side of the hotel there is the Lonar ST bus depot. From there, we boarded the Lonar - Jalna bus at around 6:30 PM and got down at Jalna bus depot, we had dinner and took an auto-rickshaw for Jalna railway station.
Note: sometimes they cancel the Lonar - Jalna bus without any intimation. If it happens, then another option is to visit Sultanpur with the help of private vehicles like (six sitters, jeep, etc) and board the Jalna bus for that check timing of buses with local as well as on mobile apps.
Places to see nearby
1. Daityasudun Temple
2. Limbibarvi (step well)
3. Motha Maruti Temple
4. Gomukh Temple
Important Note
- Check public transport timing and plan accordingly also keep other options ready if any sudden changes in the timing of public transport.
- Prefer package drinking water to avoid health issues, if you are ok with local normal water then go with it.
- For normal rooms with a reasonable rate, you can contact Krishna Lodge opposite Lonar bus depot for booking. contact number +91-7262221728, +91-9420623777, +91-705731655
- You can visit Lonar directly from Jalna, instead of Chhatrapati Sambhaji Nagar (Aurangabad).
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| Sunset at Lonar lake |
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| Sunset at Lonar lake |
