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Airport pickup & drop with jeep/cab (airport Jaipur),
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Accomodation (private farm house for your own),
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Food (breakfast, lunch, dinner prepared by 2 caretakers; non-veg will be charged extra)
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 Camel Safari (4 x 2 hrs)
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Caretakers are available for your assistance all day
Enjoy India´s famous hospitality and discover the real, authentic rural India.The farm house you will be staying in is owned by a Delhi Business man.We can assure that you will be taken best care of!
TARIFFS:
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1 Person (price each) |
2 persons (price each)) |
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2 weeks: 299Eur |
200 Eur |
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1 week extension (only food & accomodation): 99 Eur |
59 Eur |
Local guide, transportation , translator, longer camel rides, "any" service can be arranged |
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Sambhar Lake is a place where horizons stretch to infinity, where water and sky merge in a shimmer of gauzy blue. Civilization here goes back a long, long time and legends abound. According to one reference in the epic Mahabharata, Raja Yayati, emperor of Bharatvarsh (India) and a descendant of Lord Brahma the Creator, married Devyani, daughter of Shukracharya (the guru of demons) who lived by the lake. 
According to another legend, the Goddess Shakambhari bestowed the lake upon the people of the area some 2,500 years ago. A small glimmering white temple in her honor stands under a rocky outcrop jutting into the lake. The locals will insist that you visit her temple before doing anything else. |
TOURISTS ATTRACTIONS
Sambhar is India's largest saline lake, 190 sq km in extent at full capacity, and lays some 60 km west of Jaipur, just outside prosaically named Salt Lake City. This vast body of glacial saline is on average just 0.6 cm deep and never more than 3 m even just after the monsoon. It stretches in length for 22.5 km, its width varying between 3 and 11 km. Several seasonal freshwater streams, two of the major ones being the rivers Mendha and Rupangarh, feed it.
The vast, roughly elliptically shaped lake has been divided into two sections by a 5-km long stone dam. The eastern section contains the reservoirs for salt extraction, canals and saltpans. Water from the vast shimmering western section is pumped to the other side via sluice gates when it reaches a degree of salinity considered optimal for salt extraction.
The waters here are glacially still, edged with a glittering frost of salt. Flies abound, drawn by the blue-green algae in the water, and queue up in order to crawl into your mouth and ears. There is a sharp briny tang in the air that takes one straight back to coastal fish markets.
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HISTORY
Sambhar quite literally means salt, and the various administrators of the area have extracted salt from here for over a thousand years. Over time, these have included the Sindhias, Rajputs, Marathas, Mughals and the rulers of Jaipur and Jodhpur who jointly owned the lake, and who in 1870 leased it to the British. After independence, the lake was taken over by the government and is now managed by Sambhar Salts Limited, a joint venture of Hindustan Salts and the Government of Rajasthan. |
Sambhar Salt Lake
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Coordinates: 26.967°N 75.083°E
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Lake type: Salt lake
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Catchment area: 5700 km²
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Max. length: 35.5 km
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Max. width: 3 to 11 km
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Surface area: 190 to 230 km²
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Average depth: 0.6 m to 3 m
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Max. depth: 3 m
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Surface elevation: 360 m
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Settlements: Sambhar, Jabdinagar, Govindi, Gudha, Jhak, Nawa, Jhopak, Ulana. |
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BEST TIME TO VISIT
Like most other north Indian places, Sambhar too has a tropical climate. The summers can be very hot with mercury crossing 45°C, whereas winters are moderately chilled and the temperature can fall below 10°C. |
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1. Mythology
Epic Mahabharata mentions this place as part of kingdom of the demon king Brishparva, as the place where his priest Sukracharya lived, and as the place where the marriage between his daughter Devayani and king Yayati took place. A temple dedicated to Devayani can be seen near the lake.
According to a Hindu tradition, Shakambhari Devi, the tutelary goddess of Chauhan Rajputs, converted the forest to a plain of precious metals. People worried about potential feuds for wealth and felt it to be a curse rather than a blessing. They requested her to retract her favor, so she converted the silver to salt. This place still has a temple dedicated to Shakambhari Devi.
2. Geography
The lake is actually an extensive saline wetland, with water depths fluctuating from just a few centimeters as 60 cm (1 inch = 2.54 centimeters) during the dry season to about 3 meters (10 ft) after the monsoon season. It occupies an area of 190 to 230 square kilometers, based on the season. It is an elliptically shaped lake 35.5 km long with a breadth varying between 3 km and 11 km. It is located in Nagaur and Jaipur districts and it also borders the Ajmer district. The circumference of the lake is 96 km, surrounded on all sides by the Aravali hiils.
The Sambhar lake basin is divided by a 5.1 km long dam made of sand stone. After salt water reaches a certain concentration, it will be released from the west side to the eastern side by lifting dam gates. To the east of the dam are salt evaporation ponds where salt has been farmed for a thousand years. This eastern area is 80 km². and comprises salt reservoirs, canals and salt pans separated by narrow widges. To the east of the dam is a railroad, built by the British (before India’s independence) to provide access from Sambhar Lake City to the salt works.
Nearest airport is Sanganer and nearest railway station is Sambhar. The water is fed to lake from streams from rivers Mendha, Runpangarh, Khandel and Karian. Mendha and Rupangarh are main streams. Mendha flows from south to north and Rupangarh flows from north to south.
Temperature reaches 40 Celsius in summer and stays about 11 Celsius in winter.
3. Economic importance
It is India's largest saline lake and made Rajasthan, the third largest salt producing state in India. It produces 196,000 tonnes of clean Salt every year, which equals 8.7% of India's Salt production. Salt is produced by evaporation process of brine and is mostly managed by Shambar Salts Ltd.(SSL), a joint venture of the Hindustan Salts Ltd. and the state government. SSL owns 3% of the eastern lake.
There are 38 clusters of villages surrounding the lake. Major settlements include Sambhar, Gudha, Jabdinagar, Nawa, Jhak, Korsina, Jhapok, Kanseda, Kuni, Tyoda, Govindi, Nandha, Sinodiya, Arwik ki dhani, Khanadja, Khakharki, Kerwa ki dhani, Rajas, Jalwali ki dhani, Devaji ki dhani, Aau and Ulana.
4. Ecological importance
Sambhar has been designated as a Ramsar site (recognized wetland of international importance) because the wetland is a key wintering area for tens of thousands of flamingos and other birds that migrate from northern Asia. The specialized algae and bacteria growing in the lake provide striking water colours and support the lake ecology that, in turn, sustains the migrating waterfowl.
5. State of Rajasthan
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Capital |
Jaipur |
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Divisions |
Ajmer · Bharatpur · Bikaner · Jaipur · Jodhpur · Kota · Udaipur |
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Districts |
Ajmer · Alwar · Banswara · Baran · Barmer · Bharatpur · Bhilwara · Bikaner · Bundi · Chittorgarh · Churu · Dausa · Dholpur · Dungarpur · Hanumangarh · Jaipur · Jaisalmer · Jalore · Jhalawar · Jhunjhunu · Jodhpur · Karauli · Kota · Nagaur · Pali · Pratapgarh · Rajsamand · Sawai Madhopur · Sikar · Sirohi · Sri Ganganagar · Tonk · Udaipur |
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Major cities |
Ajmer · Bikaner · Jaipur · Jaisalmer · Jodhpur · Kota · Udaipur |
Camel ride video - Have fun!
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Camel Safari is one of the unique way to explore small villages in Rajasthan. Camel Safaris at the top of this ship of the desert is most exciting and soft adventure. Riding a camel is not easy as people consider. It is neither a great test for endurance. It is a great experience to explore The Thar - a vibrantly, living, desert, very colourful and hospitable.
Itineraries of 2 to 7 days can be arranged traversing approx. 40-50 kms a day on camel. These itineraries are planned in the region of Bikaner, Khimsar, Osian and Jaisalmer. Nights halts are usually given near the village to provide opportunities to mingle with the local village folks and to provide insight to the traditional way of their life and culture. Besides one camel per pax on the safari, a camel cart accompanies on the tour to handle baggage and allow riders to take rest as and when required.
Tours include three meals a day, tea/coffee, two mineral water bottles per day, an escort and tents on sharing basis, kitchen tent, toilet tents with pit system, foam mattresses and entertainment by local artisans.
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Sambhar
Experience Authentic India 
