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 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 rinse 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 get in line in order to crawl into your mouth and ears. There is a sharp salty tang in the air that takes one straight back to coastal fish markets.
An indigenously developed rail trolley system, the lines being laid by the British, takes one across the dam and to various far-flung points in the salt works. |
