Sambhar Lake to become the first ‘Salt Tourism’ destination

The union ministry is planning to make the Sambhar Lake in Rajastan the world’s first ‘Salt Tourism’ site. Under the ‘Swadesh Darshan’ programme, the ministry prepared a number of programmed to develop the lake as a sought after tourist destination. Located 96 km southwest of the city of Jaipur and 64 km northeast of Ajmer along National Highway 8 in Rajasthan, Sambhar is the largest inland salt water lake in India.

At the lake, the tourists can witness the traditional way of salt making. There will also be a heritage train for the visitors to enjoy. Another attraction at the site will be international migratory birds at the lake side.

Realising the enormous potential of tourism at the Lake, the central ministry had approved Rs 64 crore under Swadesh Darshan Scheme. Under the scheme work on around a dozen of projects are going on for the past two years.

According to the sources, Union tourism minister KJ Alphons and chief minister Vasundhara Raje are likely to inaugurate these tourism works this month. A beautiful caravan park has been built in the area in addition to a ground to organise fairs and festivals for tourists. A tourist information centre, open air theatre, bird watching centre, cultural centre, shopping palace and food palace are the other attractions at the lake side.

Sambhar Lake – an ideal location for photo enthusiasts. (Photo Courtesy: Shiv Sharma Photography)

Six kilometre long cycle track has also been built around the lake and a ditch running parallel to it to facilitate boating. The tourists coming to the lake side can also visit the Devyani and Shakambhari Mata temples nearby. A 10-kilometre long railway track has also been built in the lake for tourists where the tourist can have ride on a heritage train.

Sambhar Lake is already famous for salt making and it is expected that it will become one of the attractive tourist destinations by merging the heritage with new amenities at the site.