Story of a Circuit House: Sambhar

While on a vacation to Sambhar Salt Lake I had stayed at the Circuit House managed by the Sambhar Salts Ltd., a joint venture of the Hindustan Salts Ltd. and the government of Rajasthan. Sambhar is about 350 kms from Delhi.

Circuit House at Sambhar

The Circuit House has been built by the Britishers way back in 1880 and even after 133 years it stands majestic as ever despite the neglect by the agencies. It has the old system of very thick walls providing insulation from heat and cold.

Front View of the Circuit House

The Circuit House even has a mechanical dumbwaiter installed by the Britishers as they did not want the servants to come up to the first floor where the 'Sahibs' and 'Memsahibs' resided. Dumbwaiters are lift contraptions to carry stuff instead of people and are very common in hotels and other large buildings.

Mechanical Dumbwaiter

Mechanical dumbwaiters are however not very common now as they preceded the electric ones. In the mechanical dumbwaiters the ropes on pulleys are controlled by hand by rotating the handle (see the above photo).

View of the Living Room

The Circuit House has couple of rooms on the ground floor and the same number on the first floor with additional space for dining area and living room.There is no online booking system and one can only call and book a room but there is no guarantee that you will get it based on the verbal communication. The caretaker makes food for you which is a simple yet palatable fare of Dal (lentil), Roti (Indian bread), vegetable, rice and yogurt.

View of Sambhar Town from Circuit House

The Circuit House has a strategic advantage if you stay there. As it is located at the highest point one can see from here the town itself as well as large parts of the lake. The Sambhar Salts Ltd., however, should pay more attention toward the upkeep of the place as the linen etc. are not too clean.

Sambhar Salt Museum as seen from the Circuit House

Just in front of the Circuit House is located a very old building housing the Salt Museum. Of course, the building remains closed and one can only see either the exterior of the building or the model of the Salt Lake Works.

It is essential that one carries a good quality of binocular and big zoom camera to Sambhar if one is interested to see the bird life in and around Sambhar lake. Sambhar Lake is also a Ramsar site.

If you are interested in bird-watching then do read my earlier post on Sambhar Lake.

And if you are also interested in Salt tourism then do read my post on Sambhar Salt.

Sambhar Salt

The Sambhar Lake is the largest inland salt lake and produces nearly nine percent of India's total salt. Salt here is produced by the evaporation process of brine.

I had stayed in the Circuit House of the Sambhar Salts Ltd. (SSL) which is a joint venture of the Hindustan Salts Ltd. and the State Government of Rajasthan.

Salt Museum 

Just in front of the Circuit House is an ancient structure which is the Salt Museum. The building though stays closed and one can only observe the model of the Salt Lake and the salt works which is out in the open.

View of the dawn

You get a wonderful view of the dawn from the Circuit House with the Salt Museum building providing an excellent outline against the backdrop of the golden dawn.

Snowfall in Rajasthan?

If you look at the photo above it gives the impression of snow lying on the earth (that also in Rajasthan?). This is salt that gives the impression of snow.

Salt Fields

Around the huge lake one can see the color of the earth in stretches is white indicating salt content.

Salt Evaporation Pond

The lake is divided into two main parts by five km long dam. Once the salt water reaches certain concentration it is released and stored on evaporation ponds and salt pans. Some ponds have red color of water due to the presence of algae.

Salt Pans

Once the water dries the layers of salt is scrapped and collected as mounds of salt. From here it is again manually collected and put in the rail wagons. The Salt Works area is crisscrossed by railway network  - a narrow gauge - which was built by the Britishers in the 19th century to carry the salt to other destinations.

Salt Train

The rail wagons that you see in the photo above are made of wood not only because they are old wagons but they also serve another purpose i.e. since it is salt that they carry if they are made of iron they will rust away very quickly! Though the chassis is of course made of metal.

Salt being collected

I asked the workers how much they are paid for the work and I was astonished to find that they get paid a miserly Rs 300 for filling one wagon which after a whole days work one family (they operate in this manner here) is barely able to fill. One wagon can take upto six metric tons of salt.

Salt Hill

Salt around the lake gives employment of lot many persons. It is stored in huge mounds before it is sent to the factories for further processing.

As stated in my earlier post on Sambhar Lake the area is a key wintering site for several migratory birds like flamingos and waterfowls, among others, and is a designated Ramsar site.

The tourism infrastructure though is severely lacking in this area but I was pleased to read a Times of India (TOI) report that the Hindustan Salts Ltd. and the India Tourism Development Corporation (ITDC) have signed an MOU to create tourism infrastructure in the Sambhar area.

Also read Sambhar Lake if you are in interested in bird watching.

Sambhar Lake

Sambhar Lake is located in the Jaipur and Nagaur districts of the state of Rajasthan and is the largest inland salt lake of India. It spreads over approximately 230 square kms with a circumference of nearly 100 kms. It is also a designated Ramsar Site i.e.it is a wetland area of international importance especially as a waterfowl habitat.

It is due to this reason that I decided to go in winters as this area is a heaven for migratory birds from northern Asia when they come here in huge numbers from October to March each year.

Waterfowls

Sambhar town is located about 100 kms from Jaipur. It took me nearly eight hours to reach (including breaks) due to the fact that Delhi- Jaipur National Highways nowadays in a complete mess due to the six laning project.

Nilgai

I stayed in the Sambhar Salt Works Circuit House which gives a wide angle view of the whole area as it is located at a height. But I would write about the Circuit House in another post.

Peacocks

The best time to see the birds and other wild life activity is the morning period as they are more active at this time therefore I ventured out before the dawn the next day.

A huge Banyan tree

Besides the migratory birds I was also able to see lots of pheasants, peafowls and peahens as well as several Nilgais. Nilgai is the biggest antelope that can be found on the Indian sub continent.

Nilgai giving a pose

The waterfowls and various kind of migratory ducks were in abundant numbers. The area is dotted with water bodies and some bodies have abundance of one variety whereas the other water bodies were home to other varieties.

Waterfowls

Besides the waterfowls I was able to spot a few Indian Pond Herons as well.

A nesting Pond Heron 

Picture perfect

A paradise for birdwatchers

The area is also host to vast number of flamingos but they will not come near the human habitations and prefer the bigger water bodies which are surrounded by marsh land. Due to this one cannot go too near to view them properly. One can only make out flocks of them but cannot see them clearly with naked eyes so it is advisable to carry powerful binoculars and telephoto lenses.

Dried up part of the lake

I took my car on the dried part of the lake as far as possible before the marsh prevented me to go further. In the photo above the car can be seen on the lake bed with the Sakhambari temple and the cenotaph on the hill in the background.

Marsh land in front and the lake shimmering in the background 

To move around it is essential that you have a vehicle as the area is vast as for example the distance from the town to the Sakhambari temple is about 22 kms. Also one should avoid cars like Honda City which has very low clearance from the ground. As I knew that I can expect rough roads in the interiors of Rajasthan therefore I took the Swift for the journey.

Shakambari Temple at Sambhar

The Sakhambari temple does not receive many visitors on a normal day. It seems that only during the fair large number of people come and visit. I was the only visitor, for example, on the day I reached there. Like so many other temples in India, the vicinity has not been kept clean as one can see polythene packs lying around the temple area as well as in the small temple baoli (water reservoir).

Sakhambari Cenotaph

The cenotaph on the hill above the Sakhambari temple is an excellent spot to view the area far and wide. The trees in the photo below look like patches of grass as the photo was taken from above.

View from the cenotaph of the Sakhambari temple

Rajasthan Tourism has unfortunately not developed this area nor are they advertising about it though it is definitely a paradise for the ornithologists.