Planning a post-exam trip to bust stress? Here's why Siwalik Fossil Park & Lonar Lake should be on your itinerary

A vacation after school exams may not need too much planning if you get your pointers in place right-away. Read along for amazing bets this Summer.
HIMACHAL’S PRIDE: SIWALIK FOSSIL PARK
Siwalik Fossil Park, Saketi, Sirmur District in Himachal Pradesh contains rich collection of 2.5 million years old vertebrate fossils from Siwaliks. It covers an area of about 1.5 sq. km at Saketi, in the Markanda Valley of Sirmur district, and was built to check indiscriminate destruction of fossil bones.

Some of these fossils are in possession of the British Museum, London, American Museum of Natural History, New York, Indian Museum, Calcutta and elsewhere. The park displays life-size fibre glass models of six of the prehistoric animals that lived in the area 1 to 1.5 million year ago.


The animals exhibit are giant land tortoise, gharial, four horned giraffe, sabre-toothed tiger, large tusked elephant and hipopolamid A large and rare collection of vertebrate fossils recovered from Siwalik Hills in Saketi and adjacent areas has been displayed in a field museum in the park.

The site has been developed to a panorama of Plio-Pleistocene period (Ca 2.5 million years) through massive afforestation. It is about five km northeast of Kala Amb on Kala Amb-Bikramabad road and 22 km SW of Nahan, the district headquarter of Sirmur district, HP A must visit for children and paleontologists alike.

WITNESS A CIRCULAR CRATER: LONAR LAKE
Lonar Lake, Buldana District is a nearly circular crater, suspected to have developed due to impact of a large meteorite on Deccan Basaltic rocks of Cretaceous age. A meteorite is a recovered fragment of natural object orbiting in space, that has survived transit through the earth’s atmosphere.

Such hypervelocity large meteoritic impacts on earth produces craters. Approximately 130 terrestrial craters are currently recognised, ranging in size up to several hundred kilometres in diameter and age upto 2 Ga. The Lonar Crater has an average diameter of 1710 m, average rim height of 40 m and depth of 230-245 m. The circular depression bears a saline water lake in its central portion.

The forest around the crater and lake site is a notified wildlife sanctuary and part of the Melghat tiger Reserve. It is home to leopards, monkeys, wild boar and migratory birds. Tourists can make an early morning trip to see some beautiful birds.

A trek to the crater and back can take about approx. four hours and guides are easily available. It offers scenic views and waterfalls along the way. While the area around the lake is cool but the region is known for its hot summers and cold winters.