Renuka Lake
Preface
The plan for this beautiful lake would be in mind from a long but never got a chance to visit this place. Some of my friends had arrived from Delhi on May2008, and in no time we had planned a day ride to Renuka Lake.
Renuka Lake is situated at a height of 672 m and lies in Sirmour district, is the largest Lake in Himachal. It is 125 km from Chandigarh, 60 km from Paonta Sahib via Sataun. This is very beautiful lake and provides a completely serene environment.
Weather was pleasant in Monsoon, hot & humid in summers and cold in winters. One can visit this place round the year.
The Journey
Chandigarh --> Raipur Rani --> Naraingarh --> Nahan --> Renuka Lake We left Chandigarh at 8:30AM and reached Renuka Lake at 12:30PM without any problem (take 2 halts, 15 min each for photographs). The road till Kala Amb was in very good condition though Single lane but the stretch between Nahan till Renuka Lake occasionally had bad patches.
We had taken lunch at hptdc hotel situated just beside Lake. This hotel provides you the excellent view of the Lake. This Lake is full of fishes (although fishing not allowed here) and people offer them food, this is perhaps the reason that you can find lakhs of fishes fighting for every food bite you dropped in the Lake. People can enjoy boat riding here but boating facility was not avaialble at our time
After bidding pray in Temple adjacent to Lake, then we moved to take a walk around Lake. There is a well marked path around the lake which is around 3km in circumference. Local authorities maintained a zoo there, and you can only find very few of wild animals that be in hostile conditions.
Only attraction is the Lion Cage, where maximum people visits. On right to Lion's cage, you can find bear's cage, where bear seems to be crawling in the small space. Well apart form that you can find some superb views of lake, when you take a walk along the Lake. I personally prefer this walk, where you can catch some excellent views in your camera.
You can take your vehicle for this safari but there are charges for that (Rs200 for Car & Rs50 for two wheeler), no charges for Pedestrian. We preferred to take a walk along the lake as if you miss this, then there nothing left to do much.
It took us around 2hrs to complete this walk, that was includes some fun and photographic sessions. This is a perfect place around Chandigarh, for its serenity and only a one day ride.