Lonar tunes

HIT THE ROAD

An otherwise unremarkable little village, Lonar stands out on the map (quite literally) because of the great hole rent into the earth 50,000 years ago by the only meteorite to have ever slammed into Indian soil.

The crater "� proudly declared the 'only natural hypervelocity impact crater in basaltic rock in the world' by a plaque on the viewpoint "� is a vast bowl of forest, salty water and unique fauna that sees nature-lovers descend into its 170-metre depth in search of adventure. There isn't anything else to see here, of course, but you could always pop down to Ajanta and Ellora and/or Aurangabad for a few more history lessons.

Lonar is 160 km east of Aurangabad, which is about 370 km from Mumbai. In Lonar, the only place to stay is at MTDC's imaginatively named Crater View resort (Ph: 07260-221602, Rs 350 onwards), which is bang opposite the crater.

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