After having some scrambled eggs and toast for breakfast courtesy of Puja Guleria, we headed towards Maharana Pratap Sagar, also known as Pong Reservoir or Pong Dam Lake in Sukhnara and quite close to Nandpur Bhatoli.
The ride was quite good with mostly bumpy, paved, albeit narrow roads. The route took us through several villages and brought us to a huge welcoming gate in Sukhnara that pointed us to the Pong Reservoir, an international Ramsar wetland.
Pong Dam Lake Wildlife Sanctuary is located in Himachal Pradesh at the Pong Reservoir, an artificial reservoir created by the construction of the Pong Dam on the Beas River in the wetland zone of the Shivalik Hills.
It was constructed in 1975, at a time when wetlands in northern India were shrinking due to extensive drainage and land reclamation. The bird habitats formed by the construction of the Pong Dam assumed great significance.
Gateway to Maharana Pratap Sagar, also known as Pong Reservoir or Pong Dam Lake
A Ramsar area is a wetland area declared of international importance under the Ramsar Convention, also known as “The Convention on Wetlands”.
Given the location of the site on the trans-Himalayan flight routeMore than 420 bird species, including 54 species of water birds, belonging to 56 families have been recorded in the lake.
Pong Dam or Maharana Pratap Sagar is often hailed as one of the world’s premier bird paradises.
The catchment area of the lake extends to 12562 square kilometers and the total geographical area of the lake is 207 square kilometers, mainly up to 1410 ft.
Hydrological values include the prevention of flooding in the monsoon season, both in the surrounding area and downstream due to water regulation, groundwater recharge, silt trapping and the prevention of soil erosion.
From here, electricity is generated for the neighboring states of Himachal Pradesh, and irrigation water is piped to fertile areas in the deserts of Punjab and Rajasthan.
This wetland area caters to the diverse interests of children, students, authors, poets, saints, environmentalists, fishermen, tourists, adventurers and sports enthusiasts.
