Mansar – Soothing tranquility of nature

This time our wheels started to move towards a beautiful lake fringed by forest-covered hills Mansar Lake. The place is situated in the state of Jammu and Kashmir and at a distance of around 62 km from Jammu. Mansar is a place away from hectic life and it's a perfect destination for someone who wants to spend some time in a quiet place near to nature. A place where there is no busy schedule, no hectic crowd, it a place to live close to yourself and to rediscover yourself.

Mansar is not only a popular destination of excursions but also is a holy place with history linked to Mahabharata.

History
Mansar lake is believed to be the place where Sheshnag resides and people used to worship this lake in respect of
Sheshnag
Mansar is historically linked with the Mahabharata time, it is believed that Arun was killed by his son Babar Vahan and in order to make Arjun alive again mani (It is believe that Sheshnag has a very brightening thing at the top of his head which is called mani) was needed, so after defeating SheshNag Babar Vahan came out at Mani Sar (sar means head, so Mani Sar means at the head of Mani) which later was named as Mansar.

About the Lake
Mansar Lake is not only a place of historical importance, it's also a place of many rare water species. Lake has around 207 species of algae,7 species of fish, 15 species of waterfowl.
Lake also has two important species of turtles,viz, lissemys punctata, teionxy gangeticus.
Mansarialla lacustris is one of the rarest medusae found in the lake.

Lake encompasses an area of 329.4 hact. with the circumference of 3.29 Kms, in the center lake is 37 meters deep.

What to Do:
There are number of things one can do at Mansar.

If you love boating this is a perfect place to enjoy boating in a beautiful and calm place.
Walk close to the nature, there is a track around the lake and if you love to walk and want to see how beautiful the nature is around this lovely place, this is a perfect way to go.
Enjoy a trip to Mansar Wildlife sanctuary situated on one side of the lake.
One which we liked the most is to spend sometime close to nature and above all be close to yourself.

Where to Stay:
Mansar is in itself a day visit place for most of the people so one can find only limited number of places to stay. JKTDC runs their tourist huts and rooms situated in Mansar along with few other guest houses, Mansar is not an over crowded place so one can find the place to stay easily.
Recommendation: We suggest you to go for JKTDC, since they are being operated by the State government itself and besides the location of their guest houses is generally good which will give you the best view of the lake.
Eating Places:
There are numerous eating places around the lake, besides JKTDC is also running their restaurants on the Eastern bank of the lake.

How To Reach:
Mansar is around 65 KM from Jammu, Mansar is located on the bypass road which connects Udhampur with Sambha.
There are many ways to reach Mansar and here are few of them.

If you are going from Jammu then start towards Pathankot, at Sambha (District under which Mansar lake is situated) take a left turn, Mansar is around 15KM from Sambha.
For all who are coming from Udhampur side (Coming from Patnitop,Sri-Nagar), Take Dhar Road from Udhampur which act as by Pass to connect Udhampur and Sambha. Mansar lake is situated on the side of this road.Approx distance from Udhampur 35 KM.
If you are coming from Vaishno Devi once can take the route of by Kishanpur to reach Mansar. While coming from Vaishno Devi one has to change the route around 17 Km away from Vaishno Devi where road merges with Jammu-Sri-Nagar highway.

Road Conditions:
Mansar lake is located on the road which connects Sambha to Udhampur and this road leads to Srinagar so overall this road is in good condition.
There is some few bad patches but in overall road is in good condition.

Best Time:
Except summer (May-June), this lake is good to visit, due to high temperature (43-45C) in summer we recommend to avoid this place.

Communication:
All major cellular service providers are operating in the state of Jammu and Kashmir so one will not face any problem with respect to the connectivity.
Due to the security reasons there are certain restrictions on the Pre-paid mobile services and they might not operate in the state, but post paid services will remain to work excluding some services (sms etc).
One can find good number of Prepaid telephone booths in and around Mansar Lake to connect themselves.

Medical Facilities:
For any medical emergency, there are various options available.

Udhampur district Hospital (30-45 minutes).
Sambha District Hospital (30-35 minutes).
Jammu Medical College (1 hour)
Private hospitals available in Jammu.

At Mansar one can get only first level medical assistance and has to go for one of the option as mentioned above.

We really hope that you will soon plan your visit to this beautiful, cool and not much explored destination. We are looking forward for your valuable feedback/suggestion to improve our guides.

So keep travelling and exploring... and keep sharing...