Rajasthan Chief Minister recently inaugurated ‘Jungle Safari’ at Jaisamand Wildlife Sanctuary.

About Jaisamand Wildlife Sanctuary -

Ø  Location — It is located in the Udaipur district of Rajasthan surrounding Debar Lake (Jaisamand Lake).

Ø  The forest of the Sanctuary used to be a Shikargah (Game Reserve) of the erstwhile Maharanas of Mewar. It was declared a Wildlife Sanctuary in the year 1957.

Ø  Vegetation — Dry deciduous forests, and scrub forests.

Ø  Flora — The flora of this Sanctuary comprises of thickly wooded forests of mainly Teak wood.

Ø  Fauna — It is habitat to a large variety of animals like Bears, Black Bucks, Blue Bulls, Chinkaras, Chittal or Spotted Deer, Civets, Common Langurs, Four-horned Antelope, Foxes etc.

Ø  It is also home to a huge variety of over 300 species of resident as well as migratory birds like Babblers, Buzzards, Curlews, Dalmatian Pelicans, Darters, Doves, Eagles, Egrets, Falcons, etc.

About Debar Lake (Jaisamand Lake) -

Ø  It is renowned for being the second largest artificial lake in Asia.

Ø  In 1685, Maharana Jai Singh built this lake while making a dam on the Gomti River.

Ø  This lake covers an area of 36 sq km, stretches to the length of 14 km and width of 9 km. The lake is deep to the maximum of 102 feet and has a circumference of 30 miles.

Ø  The lake receives water from four main rivers, the Gomti, Jhamari, Rooparel and Bagaar.

Ø  The massive dam was constructed on this lake also houses a centrally located Shiva temple.

Ø  The northern end of the lake has a palace with a courtyard while its southern end has a pavilion of 12 pillars.

Ø  Islands — There are seven islands on the lake and the tribe of Bhil Minas inhabit these islands.

Ø  There are two main islands which are large in size. The biggest island is called Babaka

Ø  Bhagra while the smallest is called “Piari".