Linda and Mals Asian Adventure: Daulatabad Fort and Lonar Crater.

Lonar Crater & Dualatabad Fort.

The Lonar Crater ( some 150 km North of Aurangabad) is a natural phenomenon. It was made by a Meteorite crashing into a Basaltic rock bed at Hyper-velocity ( pretty quick ) . All other such impact crater have occurred in either sedimentary rock beds or in ice and sea. So this one is the only such hyper-velocity impact crater in a basaltic rock bed !! Just like the sign says. The walk down to the crater edge is via a very steep ( 600ft ) descent, Linda managed this with her arm in a sling so all credit to her. Once at the crater bottom there is a limited walk to a few temples about 2 km away. The temples are mostly deserted and full of screeching bats, you can smell them what before you see them. Back on the rim after a retrace of the climb down we explored a few of the upper rim temples, these were most colourful.

Dulatabad Fort, we saved this for our last adventure before heading off to Goa to allow Linda to rest her arm and for it to heal better. The fort is quite an imposing structure set on a round column of rock. The climb up takes you past the impressive Chand Minar or Victory Pillar ( 110 ft high ) . Once at the foot of the fort there is a 45 minute climb to the top taking you through fort tunnels and narrow passages, all totally dark so a good torch is required. Once out in the open there are still many levels of this imposing fort to navigate. The reward once at the top is spectacular views of Daulatabad and the surrounding hills. Great stuff. Not surprising that this fort was never captured or conquered.

The first lot of pictures are from the Lonar Crater followed by the Fort.