India
Lonar Crater
A hyper-velocity meteorite crater holding a hyper-alkaline lake that mysteriously turns cotton-candy pink.
The lake is pink. Not subtly — vivid, cotton-candy pink, filling a near-perfect circle punched into the Deccan basalt by a meteorite 50,000 years ago. Scientists from NASA have studied this crater. The micro-organisms that turn the water pink have not been fully explained.
Lonar Crater Lake in Maharashtra is one of only four known impact craters in basalt rock anywhere on earth, created by a hypervelocity meteorite strike approximately 50,000 years ago. The crater measures roughly 1.8 kilometres in diameter and 150 metres deep, with a lake that is simultaneously saline and alkaline — a rare geochemical combination that supports specialised extremophile organisms. These organisms periodically turn the lake surface pink, a phenomenon that went viral in 2020 and drew scientific attention from NASA, which has studied the crater as an analogue for Martian impact sites. Hindu temples from the Chalukya and Yadava dynasties (6th-13th centuries) ring the crater rim, partially buried in jungle growth. The surrounding Deccan trap landscape — flat, basalt, and ancient — adds to the extraterrestrial atmosphere.
Solo
A meteorite crater with a pink lake, medieval temples, and NASA connections — Lonar rewards solo travellers who collect genuinely unusual experiences.
Friends
The geological oddity, the crater rim walk, and the shared attempt to understand why the lake turns pink — Lonar is best experienced with curious company.
- A 50,000-year-old meteorite impact created this near-perfect circular lake — one of only four such craters on basalt rock worldwide.
- The lake water is simultaneously saline and alkaline — micro-organisms occasionally turn its surface cotton-candy pink.
- Hindu temples from the Chalukya and Yadava dynasties ring the crater rim — some partially buried in jungle growth.
- Scientists from NASA have studied the crater as an analogue for Martian impact sites — the geology is that unusual.
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