Umiam Lake, Reservoir at the entrance of Shillong, India
Umiam Lake sits in the hills of Meghalaya, its waters covering a large area surrounded by forested slopes and rolling mountains. The shoreline is accessible in several places, and you find areas for boating as well as shallow inlets where the water ripples at sunrise.
In the early 1960s, a dam was built here to generate electricity, flooding parts of the Umiam Valley. Around 200 families left their villages and resettled in other areas.
The Khasi people call this reservoir Barapani, meaning big water. Fishermen from nearby villages take their long wooden boats onto the water, following techniques learned from their parents and grandparents.
Boat rentals are available on site, and you can hire paddle boats or faster watercraft to explore different parts of the lake. For families with small children, the shallow shore areas are better suited than the deeper zones farther out.
Two rivers feed this reservoir, which generates electricity for the region with four generators. The turbines work mostly out of sight, but on some days you hear a faint hum carried from the power station.
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