The Sangestar Tso, formerly called Shonga-tser Lake and popularly known as the Madhuri Lake, is located on the way from

Tawang Tawang is a town and administrative headquarter of Tawang district in the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh. The town was once the capital of the Tawang Tract, which is now divided into the Tawang district and the West Kameng district. Tawang c ...

Bum La Pass The Bum La Pass is a border pass between China's Tsona County in Tibet and India's Tawang district in Arunachal Pradesh. It is 37 km away from the town of Tawang in India's Tawang district and 43 km from the town of Tsona Dzong in C ...

Tawang district Tawang district (Pron:/tɑ:ˈwæŋ or təˈwæŋ/) is the smallest of the 26 administrative districts of Arunachal Pradesh state in northeastern India. With a population of 49,977, it is the eighth least populous district in the country (out of ...

Arunachal Pradesh Arunachal Pradesh (, ) is a state in Northeastern India. It was formed from the erstwhile North-East Frontier Agency (NEFA) region, and became a state on 20 February 1987. It borders the states of Assam and Nagaland to the south. It shares int ...

, near Indo-China border above above sea level.Sangetsar Lake, a beautiful paradise near Tawang, named after Madhuri Dixit
The Times of India, 29 January 2019.Sangestar Tso
Government of Arunachal Pradesh, retrieved 10 July 2020.Lake created by an earthquake: Sangestar Tso, Tawang
thelandofwanderlustcom, retrieved 14 November 2021.

Geography

Sangestar Tso is located about north of

and west of

, which is a border trading point between India and China. The Taktsang Chu river that originates below the Takpo Shiri glacier to the north, flows through this region. It flows west and then southwest to join the

Nyamjang Chu Nyamjang Chu, or Nyashang Chu () is a cross-border perennial river that originates in the Shannan Prefecture of Tibet and flows into the Arunachal Pradesh state of India, joining the Tawang Chu river just before it enters Bhutan. The Nyamjang C ...

river downstream. The Taktsang Gompa is within the area, to the west. The Sangesstar Tso was created by falling rocks, boulders and trees in an earthquake.

Tourism

Sungester lake, Tawang, Arunachal Pradesh

This is a really beautiful place. This location is off the beaten track for those who love roaming in the wilderness. It is a fantastic place for a picnic of a lifetime if you move out of

by around 7am and carry in everything yourself. Visit by civilian tourist of India is permissible with permission from the

Indian Army The Indian Army is the land-based branch and the largest component of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Supreme Commander of the Indian Army, and its professional head is the Chief of Army Staff (COAS), who is a four- ...

. The track is very treacherous, only

SUV A sport utility vehicle (SUV) is a car classification that combines elements of road-going passenger cars with features from off-road vehicles, such as raised ground clearance and four-wheel drive. There is no commonly agreed-upon definiti ...

s advisable, and that too only on clear weather day with no snowfall or rainfall.

Permit

A special permit is required to visit the

. Permits are requested at the Office of the Deputy Commissioner in

Tawang District Tawang district (Pron:/tɑ:ˈwæŋ or təˈwæŋ/) is the smallest of the 26 administrative districts of Arunachal Pradesh state in northeastern India. With a population of 49,977, it is the eighth least populous district in the country (out of ...

, and they are in the Indian army cantonment at the

town. Without the army stamp, visitors are not allowed through the numerous check posts along the way.

Popular culture

The lake was featured in a

Madhuri Dixit Madhuri Dixit Nene (née Dixit; born 15 May 1967) is an Indian actress who primarily works in Hindi films. A leading actress of Indian cinema, she has appeared in over 70 films. Noted by critics for her beauty, dancing skills, and characters, ...

(

Bollywood Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, refers to the film industry based in Mumbai, engaged in production of motion pictures in Hindi language. The popular term Bollywood, is a portmanteau of "Bombay" (fo ...

actress) dance sequence in the movie

Koyla ''Koyla'' ( Coal) is a 1997 Indian Hindi-language action thriller film directed, co-written and produced by Rakesh Roshan, which stars Shah Rukh Khan, Madhuri Dixit and Amrish Puri in lead roles, while Johnny Lever, Ashok Saraf, Salim Ghouse, D ...

, as a result of which it has come to be called the ''Madhuri lake''.

Gallery

File:Sangetsar Lake.jpg File:Madhuri lake.jpg File:Lake Shungtser at Tawang-3.jpg

References