How Guwahati's Chandubi Lake is becoming a Tourism Gem in Assam

The famous Chandubi Lake picnic spot has nowadays turned into a famous tourist hub, which is situated in Palashbari Constituency in Assam's Kamrup District. The beautiful silent lake situated on the outskirts of Guwahati with gorgeous views. Chandubi is a natural lake located under the Rabha Hasong Autonomous Council (RHAC) at 64 kilometres (40 mi) from Guwahati City accessible through National Highway 17.

The lake is located at the foot of Garo hills surrounded by Assam and Meghalaya. The area is covered by deep forests and small villages. It is a natural sightseeing and picnic spot. The lake also attracts migratory birds during winter. The lake was formed in the year of 1897 due to the earthquake and During that period the forest went down and became the lake. 

Though Chandubi lake was famous as a picnic site, with the change of time, tourists from outside the island have shown interest in staying overnight to enjoy the beauty of the place. As a result, resorts have been established in various parts of the island.

Kaushik Das, Co-founder of the 'Chandubi Jungle Camp' said that every year around two thousand people from various places of the world visit the Chandubi lake and stay at their resort. "There are places for night stay like Chandubi Jungle Camp, Lake View Homestay, Eco Camp, and other homestays there including the Assam tourist Lodge. So over the year around eight to ten thousand people stay in the night at Chandubi Lake."  

The tourism development officer Danny Gam who was the tourist information officer of the Assam state serving there in Chandubi for over six years said that the state government tourist lodge was established in the year of 1988. "After I have joined at Chandubi office, the state government has taken many remarkable staps like fifteen local youths were trained as tourist guide, provided life jackets to the Chandubi Boating Association, which play a major role in the Chandubi Lake, reconstructing and making new rooms for tourist in the tourist lodge premises," said Danny Gam. 

Gam also emphasized that the lake is currently drying up for various reasons. Therefore, the Government of Assam should investigate the matter in collaboration with the Forest Department and find ways to prevent water drying.  

"With the help of the state government, we welcomed many YouTube bloggers for the promotion of the lake, and also provided leaflets and signs on the road for easy access towards the lake while there was no network connectivity",  added Danny Gam. 

"We celebrate World Tourism Day every year in different villages near the Chandubi Lake for promotion so that villagers will also give their ideas to attract tourists," added Danny Gam. 

It is to mention that, many poets have already written poems about Chandubi Lake, fascinated by its beautiful natural beauty. Chandubi Lake is a tourist destination where some tourists visit the lake during the Chandubi festival in the first week of January. In this festival, local village people perform their traditional or cultural dance forms, and stalls offer local traditional foods. The All Rabha Students Union, RHAC, Assam State Tourism Department, and the local public jointly organized the festival. Thousands of spectators from many places visited the festival.

The nature-conscious community and local public emphasized recent changes in the lake like water drying which had never happened before. They urged the state government to investigate and find a solution to the matter. 

While asking different people who visited the Chandubi Lake, they expressed their opinions "Though the tourist lodge is in Chandubi the state government should develop the rooms for night stays." One anonymous tourist who visited the Chandubi while the Chandubi festival was going on emphasized that the state government should be branding locally made liquors and beers like Meghalaya's 'Rice Brew' beer.

Therefore people in the area will financially benefit. On the other hand, some others said the government should take the initiative to make houseboats, which is another tourist attraction like Dal Lake in Kashmir and other places in Kerala. Meanwhile, people of the Chandubi area seek for government's financial assistance so that they can also make traditional houses for homestays and will be financially benefited.