Osman Sagar (Gandipet) in Hyderabad

Osman Sagar reservoir, also known as Gandipet Lake was built in 1920 by damming the Musi river to protect the city after the Great Musi Flood of 1908. It holds immense historical and environmental significance. Located about 20km from the city’s centre, the lake is spread over a sprawling 46 km area.

After the floods, Mahboob Ali Khan, the then Nizam of Hyderabad sought a long term solution and chose the native expert Sir M Visvesvarayya for the job. His ingenious prosal lead to the creation of Osman Sagar and Himayat Sagar. The twin reservoirs served the purpose of taming Musi and providing drinking water to the city. It was constructed during the reign of the last Nizam of Hyderabad, Osman Ali Khan, hence its name. Learn more about its history here.

Prelude

On an early Sunday morning, I called up Amaan.
“We’re going somewhere nearby for a couple of hours. I’m coming to your place.”
“Ok. But where are we going?”, enquired Amaan.
“I don’t know. We’ll figure something out.”
And this is how, ladies and gentlemen, we start our trips – by being utterly clueless. We love it!

We wanted to go somewhere nearby since Amaan had a commitment to attend to in 3 hours.
After briefly examining Google Maps, we chose Gandipet Lake as our destination.

Morning at Osman Sagar/Gandipet

On our way to Gandipet, we noticed plenty of food stalls on the way making it a perfect place for a breakfast ride. There were some crowded fish stalls as well.

At this point, you can either take a left or a right. The right will lead you to Jalamandali Park and the left will lead you to Dwaraka & Kisthi Garden.

We took a right turn which landed us on the gates of The Golkonda Resorts and Spa.

Right opposite to The Golkonda was a board that said Jal Mandal Park Paid Parking. So, we took a U-turn and parked our scooter away from the signboard for obvious reasons.

We made a beeline for the entrance that said Jalamandali Park. Now, we’re not sure if the park is called Jal Mandal Park or Jalamandali Park, just like the people in charge of making those boards.

Feeling a sense of accomplishment in avoiding a parking ticket

There was no entry fee for the park.

We were impressed by the maintenance of the park.

Clear walkways and neatly trimmed grass welcomed us.

More than enough park benches all around the park.

There was an artificial pond in the park that is right next to an artificial lake. Weird.

But why?

We reached the end of the park.

With nothing much to do in a park, we ‘lost’ our way to reach the banks of Osman Sagar.

Lot of broken glass bottles on the way.

Be careful when guiding through rocks, there could be snakes resting in crevices.

Please don’t enter the lake. I had a neighbor who went swimming in this lake and drowned (true story).

Peacocks and Peahens

After strolling around for a few minutes, we returned.

Found a snake!

via GIPHY

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