A quiet lake, a rich history
Damdama Lake was commissioned in 1947 by the British as a rainwater reservoir to supply irrigation to the Sohna region of Haryana. Nestled at the base of the ancient Aravalli hills — one of the oldest mountain ranges on the planet — the lake spread quietly across nearly 3,000 acres of low-lying land.
Over eight decades, what started as an engineered irrigation basin turned into a living ecosystem. Reeds, kingfishers, kites, migratory ducks and terrapins found the shallows. The water fed groundwater tables that greened the surrounding villages. And a small boating jetty, first used by fishermen, slowly turned into a weekend refuge for city families.
Today, Damdama is the largest natural water body near Delhi NCR. On any winter Sunday you'll see a boat pull away from the jetty every four minutes — a mix of paddle boats gliding into the reeds, row boats drifting for photographers, and speed boats carving arcs across the far end of the lake.
What makes boating at Damdama special isn't the boats. It's the silence. Once you're a few hundred metres from shore, the Delhi noise falls away, the Aravalli ridge rises to your east, and for the length of the ride you're on water that was here long before the highway that brought you.
Boating today is regulated by the Haryana Tourism Department in partnership with private operators like us. Every boat is inspected annually, life jackets are mandatory, and boatmen are certified with basic swimming, first-aid and lake-rescue training.