DADU: Once a picturesque hunting retreat frequented by many dignitaries, Langh Lake, which also serves as a stopover for around 20,000 migratory birds in their journey from Siberia to India, has become a faded picture of its rich past and a tale of gross official neglect.

The lake, which is supposed to be looked after by relevant provincial departments, has almost hidden from public view due to unchecked and unabated growth of wild bushes and vegetation that have also completely covered the signboard with the lake’s name fixed along the main highway.

The little-known lake spread over 98 acres is counted among important wetlands of Sindh. It is located about 12 kilometres south of Qambar and has a wildlife sanctuary declared in 1972 and re-notified in 1982.

The main feature of the lake is a variety of migratory waterfowl species which arrive here every year in winters all the way from Siberia. The area serves as a stopover for the birds, a huge number of which stay here till the end of February. The lake is also destination of the birds which move further to Badin.

In the past, national dignitaries, including former president Ayub Khan and former prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto as well as tribal chieftains and nawabs used to visit the lake for hunting birds.

The lake has a small guesthouse built by the Sindh government but the beautiful natural treasure is now little known to many as hunting has been prohibited here for over a decade. It can become a tourist resort if the Sindh government and tourism department take serious steps to rehabilitate it.

Talking to this reporter, in-charge of the lake Sher Mohammad Mugheri said that at times migratory birds landed on the lake in such large numbers that its surface became invisible. Langh is one of the three lakes in the district, with Hamal and Drigh being the other two, according to Mugheri.

He said that Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto used to frequent the lake when he was prime minister and spent time in the calm and serene environs of the retreat. The guesthouse, which mostly remains unoccupied, has a few living rooms and a medium-sized hall with pictures of local and national dignitaries posing with the hunted trophies adorning the walls.

The lake’s habitat can be divided into three types – open water with Typha and Juncus on the edge; swampy area dominated by Tamarix; and surrounding rice fields with predominant Juncus.

Presently situated on the Indus flood plain, the lake was once part of the riverbed. An earthen embankment on the periphery forms boundaries of the lake, which normally dries out in summers when the temperature varies between 47 and 50 degrees Celsius.

Published in Dawn, April 25th, 2022