LAKHA MANDAL GALLERY

Herbert Daniel Gebauer - 06/01/2018

An about 2 m large entrance in schist gives access to an estimated 30 m long gallery, which is letter -L--shaped in ground plan and ascribed to engineering geologists mining road-sides for information and deeper knowledge. SITUATION: On the approach to Lakha Mandal proper, it were Laumanns & Breitenbach (2006.04.15 Mss) who spotted this gallery at an unspecified location (without GPS position) somewhere in the Jumna (Yamuna) River valley. APPROACH: Lakha Mandal is reached simply by travelling for some distance along the 90 km long road from Mussoorie (N30°27': E78°05': 2000 m asl) via Kempty Falls (15 km approximately north-west) and Lakha Mandal (N30°43'45”: E78°06'40”) to Yamunotri (Jamnotri, Yamnotri N31°01': E78°27': 3185 m asl). CULTURAL HISTORY - folklore: According to one popular rumour, the gallery is attributed to engineering geologists, who investigated in 1993 the feasibility of a dam site (after Laumanns & Breitenbach 2006.04.15 Mss). CAVE LIFE: The gallery hoss a colony of about 50 horseshoe bats [Chiroptera: prob. Rhinolophidae, of which] the species determination is currently in progress by Dr. Dieter Kock from the Senckenberg Museum, Frankfurt/Main (Laumanns in Laumanns & Breitenbach 2006.04.15 Mss).