Hebbal Lake

Hebbal Lake lies in north Bengaluru, where Bellary Road meets the Outer Ring Road. Like most of the region's tanks it was made by building a bund across a valley, and the 8th-century Bhoopasandra inscription found nearby suggests settlement and water management here some 1,200 years ago. Sewage inflow has made the water rich in nutrients, and water hyacinth and typha grow in the shallows.

The lake is known for its water birds. Spot-billed pelicans, Eurasian spoonbills, shovellers, pintails, garganeys and Indian spot-billed ducks favour it, while sandpipers, purple moorhens, egrets and herons feed in the shallows. A restoration project from 1998 used dredged soil to create two islands, now planted and used as roosts. In 2004 a 15-year lease handed the lake to East India Hotels, which built a boating jetty, a craft shop and an island restaurant, a move that drew strong protest from citizen groups.