SAMBALPUR: Barakhandia
eco-tourism site, located inside thick forest of Debrigarh Wildlife Sanctuary,
recorded a rise in tourist footfalls during the ongoing tourism season.
The site has six cottages and each has all the facilities to
accommodate a family. Sources said in 2014-15 tourism season (October to
February), 374 tourists had stayed in the cottages till December last year.
While, the number of tourists, who stayed in the cottages in the last two
months, is yet to be recorded, sources said it may increase by three times when
the tourism season ends.
At least 1000 tourists stayed in the cottages in 2013-14, 958 in
2012-13 and the number stood at 662 in 2011-12. Normally, Barakhandia is opened
to tourists from November 1 to June 14.
Debrigarh Wildlife Sanctuary is spread across the districts of
Bargarh and Sambalpur. While the hills end at Hirakud dam in Sambalpur district
on one side, the other side of the hill range is connected with Gomarda
Wildlife Sanctuary in Raigarh district of Chhattisgarh.
The cottages are surrounded by dense forest on three sides while
one side faces Hirakud dam reservoir.
The cottages were constructed in 2009 by the Debrigarh Eco Tourism
and Eco Development Society (DETEDS), a wing under Hirakud Wildlife Division,
to involve local people in promotion of eco-tourism.
Permission for the entry into the sanctuary is available at the
gates, but to stay in the eco-tourism cottages one has to get the DFO’s
permission from the office in Sambalpur town after paying the fees.
Apart from the beautiful cottages, the other tourist attraction in
the sanctuary is animal sightings.
Leopards, Gaur, antelopes and Sambar can be frequently sighted
during the summer season when most of the water bodies in the sanctuary dries
up. Besides the sanctuary, one can also see the Hirakud dam, which was once
termed as the largest dyke-based structure in Asia.
Shared By : Hotels in Bhubaneswar
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: only a member of this blog may post a comment.