From n_shiva_kumar@HOTMAIL.COM Sun Mar 14 15:59:03 2004
Date: Mon, 8 Mar 2004 16:09:58 +0530
From: shiva kumar 
To: nathistory-india@Princeton.EDU
Subject: Govt to open trekking trails in national parks, sanctuaries

Govt to open trekking trails in national parks, sanctuaries (THE HINDU
newspaper)

JUNGLE Lodges and Resorts (JLR) and the Karnataka Forest Department have
announced their plans to open trekking trails in the national parks and
wildlife sanctuaries in the State. The new outdoor initiative will be
offered to JLR guests presently at Bandipur near Mysore, as the forest
department has already marked the trekking trails inside the reserve. This
was announced at a workshop organised by JLR here .

As a pilot project, 10 trekking trails have been marked in Bandipur Tiger
Reserve , exclusively for trekkers and adventure lovers. JLR has recruited
naturalists and tribal guides to accompany the trekking groups with JLR's
Bandipur Safari Lodge as the base. Mr Vinay Luthra, Managing Director of JLR
Ltd, a Karnataka Government undertaking, said the trekking programme would
be restricted to the tourism zone of the park and would be of various types
like moderate to highly challenging, from day trips to two-night programmes,
from distances of about six km to 26 km.

Mr R.M. Ray, Principal Chief Conservator of Forests, Wildlife, said that
Bandipur had been chosen to popularise the concept which would be would be
fine-tuned based on feedback from tourists. He said this experiment would
help in direct participation of various sections of public in the process of
protecting forests. This would strengthen the efforts of the Forest
Department's role as a regulatory body in conserving forests. To experience
real wilderness, which encompasses the shrills and whispers of birds and
insects, and the sounds of wildlife, one needs to be on foot instead of
motoring through it in jeeps, said Mr C.R. Sarath, chief naturalist of JLR.

He said JLR's trekking programme would be of minimum impact in nature,
guided by well-trained naturalists and guides adhering to high safety. "We
strongly believe that opening the protected areas to the public has a lot of
other advantages like more hands to help the Forest Department in preserving
nature and more jobs to local and tribals." Mr Ray assured that to enforce
guidelines for tourists and monitoring the activity of the trekkers in
preserving the sanctity of the reserves, only accredited guides selected
from stringent screening procedure would be licensed to take the trekkers.
There would also be a restriction of only 10 trekkers on a trail and the
maximum number per day would not be more than 50. All persons entering the
protected areas would be under the purview of the Wildlife Protection Act
and any violation would attract punishment under the rules.
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N.Shiva Kumar
A-1, SECTOR-1,
NOIDA-201 301, INDIA
Phone-0120-2532861, Fax-0120-2558090
alternate E-mail ID - shivakumar@iocl.co.in

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