Nature lovers wanting to stay amidst untamed wild elephants, chirping of birds and green forests need not wait for more. They can go online and visit Jharkhand without worrying about your own shelter and pleasant stay!
The Forest Department of Jharkhand has come up with the idea to ‘book your trip’ to couple of its finest wildlife sanctuaries by sitting at your own comfort and convenience. Nature lovers just need to go online before coming and reserve hutments, forest guest houses and cottages located inside the forest well in advance.
To begin with the department has opened Dalma Wildlife Sanctuary, a well known playing ground for wild pachyderms, and Hazaribagh Wildlife Sanctuary, Rajderwa for the tourists where they can book accommodations online and visit the place with their family.
“Right now two wildlife adobes of the State have been opened where any visitor can book the officials forest accommodation through internet. It has been perceived that despite having decent places for nature lovers and wildlife enthusiasts, footfall is quite low in the State. Also, the forest guest houses were not utilised properly and up to its full potential due to lack of awareness. Now visitors can find it friendly and feel confident about coming to the places once their accommodation is booked,” said RR Hembrom, Principal Chief Conservator of Forest.
The official website of the Forest and Environment Department presents an option for the visitors about booking AC or non-AC double-bed rooms in cottages. The official accommodations are deep inside the jungles and surrounded with all kinds of flora and fauna.
“We have two cottages ready and three more are coming up. The guest house is located inside the dense forest and just 10 kilometers away from the road. By this, the visitors can enjoy their night stay inside the forest and feel the activities of wild animals very closely,” said a Range Forest Officer of Hazaribagh. Rajderwa area of the division is rich in all kind of wild animal barring tiger and leopard.
Similarly, at Dalma Forest range the visitors can enjoy eco-tourism at Makula Kocha Eco-Hut and Pinderbera where herds of elephants can be watched very closely. “Here at Dalma we have activities of elephants and also wild animals like boar, bison, cheetal etc can be seen. Visitors can also visit localities and habitations deep inside the jungle by staying here,” said Kamlesh Pandey, DFO of Dalma Wildlife Division.
For Rajderwa the Department has fixed Rs 550 as charge for a double-bedded room and Rs 290 for a cottage. The amount can be paid online. However there is some glitch at Dalma where payment mechanism is yet to be settled.
“We have sent an estimate for Rs one crore for furnishing the accommodations. Also, we do not have a separate bank account where the amount paid by the visitors can be deposited.
The requisitions have been sent to the Department and we are expecting it soon,” added a range office staff of Dalma. Also at Rajderwa the tourists have to pay separately for their food which is not included in the package.
