Chennai: With trekking becoming popular, Chennaiites are entering the protected reserve forests in the Eastern Ghats, located along the Tamil Nadu and Andhra border, and forest department officials are finding it difficult to regulate them, said an official at the state wildlife headquarters.
Also, with some hillocks located in the border areas, trekkers tend to cross from one border to the other, making monitoring difficult, he said.
“Some young people are exploiting the pristine forest areas without obtaining the required permissions from the forest department.
Earlier, trekking was completely banned in all the tiger reserves, but after the introduction of eco tourism, it is becoming common even in the protected forests,” said Mr. K V R K Thirunaran, founder, The Nature Trust. He said one could spot plastic and alcohol bottles even in the protected areas of Mudumalai and Analamalai tiger reserves. Only those who complied to norms should be allowed to trek in protected areas, he added.
“Every year close to 10,000 youngsters get enrolled with various trekking clubs in the state and at least 10 per cent of them become regular trekkers,” said R. Sridhar of the Chennai Trekking Club. Trekking can play a major role in conservation, but those who fail to adhere to the guidelines bring disrepute to naturalists and trek organisers, he lamented. “We will welcome it if trekking can be regularised or monitored by the government authorities,” he said.
City Techie survived near waterfalls on little food
Srikanth Balaji called his elder sister Shobana who along with her parents had camped in Bengaluru after she had heard Srikanth had been missing in the forest. There was heavy rain due to the monsoon and since the trekking party was already deep into the woods, their mobile phones were not working, which added to the anxieties of the other members of the group.
He spent Saturday and Sunday nights close to a waterfalls and survived on the limited rations he was carrying.
He also had a map, following which he managed to walk on to the edge of the woods where he met the local who knew a little Tamil, MGR Amaran said. Forest authorities have booked a petty case against the members of the trekking group for entering a forest area without permission, according to sources.
Why monsoon trekking is dangerous in Sakaleshpur?
The Western Ghats region around Sakaleshpur has dense to very dense forests making it difficult to trek during monsoon months. Elephants use this as a main pass between different corridors and rivers are in full spate during monsoon months. There have been numbers of adventure tragedies around the area but the accidents continue to occur. This particular area of Western Ghats is high in reptile population and wild animals such as leopards and elephants are common. There are also reports of tiger movement in these parts of Ghats.
