The blanket ban on trekking in forests, following the tragedy in Theni forest in Tamil Nadu that claimed the lives of 10 trekkers, has seen trekking activities, including the government-run ecotrail routes, come to a halt.
Karnataka Ecotourism Development Board (KEDB), which runs myecotrip that facilitates trekking in seven trails through the Myecotrip website, has stopped taking bookings for its routes since Monday evening. The government circular, issued on Monday, states that trekking is prohibited until the end of summer or a ‘few spells’ of rain.
Since its launch in August, more than 2,853 people have booked online for routes within 100km of the city. A bulk of these are for Skanadagiri behind Nandi Hills and Makalidurga close to Doddaballapur. Trekking through the forests around Bidarekatte, Avalabetta, Devarayanadurga, Siddarabetta and Savandurga sees less than 10 people use the trails in a month.
“Even though there have been no untoward instances so far, we stopped taking bookings as a precautionary step. Trekking will be stopped until further instructions from the Forest Department,” said B.R. Ramesh, General Manager (Forests), KEDB.
With the ecotrails gradually taking off, the Board had made plans to throw open 13 more trails in Kodagu, Chikkamagalur, Hampi and Kudremukh forests in the coming months. Currently, they have 29 guides for seven routes, but had trained more to prepare for the new trails. These plans are now in the backburner, said officials.
Private treks
Myecotrip represents only a fraction of legal treks undertaken in the State, with a majority from the city preferring private players.
The portal Adventuresome has cancelled their bookings, including the upcoming Kumara Pravatha trek, and instead rescheduled the bookings for options in Hampi or Gandikota in Andhra Pradesh. “We are definitely going to suffer financial losses if this ban continues through the summer when children have vacations and bookings are high. Trekking is one of the more popular events. From 15 events, our offering has come down to seven,” said Ajay Singh Shekhawat, Chief Executive Officer of the portal. On average, 17 people come for each trek, and a prolonged ban would ‘financially hurt’ the sector, he said.
In the past, the Forest Department had banned trekking in certain routes or trails depending on vulnerability to forest fires or elephant movement. However, with a blanket ban not only in Karnataka, but in Kerala and Tamil Nadu, trekkers have few places to go to.
“We will be sticking to beaches or waterfalls where we do not have to go to forest land. The rest have been cancelled,” says Yashwanth Urs from Adventure Adda, which has put off trekking plans in Kodagu and other trails. “We hope that this will not become a precedent. Instead, it would have been better if routes where possibility of forest fires are low were opened,” he said.
