To provide fillip to hill tourism and to lay stress on the importance of trekking, Tamil Nadu Tourism Development Corporation (TTDC) in association with Department of Forests organised a trekking expedition for tourists to Yercaud hill station atop the Shevaroyan Hills near here on Saturday.

A batch of 20 tourists who evinced keen interest in trekking in Shevaroyan Hills joined a team of locals and members of Salem Trekkers’ Club and undertook a 10-kilometre hilly path through thick forests, called during the British era as ‘horse path’ well before the formation of the Ghat Road.

The team was supported by a doctor too.

The tourists from Chennai who came in a luxury bus and 37 others were taken to 60-feet Bridge in the Salem-Yercaud Ghat Road. From this point, they took the horse path to reach Yercaud station atop the Hills.

The tourists including women claimed that they enjoyed the trekking as the path meandered through thick vegetation.

The intermittent drizzles though hampered the trekking to an extent the trekkers reached the hill station in 4 hours.

The official from Forest department and members of Salem Trekkers’ Club sensitised the people on the need of preserving the ecology. District Forest Officer V.T.Kandasamy flagged off the trekking while South Forest Ranger K.Balasubramanian and Forester K.Kannan received them at Yercaud.

Talking to The Hindu, TTDC Manager (Salem) S.Venkatesan said that Tamil Nadu Government had been giving importance to hill tourism and trekking was a part of it.

A Chennai-based journalist Sundara Budhan, a member in the trekking team, said that the experience though new to him was very mush refreshing. From a 10-year old to 70 plus took part in the expedition guided by a group of tribals and forest officials.

Source: THE HINDU