AP District Gears Up For Araku Festival

Visakhapatnam: With focus on promoting sustainable tourism by ensuring strict enforcement of a ban on plastic, the administration of Alluri Sitharama Raju district has fully geared up to organise a three-day Araku Festival named ‘Chali’ from January 31.

Known for its pristine beauty, picturesque valleys, rich tribal lifestyle and heritage, the tourism potential of Araku, known as the ‘Poorman’s Ooty’, will be showcased during the festival being held after a gap of five years. Vibhang, which recently organised a hot balloon show at Flamingo Festival at Pulicat Lake in Tirupati district, will facilitate a helicopter ride on payment of around Rs4,000 per head to have an aerial view of the lush-green Eastern Ghats.

A spokesman for Vibhang told Bizz Buzz on that for the first time heli tourism is being promoted in the valley.

Million year old Borra Caves in the Ananthagiri Hills located at an elevation of 2,600ft to 4,300 ft comprising Karstic limestones are considered deepest caves in India. It is a popular destination for the tourists as well as for film production units. Araku Organic Coffee, known for its unique flavour, has received global acclaim and found a mention in Prime Minister’s Mann Ki Baat programme sometime ago.

The festival itinerary includes cultural performances highlighting the rhythmic movements, musical instruments and colourful attire of the aboriginal people, tribal jewellery, bamboo products, hand-woven textiles, tribal cuisine like Arabica coffee and bamboo chicken. Adventure sports like hot balloon ride, trekking, rock-climbing and paragliding will form part of the itinerary. Dhimsa, a popular dance form in the area, will be organised at frequent intervals. A flower show is planned at the famous Padmavati Gardens.

Last Araku festival was held in February 2020. Tribals living in the region are also known for their traditions and unique practices. Many of them live on hillslope hamlets and procure their requirement of essential commodities through a barter system at weekly shandies known in local parlance as ‘shanta.’

Their dialect is also identical with the language being spoken by the hill tribes living in Koraput and Malkangiri districts, which border the erstwhile Visakhapatnam and Vizianagaram districts.

The festival is being conducted under the joint aegis of the district administration, Integrated Tribal Development Agency (ITDA) and Tourism Department. The festival includes a marathon and tribal fashion show. “We are keen to showcase the unique lifestyle of the tribals, their cuisine and the picturesque tourism spots so that the area will attract investments for promotion of eco-tourism with emphasis on sustainable tourism,” said Dinesh Kumar, District Collector of ASR district.

Dinesh Kumar said that they wish to prioritise development by linking Araku and Lambasingi, located in Anakapalle district. He said Araku has remained a weekend getaway from Odisha, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. He said tourists get attracted to temples dedicated to local deities, exotic plantations like avocado, pineapple and jackfruit, coffee experience in tourism, black pepper and strawberry plantations, millet-based cuisine and on the whole, the unique blend of natural splendour and rich culture.