The most exciting of these is coming up in Honnavar where the state will have its first scuba diving facility.
In the next couple of years, Bangaloreans will have more weekend getaways to select from. About five projects, targeted to be completed by another 18 months to two years, are in the pipeline.
The most exciting of these is coming up in Honnavar where the state will have its first scuba diving facility. The location is Apsara Kunda in Honnavar, about 100 km from Karva in north Karnataka.
“The project plan has been decided, the area finalised and now work needs to be started. This project will take around 18 months to complete,” said RK Singh, executive director, project and business development, Jungle Lodges and Resorts Limited.
Situated nearby is the Nethrani Island a harbour for corals. A 40 minutes boat ride from Honnavar will take tourists to Nethrani where they can closely observe the marine life and some rare marine species. However, scuba diving will remain the main attraction for this project.
Another alluring project is coming up along the sea coast of Mangalore. This jungle lodge and resort will be 20 km away from Mangalore city, right on the coast. “The government of India has already allotted Rs4.2 crore for this project and the department is now in the process of land identification,” said Singh.
One more jungle lodge and resort is coming up near Belgaum golf course. This will take two years for completion. Close to the place is a forest sanctuary for bats. “In this project, we are targeting two kinds of guests — those who would love to play golf and those who would love to visit the sanctuary,” said Singh.
At Sakleshpur in Hassan district, a project of Jungle Lodge and Resort is coming up. This project is at a formative stage, though land identification has already been done. The area around the resort will be surrounded by evergreen forests.
Also, the government rest house in Ooty has been given to Jungle Lodge and Resortto to develop and maintain more cottages spread over 16 acres.
Each of these projects will come up with an investment of Rs5 crore to Rs7 crore. On an average, there will be 20 to 25 cottages in each location along with a storeroom, a restaurant, a kitchen and staffs’ cottages. In each of these projects, about 40 staff will be recruited. More staff will be recruited as guides, said Singh.
“Jungle lodges are doing well and this year there has been a 10% increase in occupancy compared to last year. Also, about 5% to 10% guests that we get are international tourists from Germany, France, Britain and Japan,” said Singh.
Kabini Jungle Lodge and Resort is so far the most popular one with 98% occupancy throughout the year and is closely competed by Bhadra Jungle Lodge and Resort and Bandipur Jungle Lodge and Resort.
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