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Dudhsagar shot to fame on the global tourism map after the bewitching waterfall was portrayed in Chennai Express, a Shah Rukh Khan-starrer 2013 Bollywood hit. As footfalls at Dudhsagar saw a quantum jump, so did jeep rides ferrying tourists to the falls from Kulem, the designated point of entry. A decade later, its popularity has soared further, thanks largely to the Instagram user generation.
Thus, when the forest department issued an order banning visitors from visiting the Dudhsagar last week, the tourists attempted to defy the ban by attempting to get to the falls through alternative unauthorised routes – secure in the belief that a safe passage would be facilitated by the local tourist guides circumventing the ban, as has been the norm all these years.
However, as a couple of trains carrying the weekend revellers arrived at Dudhsagar at around the same time on Sunday, the soaring crowd, numbering over a thousand, rendered the situation unmanageable for the few railway security personnel manning the tracks. With the ban in force, the local tourist guides could hardly be of any help to the visitors, leaving the tourists at the mercy of the Railway Protection Force (RPF) – and the heavy downpour.
“Nature trails were stopped even during monsoon ever since I began facilitating such tours 13 years ago,” Manish Lambor, a former sarpanch of Kulem, told TOI. “Not long ago, there used to be motorcycle rides to the falls offered by locals to the tourists during monsoon. The service was stopped after tour (jeep) operators complained that the movement of motorcycles damages the dirt track causing problems for them to manoeuvre their vehicles. Nature trails were the next best thing to happen at Dudhsagar, with the forest department having trained 110 local youth to serve as tourist guides.”
The tourist guides facilitate the 22-km trek from Kulem to Dudhsagar and back, through the woods, earning a decent income.
A senior forest official, preferring anonymity, said that the number of tourists entering the Bhagwan Mahavir wildlife sanctuary is regulated at the forest checkpoint. He explained: “There are 40 tourist guides available on any given day, with each guide allowed to lead a group of five visitors to the falls. This year, however, the tourist arrival figures have been unprecedented. What precipitated the crisis is the advance bookings by trek organisers – they posted fliers on social media platforms to attract tourists to Dudhsagar. And when the ban order was issued last week, their plans went haywire.”
Sources in the forest department said that it was unlikely that Dudhsagar will be opened for the public until the end of the monsoon considering safety aspects.
Pointing out that Dudhsagar is considered a high risk waterfall, a highly-placed source in the forest department said, “Treacherous situations are often encountered at Dudhsagar. While conditions may appear to be safe at the falls, it may have been raining heavily in the upper reaches of the Ghats, leading to sudden spurt of flow in the river causing flash floods. The current is high at such times that even an expert swimmer finds it difficult to negotiate the waters.”
Forest officials dismissed concerns that the ban on waterfall visits could hamper the state’s tourism prospects saying that waterfalls comprise a “miniscule component” of monsoon tourism. Locals dependent on Dudhsagar for livelihoods, however, view the ban as a “knee-jerk” reaction by the government.
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