Jamshedpur, Aug. 13: The state forest department has roped in a Calcutta-based travel planner to handle the bookings for Dalma tourist addresses.

From September 1, tourists can book Pinderbera forest guest house and cottages in Makulakocha through Jaydeep Das, a travel planner who wants to promote ecotourism in the scenic Dalma Wildlife Sanctuary, some 30km from Jamshedpur.

The forest range office in Mango will entertain bookings till August as the facilities have been reserved till the month-end. 

“We have asked the travel planner to entertain bookings from September as we have already reserved the facilities for tourists this month,” a forest staffer said.

Dalma divisional forest officer Kamlesh Pandey didn’t want to divulge much, only saying that Dalma was a major tourist attraction but most people were unaware of it. “We want people to enjoy the beauty of the sanctuary and make their stay convenient,” he said.

Das, who stays in Kalyani, told The Telegraph over phone that Dalma had a huge scope for packaged ecotourism. “Yes, I will be looking after the bookings for the two-storey Pinderbera guest house as well as the Makulakocha facility from September 1. Tariff for Pinderbera is Rs 3,200 per night and Rs 3,000 for air-conditioned cottages at Makulakocha. Ten per cent service tax will be added to the tariff. Breakfast, lunch and dinner are included in the charges,” he informed.

Das, who has been to the sanctuary several times, has several plans up his sleeve to help tourists enjoy their visit. 
“Tourists can contact me (09007123810) for bookings. They will have to make their own travel arrangements for reaching Dalma. Depending on the number of tourists, we have plans to use the forest department’s van for a tour of the 192sqkm sanctuary,” he said.

The travel planner added that plans were in the pipeline to introduce village tourism in the sanctuary. “This will help the villagers earn. There are several plans, including safari, but I need to look at the response from tourists first,” Das said.
Present tariff for the four double-bed cottages is Rs 1,000 plus Rs 100 for maintenance per night while the three-room Pinderbera facility carries a price tag of Rs 800 per night. But only two rooms are made available for the tourists and one is reserved for forest officials.