Araku Valley

Araku Valley
అరకు లోయ
Hill Station

Araku Valley Scenic View
Araku Valley
Coordinates: 18°20′00″N 82°52′00″E / 18.3333°N 82.8667°E / 18.3333; 82.8667Coordinates: 18°20′00″N 82°52′00″E / 18.3333°N 82.8667°E / 18.3333; 82.8667
Country India
State Andhra Pradesh
District Visakhapatnam
Elevation 910 m (2,990 ft)
Languages
 • Official Telugu
Time zone IST (UTC+5:30)
PIN 531 149
Telephone code 08936

Araku Valley is a Hill station in Visakhapatnam district in the state of Andhra Pradesh in India. It is a valley in the Eastern Ghats inhabited by different tribes.

Geography

Araku is located at 18°20′00″N 82°52′00″E / 18.3333°N 82.8667°E / 18.3333; 82.8667.[1] It has an average elevation of 911 metres (2,989 ft).

It is located 114 km from Visakhapatnam, close to the Odisha state border. The Anantagiri and Sunkarimetta Reserved Forest which are part of Araku Valley, are rich in biodiversity. This valley is surrounded by mountains like Galikonda, Raktakonda, Sunkarimetta and Chitamogondi. These hills are endowed with rich quality bauxite ore.[2] Galikonda hill rising to a height of 5,000 feet (1,500 m) is one of the highest in Andhra Pradesh. The average rainfall is 1700 mm, bulk of which is received during June–October.[3]

Coffee

Araku is popular for its famous coffee plantations. India’s first tribal growers' organic coffee brand was launched in the Araku Valley in 2007. The premium organic "Araku Emerald" brand of coffee sells globally. Thousands of tribals in the Agency area are engaged in coffee cultivation as farm hands or small farmers.[4]

Transport

The valley is connected through both rail and road to the city of Visakhapatnam. There are two railway stations at Araku on the Kothavalasa-Kirandul railway line of Visakhapatnam division of the East Coast Railway, on the Indian Railways network. Shimiliguda railway station is located at an altitude of 996 meters above mean sea level.

In films

Tollywood films like Happy Days, Katha, Darling and Life is beautiful were shot here because of its scenic beauty.

References

  1. ↑ Falling Rain Genomics.Araku
  2. ↑ "Cheated for bauxite". Retrieved 27 March 2015.
  3. ↑ Need for conservation of biodiversity in Araku Valley, Andhra Pradesh
  4. ↑ Cheated: how Andhra Pradesh is circumventing all regulations to mine bauxite from tribal land

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Araku Valley.
Wikivoyage has a travel guide for Aruku Valley.
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Saturday, February 13, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.