THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The first phase of the upcoming Jatayu National Park at Chadayamangalam in Kollam district will be be thrown open to public in January next year. The project is the first Public Private Partnership (PPP) tourism initiative in the state under the Build Operate and Transfer (BOT) model.
Chief Minister Oommen Chandy and Majid Al Marri, Director, Dubai Tourism Corporation, conducted an aerial tour of the site on Saturday.
Dubai Tourism is the provider of technical and logistical support for the project. Chandy and Al Marri also held discussions later in the day on the tourism projects in which Kerala and Dubai could co-operate in future.
Jatayu Nature Park is situated atop the ‘Jatayu Para’ - a cluster of huge rock formations named after Jatayu - the big bird from the ‘Ramayana’ lore. The first phase will have an adventure zone spread over a three-kilometre radius. The adventure zone will have more that 20 games, including paint ball, laser tag, archery, rifle shooting, rock climbing, bouldering and rappelling.
At a function to launch the website www.jatayunaturepark.com, sculptor and filmmaker Rajiv Anchal, who conceived and developed the Jatayu sculpture, said that the park would elevate the experience of travellers to Kerala. Rajiv Anchal is also the chairman of Jatayupara Tourism Private Ltd.
The two other phases of the project are slated to be completed later next year. Once completed, the park will house the world’s largest bird sculpture - of Jatayu - which is 70 ft high, 200 ft long and 150 ft broad. It will also have a 6D theatre, digital museum, an adventure zone and a world-class ayurvedic and siddha cave resort.