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Tourism
`Musical chamber' at Belum caves
Our Bureau
HYDERABAD, July 26
THE discovery of a `musical chamber' in the Belum Caves has added a new facet and generated excitement. Measuring 60 ft in length, the new passage is leading to a chamber of `Stalactites', according to officials of the Andhra Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation (APTDC).
The chamber has an interesting feature— the Stalactites produce metallic sounds of different tunes. Hence the discoverers have christened it `Saptasvarala Guha', APTDC said. Currently, the passage is too narrow and one has to crawl to enter it.
The Belum Caves, about 110 km from Kurnool town is one of the longest natural caves in the country. It has been opened to public as a tourist spot in February 2002. Currently, a length of 3.5 km has been developed for the enthusiastic tourist to trek.
APTDC has taken up the task of widening the passage and expects to open it to the tourists by the end of August. The Belum caves is one of the prestigious eco-tourism projects being promoted by APTDC.
The excavators also unearthed another huge chamber measuring 25 feet by 15 feet with Stalagmite and Stalactite formations. Full exploration of this chamber is also being taken up by APTDC, official said.
The Belum caves have been a good tourist draw. Since February, about 61,406 tourists have visited the caves. On Sundays, about 3000 people visit it.
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