Full moon festival at Oravakallu to begin from June 9

The Andhra Pradesh Tourism will hold a three-day full moon festival at Oravakallu, a natural landscape of regal rock formations in the state's Kurnool district, from June 9.

The 'Punnami Oravakallu' will commence on a grand-scale amidst the rock formations in Kurnool, considered as one of the oldest rock formations in the world.

"It is the first ever full moon festival to be celebrated at one of the best kept secrets of Andhra Pradesh.

These three-billion-year-old rock formations are the ideal weekend getaway for Hyderabad, Bengaluru tourists," AP Tourism Regional Director G Gopal said in a release here yesterday.

AP Tourism identified the grandeur of these formations and has set up a 1,000 acre 'Oravakallu Rock Garden' park with igneous rock formations as the centre of attraction.

Orvakallu is a natural landscape of regal rock formations around a long, meandering body of water. It is located about 25 kilometres from Kurnool.

"The festival will be an annual affair. Based on the footfall and response, we may even consider holding the event every month also," Gopal said adding that they expect nearly 10,000 to 15000 visitors to witness the festival.

AP has attracted Rs 8,000 crore investments in terms of MoUs to set up various tourism related projects such as star hotels, resorts, adventure activities, MICE (meetings, incentives, conventions and exhibitions) centres, heritage hotels, museums, heli tourism, jungle on PPP mode, he said.

As many as 27 tourism projects are under implementation, he added.