HORSLEY HILLS

INTRODUCTION

Horsley hills is a very delightful and enthusiastic hill station and very adventourous.Horsley hills amidst thick forest is the most ideal place for trekking and hill climbing. This draws a lot of tourist attention for Horsley hill is known for its pleasant climate, mountain peaks, beautiful valleys and luxurious vegetation. Horsley hills is noted for its flora and fauna where you get to see wide variety of flowers ranging from Reeta, Shikakai, Amla, Beedi leaves, Bay leaves, Sandalwood, Red sanders, Blue gum, Mahogany to Bamboo. On your visit to Horsley you should never miss the visit to 150 year old Eucalyptus tree named Kalyani.Apart from the variety of plants and trees here in Horsley hills one can also spot animals like bears, wild dogs, jungle fowl, sambars and panthers. 

ORIENTATION

Horsley hills concentrated in the Southern part of India are at an altitude of about 4,152 ft in the Nallamalai Range on Andhra's southwestern border with Karnataka

HISTORY

Horsley Hills got its name after W.D. Horsley, who was once the Collector of Cuddapah district and British member of the Indian Civil service. It is he who had Horsley hills as his summer retreat. The Horsley Hills have been a popular refuge for the sun-scorched souls since long. This place is predominantly occupied by the Chenchu tribes who still have the renowned Pungannur cows known for their milk yielding capacity and low appetite.

PLACES OF INTERESTS

KAUNDINYA WILD LIFE SANCTUARY

Kaundinya wild life sanctuary is situated at a distance of about 87 km away from the Horsley Hills and is rich in its flora and fauna. This sanctuary houses the wild animals like Cheetah, Four horned Antelope, Sambhar, Mouse Deer, Hare, Porcupine, and Wild boar, Jungle Cat, Jackal, Sloth Bear, Panther, Jungle Fowl, Pea Fowls and Elephants. The sanctuary is also rich in Albizia Amara, Ficus Religiosa, Ficus Tomentosa, Ficus Bengalensis and Bamboo, Santalum Album et al.

ENVIRONMENTAL PARK

The Environmental Park known as EEC centre was built with the help of a hydrogeologist and environmentalist from Hyderabad named Balijepalli Venkata Subba Rao, Director of the Centre for Resource Education. He spent the early years of his career in building EEC centers all over Andhra Pradesh trying to educate the common man about the importance of saving the environment and encouraging Eco Tourism.

GALI BANDALU

This place is otherwise referred as the Windy Rock for the only reason of the breezy winds that blows all day.Gali Bandalu is a rocky slope and is a major tourist attraction.

EAT OUTS

There are not much eating joints in Horsley hills apart from few small shops which provide you with decent breakfast. There are choices of you packing your own food or otherwise buy the ingredients from outside and cook there at the tourist guest house. One person named Devadas is a very good cook in Hotel Horsley who can get your food cooked to your taste.

ACCOMMODATION

Accommodation is easily available in Horsley Hills at the A.P. Tourism's Governors' Bungalow, Forest Bungalow, P.W.D. Inspection Bungalow or the Chittoor Cooperative Society guest house. There are other accommodation facilities in and around Horsley Hills.

BEST TIME TO VISIT

The Horsley Hills is one among the other tourist destination which maintains a pleasant weather throughout the year.

Source:http://www.indianmirror.com/tourism/horsley_hills.html