Jeypore is a small town in Orissa, India and a main attraction town in the Koraput district. It is the biggest
town in Koraput District. It has very scenic surroundings, encompassed by hills on all sides. It is also the business hub
for the district. The town is famous for the old palaces. It has a nice cultural mix with significant numbers of people speaking
different languages - Oriya, Telugu, Hindi and Bengali.
It is a historical city witnessing King Bikram Dev's Dynasty. There are ancient temples till existing in the
town. There are lot of sight-seeing nearby Jeypore. Kolab dam (water reservoir) and Machkund dam (water reservoir) is nearby
Jeypore which generates huge electricity for the state. It has attractive natural parks and forests and waterfalls in the
outskirts of Jeypore (around 10 km from town). High standard hotels and restaurant facilities are available in the town. The
climate is always normal and the best to visit Jeypore is in winter.
HAL (Hindustan Aeronautics Limited, a defence enterprise of the Government of India) is only 15 km from Koraput town. The HAL factory makes military aircraft
engines for MIG and expanding for Sukoi assembly line. The HAL factory and township is surrounded by hills and forest. It
employs 6000 engineers and technicians, all are staying in the township next to the factory. Nearby Semliguda is developed to cater this population for marketing as well as entertainment. Semliguda is mostly inhabited by trading community.
These traders and contractors are doing business in HAL, Sunabeda and NALCO, Damonjodi.
Koraput and Jeypore are connected to Vishakapatnam (by a day train) and Bhubaneswar by a nightly train. The
Hirakand Express leaves from Bhubaneswar at night, and reaches Koraput, a small town at the foothills of the Mountains the
next morning. An Express train leaves from Vishakapatnam at morning, and reaches Koraput and Jeypore by evening. It is an
experience that is more than just a mode of transport as the journey through the scenic valley and hills make it breathtaking.
A through ticket from Vishakapatnam will ensure a place on the smaller train, although many prefer the faster route of taking
a cab or a bus from Vishakapatnam. Jeypore and Koraput can prove to be amazing during the peak season of November-February.
The Jeypore and Koraput (the collective hill range, also called the Sandalwood Mountains), is in the state of
Orissa, but it is quite near the borders of neighboring states Andhra Pradesh and Chattisgarh. The hills consequently can be reached from within Andhra Pradesh and Orissa by travelling up a heavily forested winding
road (also called a ghat road), with many sharp hair-pin bends. The road trip from any state is quite scenic. It is the most
travelled and well maintained. If travelling in the early morning or late evening, you definitely will spot wildlife feeding
along the road, even spot the odd carnivore. There are forests of Nilgiris and sandalwod trees all the way.
There are buses and shared taxi vans that can be boarded from most parts of India to Koraput and Jeypore.
The journey can be continued from Vishakapatnam by road, a 4 hour journey.
Koraput is mostly famous for its world famous Jagannath Temple also known as Sabara Srikhetra. Srikhetra is nomrally referred to Puri Jagannath, but the unique identity of koraput temple is for it tribal & lowly community's association.
Thousands flock to the temple everyday for darshan. The Temple trust has built huge accommodation centres for pilgrims and is an important force behind the growing number of tourist arrivals. The trust also runs COATS (Council of Analytical
Tribal Studies), an university like educational institute is an successful attempt to restore and educate tribal way of life, customs, tradition, medicine, language, social structure
and the history.
Being at the heart of tribal belt in south orissa, it has also many hill station tourist attractions though not that famous as other hill stations of india. Places like machkund, onukadelli, jalaput, chindri, Hatipathar, etc are places to be visited for its scenic beauty.
