Blossoming sunflowers mesmerise hill tourists

OOTY: Sunflowers are blooming over acres and acres of farmlands along the Ooty-Mysuru NH. Fields on the busy Ooty-Mysuru NH are seeing a magnificent scenario of the bloom of sunflowers over a wide area.

While the bloom is on the Karnataka side of the Nilgiris-Karnataka border, it is just about a few kilometers journey from the Mudumalai Tiger Reserve bordering Karnataka (Nilgiris side).

Tourists crossing the nearby Bandipur tiger reserve (Karnataka) and travelling along the Hangala-Gudalpet sector of the Ooty-Mysuru NH are mesmerized by the beauty of the sunflowers, one of them said. Tourists stop to go near the fields and click a few shots.

Stating that the fields with sunflowers look as if they are covered with a yellow carpet, Mr Karthikeyan, a tourist from Erode said that it was a rare sight. “The weather, the greenery, the bloom and the cloud pattern - what a scene to enjoy!” he added.

Mahesan, a farmer in the Hangala belt said that the sunflower, which is grown for its oil wealth, fetches up to Rs 4,000 per quintal. He said that he has planted sunflower in about 6 acres.