Grand Canyon Skywalk to open in March

A glass walkway suspended 4,000 feet above the ground allowing thrill-seeking tourists to peer down into the Grand Canyon will be open to the public on March 28th 2007, it has been announced.

Built by the Hualapai tribe in an attempt to bring some much needed cash into the area, the horse-shoe shaped walkway juts out of the valley's side extending 70 feet from the canyon's rim.

Located 120 miles east of Las Vegas in Nevada, the Skywalk will be accompanied by a 6,000 sq ft visitor centre containing a museum and movie theatre while offering close access to the Hualapai market and ranch in an authentic Indian dwelling.

But some of the tribe's members are not so keen on the development because they see it as desecrating sacred land.

Dolores Honga, a 70-year-old tribal elder, told the Associated Press that workers on the Skywalk often complained of having nightmares.

"We have disturbed the ground," she said. "Our people, they died right along the land there. Their blood, their bones were shattered. They blend into the ground. It's spiritual ground. This is why you're awakened."

Visitors will be able to use the walkway from dawn to dusk at a cost of $25 (£12.70) per person.