A licensed naturalist, Luv Shekhawat created Utsav Camp in Rajasthan’s Alwar, with steering from his 90-year-old grandfather, a former wooded area officer. The jungle resort, which blends sustainability with rustic attraction, opens as much as the Sariska Tiger Reserve, providing its visitors a natural world revel in.
What are the fondest recollections you might have of your grandparents? For Luv Shekhawat, it’s youth birthdays celebrated within the forests of Jaipur along with his paternal grandfather. They might munch on end result whilst birdsong equipped the tune for the day. “Excellent occasions,” says Luv reminiscing about them.
Having a grandfather who served as a Divisional Wooded area Officer (DFO) without a doubt had its benefits. Consistent with Luv, it now not most effective introduced sure perks but additionally cultivated a rising interest for the outside and natural world.
He remembers the 12 months 2010 when he purchased a work of land within the southern a part of the Sariska Tiger Reserve in Rajasthan’s Alwar, the deja vu used to be glaring.
“Without delay, I knew that the wooded area is the place I at all times belonged. It used to be in my future to go back.”
Now not the rugged terrain of Alwar nor the demanding situations posed by way of the proximity to the well-known (and debatable, as you’ll see) Sariska Tiger Reserve may obstruct Luv’s enthusiasm to carry the world to existence. He constructed a nature retreat that used to be christened Utsav Camp, a reputation that borrows from Luv’s paternal grandmother.
Set towards the backdrop of the majestic Aravali Hills, the 35,000 sq m retreat constructed mindfully the usage of native fabrics, speaks the language of nature. Through integrating in the neighborhood to be had acacia, terracotta, bamboo, cane, sandstone, and rosewood into its decor and structure, Luv has infused a singular character into each and every part that dots this resort.
Right here, days are easy, time slower, and morning greetings are delivered by way of the Solar’s mild rays that appear to creep into the cabins and flood them. Luv prides himself on growing an area the place nature has the ultimate.
A refreshing and playful power envelops the retreat. Visitors are spoilt for selection with the 20 rooms being divided into 9 stone cabins, 8 Swiss tents, and 3 wooded area bungalows.
The primary class upholds sustainability with its facades constructed out of uncooked rubble. The second one gives visitors a possibility to totally immerse themselves in nature with canvas tents whose porches open out to the sprawling open air. The wooded area bungalows, in the meantime, are placing towards the backdrop of the hills, and their glass facades help you really feel as a lot part of the wild as in case you have been if truth be told.
Any person who issues out the uncooked and rustic manner that the retreat displays is handled to a story of the way this used to be the precise purpose Luv set out with.
A naturalist’s dream
From a certified hotelier in Jaipur to a naturalist on the helm of affairs at his wooded area resort, Luv’s adventure is telling. He’d at all times harboured a dream to start out one thing of his personal the place he may marry his culinary prowess along with his love for nature. And a resort gave the impression the most productive name.
However exhausting paintings lay forward.
“I knew I had to perceive the technical sides of how natural world works. Looking at my grandfather, I’d learnt the significance of placing your ft within the dust and studying the fitting means,” he says.
Thus started Luv’s quest to change into qualified as a naturalist — one thing that he says, in hindsight, stood him in excellent stead. As for his number of location, properly that’s a tale in itself.
As soon as well-known because the epitome of tiger tourism in Rajasthan, the 800 sq m space of the Sariska Tiger Reserve used to be the easiest house to the beasts owing to its mountains, grasslands and cliffs. A 2002 survey by way of the Nationwide Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) printed 16 tigers provide within the space. 3 years later, there wasn’t a unmarried one.
Poaching used to be suspected to be the main motive. A joint investigation by way of the Rajasthan police, wooded area division, and NTCA ended in the culprits — an area poachers gang that have been the usage of traps, poisoned bait, and different unlawful way to seek the tigers.
Within the aftermath of the investigation, the Govt introduced an enormous pressure to redesign the tiger conservation efforts within the nation, and the reserve. As of 2021, the choice of tigers in Sariska Tiger Reserve grew to round 21.
Whilst now not many had tried to start out a homestay on this space, Luv says being a pioneer comes with its justifiable share of demanding situations. “The realm used to be far off, there have been no correct roads constructed and no electrical energy.”
However even within the face of problem, the wonderful thing about the herbal terrain and its doable stored him going. After 5 years of labor at the land, in October 2015, Utsav Camp used to be in a position to open its palms to its first visitors.
A labour of affection between grandad and grandson
Utsav Camp is a glimpse into the previous, and on the similar time, a step into the longer term. However, praise Luv on being the brains at the back of this murals and he says his 90-year-old grandfather merits the credit score. “A relentless guiding pressure throughout the procedure” is how Luv describes him, pausing to snort at a couple of cases the place the previous chided him for the blunders he used to be making whilst designing the retreat.
Recalling those cases, Luv stocks, “Once I purchased the piece of land, I started planting a whole lot of fruit bushes. However, when my grandad noticed what I used to be doing, he mentioned ‘You’ll be able to’t put the rest any place’. He then defined how this space wanted indigenous bushes since this can be a deciduous wooded area. Then I began planting palash, neem, and jamun.”
His grandfather used to be additionally instrumental in guiding Luv in setting up the greywater machine that takes the wastewater, filters it, and channels it into the lawn.
“I at all times took his recommendation severely,” Luv says. “He used to be the closing batch of other folks skilled by way of the British and joined the Indian Wooded area Institute in Coimbatore in 1945. He used to be some of the first skilled individuals who joined the Govt of Rajasthan Wooded area Division within the capability of a ranger and helped arrange Ranthambore.”
Luv remembers the day his grandfather used to be on web page and Luv used to be making plans to filter out the lawn for a “well-manicured garden”.
“He shared a lesson with me that I nonetheless practice. He advised me to search for dry leaves on the backside of the bottom. Those, he mentioned, have been signs of a wholesome ecosystem,” Luv provides.
Lately, Utsav Camp is a sustainable oasis in Rajasthan, powered by way of sun panels and following a stringent zero-mile technique to supply produce.
Visitors are promised a holistic natural world revel in. To this finish, loud tune, partying, and many others, is illegitimate. Whilst Luv enjoys exciting his visitors with stories and details about the species seen on a safari and nature stroll, the magnitude of the message he’s championing is at all times on his thoughts.
“Sustainability isn’t an possibility. It’s our lifestyle.”
Edited by way of Pranita Bhat