The first thing you notice—and you can’t help but—when you check into Aahana (‘first rays of the sun’) is an elevated walkway that curls over a narrow country path and connects the reception area with the rooms and the rest of the property.
That land is part of the property but the proprietors did not wish to disrupt the traditional walking route used by the villages on either side of the resort.
Had they not created the maloo creeper-enwrapped walkway, the villagers would have had to skirt the resort on their daily jaunts and travel several extra kilometres in the bargain.
It’s just one of the many, many things this eco-conscious resort, set up by the Tripathis (who are hoteliers and realtors based in Nainital), is doing in its bid to create a minimal environmental impact experience for its guests.
There’s no reason to turn up one’s nose at their showcase Sewage Treatment Plant (STP), which employs the biological Canna Root Zone System to recycle wastewater from the facility into clean water for gardening.
Basically, the wastewater flows into a pit, where the roots of the Canna plant purify it. No electricity or chemicals are used in the process and gravity pushes the water into an underground storage tank, from where the gardeners take it.
They are also aiming for zero-waste production. Gardening at Aahana is strategically non-intrusive. This is no mere lip service to eco-friendliness.
Committed to the conservation of nature, the entire property has been landscaped with forest species (worth a guided tour; I planted a camphor tree before I left) and grass to provide extended space to wildlife.
The lawns are not mowed and no pesticides are used. Besides lending a wild vibe, the unmanicured lawns and unshorn trees attract a spectacular number of insects.
This is turn draws feathered friends in the droves to the resort. So many, in fact, that the resort is able to offer a birdwatching programme on the grounds itself.
But then the jungle is just round the corner. In fact, the property shares a boundary wall with Corbett’s Bijrani zone. Tuskers can be seen quite frequently and I was told that, from my room, which hugged the boundary wall, guests had seen leopards on more than one occasion.
Now that’s not the sort of thing that warms the cockles of my heart—close encounters of the wild kind—but you get the general drift. It’s all rather thrilling.
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