How sustainable boutique hotels are revamping the environment and local communities in India

Our jeep rolls down a dusty road in Tehla village, flanked by expanses of dry earth peppered with boulders, in clusters, and green shrubs, the cascading blue shadows of northwestern India’s Aravalli mountains in the distance. Women in bright orange and green dupattas herd goats across the rocky terrain. A group of children scamper by, waving and shouting, their words carried off by the wind. Sitting up front in the jeep, Franklin Dolder waves back. “They know me from my visits to their school”, he explains. Dolder and colleague Shubhraj Singh Chouhan are guiding us on a safari in search of leopards and hyenas. The pair are naturalists at Tehla’s Utsav Camp Sariska, a boutique wilderness retreat a four-hour drive southwest of the national capital, New Delhi, and adjoining Rajasthan’s Sariska Tiger Reserve. A young man on a bike stops and Dolder and Chouhan introduce him as a wildlife tracker. They chat animatedly about a recent leopard spotting. The Utsav Camp team is well entrenched in the local community through outreach initiatives that have included the dousing of forest fires with their water tankers; the training of the park’s guides to make the safari experience more engaging for visitors; and the documenting of wildlife movements. Resort staff also teach surrounding communities how to build enclosures to protect livestock; contact forest officials to safely usher wildlife away from villages; identify venomous snakes; and administer first aid in case of snake bites and other emergencies. The resort itself is a comfortable sprawl teeming with strutting peacocks and other birdlife, its 12 stone cabins and bungalows shrouded in shrubs and trees. At Utsav Camp, where no plastic is used, biodegradable waste is composted and solar panels reduce energy consumption. India’s sustainable-tourism market was valued at US$26.01 million in 2022 by advisory firm KPMG, and is estimated to increase to US$151.88 million by 2032. While many hospitality providers incorporate standard sustainability practices, several such as Utsav Camp have an in-depth, holistic approach, characterised by an investment in wider conservation efforts in the area, in many cases because they are helmed by naturalists and conservationists. “My grandfather, Sampat Singh ji, was among the first batch of rangers to join the Forest Department after Indian independence”, says naturalist Luv Shekhawat, the founder of Utsav Camp Sariska. “I was brought up amid everyday conversations on conservation and the forest.” After buying the land in 2011, Shekhawat, under his grandfather’s guidance, regreened this erstwhile barren area with indigenous trees and plants, which help maintain groundwater levels and can weather harsh Rajasthani summers. A 10-minute drive away is Sariska National Park, one of India’s tiger-conservation success stories, the relocation of five big cats 16 years ago having led to a current population of 43 where there was none. Visitors may explore the park on three-hour morning or afternoon jeep safaris, and there is much to see besides tigers. As our jeep winds through the deciduous forest, the sloping terrain on either side dry and thorny during the searing summer months, grey langurs swing through the branches of pipal, banyan and dhok trees. Dancing peacocks appear at every turn, fanning out in a shimmer of purple, blue and green tail feathers. Beside the rocky riverbeds that snake through the forest, depleted as they await the approaching monsoon, Dolder points out golden orioles, jungle bush koels, an Egyptian eagle, scampering hares, snuffling wild boar and spotted deer. An altogether different environment surrounds the Lungmar Remote Camp, which stands amid red-hued mountains in the Sumdoh valley of Ladakh – a high-altitude desert between the Karakoram mountain range and the Himalayas, more than 1,000km north of Sariska. Founded by conservationists and snow-leopard trackers Dorjay Stanzin and Abdul Rashid, this luxurious bush-camp-style property adjoins Hemis National Park, home to the elusive snow leopard. Opened in 2021, the property is anchored by the Sumdo Sarai, a structure built with sun-dried brick, stone and timber sourced from within 100km of the camp that houses the dining and lounge areas. “Building in a traditional style meant that our team, all of whom are from surrounding villages, could take part in the construction”, says Rashid. “Building locally also sets a great benchmark – you can be a high-end property without letting go of your roots.” The 10 guest units include suites and kurkhang, semicircular dome-shaped tents insulated to ward off winter temperatures that can plummet to minus 20 degrees Celsius (guests can also warm themselves in the camp’s hammam, a heated stone building with three bathrooms and a wood-lined sauna). “The thought and effort put into putting up this luxurious camp in such a remote and incredible location simply amazed me”, says Nairobi, Kenya-based wildlife photographer Kunal Dilipkumar Shah, who has stayed at the camp twice, in 2022 and February this year. The main draw of Lungmar, however, is that it “offers the great adventure of viewing the snow leopard in the wild, with probably the best guides and trackers in the world for this animal, and insight into the team’s conservation and community work.” Minimising conflict is a key focus for Rashid and Stanzin, who support projects that help prevent clashes between snow leopards and humans through the charity High Asia Habitat Fund. One initiative is the construction of predator-proof corrals. Consisting of chain-link fencing on welded iron frames, each corral protects as many as 500 sheep or goats and costs between US$800 and US$1,500 to construct. Every camp guest contributes US$350 towards the corrals (there is a minimum stay of five nights and guests pay an average package cost of US$8,000, which includes domestic flights and a night’s stay in both Delhi and Leh, to acclimatise). Every shepherd in the vicinity has a corral built by Lungmar, but the resort benefits the local community in a more direct way; more than 80 per cent of employees are from villages within Hemis National Park. “Our type of winter tourism requires agrarian skills to manage the property and systems, and the skills younger people might have, such as speaking English and interacting with tourists”, says Rashid. The need for secondary and tertiary suppliers has an even broader impact, as do the dog-sterilisation programmes the property runs. The resort staff also train local rangers to track snow leopards and adapt to the camp’s ecotourism model. Another boutique property supporting its surrounding community is central India’s Jamtara Wilderness Camp, which uses a “star bed” to illustrate an alternative livelihood. A four-poster bed veiled in a mosquito net, “the star bed is positioned on a farmer’s land, on an elevated platform [a machan, used to oversee crops], providing guests with a unique wilderness experience”, says general manager Kriti Patil. “The revenue is shared with the farmer. “It demonstrates to them that their land’s value goes beyond its crops. They can earn through providing experiences like these.” The star bed is part of an attempt to prevent Jamtara village agricultural land from being developed. “We support the farmers so that they don’t sell this land for commercial purposes, where a fancy hotel, or other establishment may come up.” The camp employs local staff; supports the village school with supplies and maintenance work; conducts environmental-awareness sessions; sources produce for the camp locally; and provides materials to help farmers fortify their machans. Founder Amit Sankhala is from a conservationist family. His grandfather, Kailash Sankhala, was the first director of Project Tiger, a conservation programme initiated in 1973. His father, Pradeep Sankhala, opened two ecotourism properties in central India – the Kanha Jungle Lodge, in 1989, and Bandhavgarh Jungle Lodge, in 1990. Amit continues the legacy, the 10 luxury tents at Jamtara Wilderness Camp overlooking the forest of Madhya Pradesh state’s Pench National Park. Recycled material such as old ship decking was used in the layout of the camp, and furniture and flooring were sourced from embassies, government buildings and the Supreme Court of India. “We trim some of the grass to pitch the tents, but most of the surrounding vegetation and grasslands is untouched”, says Patil. To minimise its impact, the camp is folded up during the monsoon, from June until September, the tents and flooring packed into the bathrooms, the only solid structures in each accommodation space. Larger items are stored in the dining hall. “The purpose of doing this is to rewild, preserve and protect”, says Patil. Rewilding is a priority for many owners of these boutique properties, and Daleep Akoi is no different. Akoi runs Jim’s Jungle Retreat, in the northern state of Uttarakhand, and is deeply connected to the area, annual family holidays having been spent at the nearby Corbett Tiger Reserve since his childhood. As the reserve’s popularity grew, Akoi recalls, surrounding land was stripped for townships, and lodges popped up, many of them established with little regard for sustainable construction and operations. His family wanted to “show a different, kinder way.” The 18 residences at Jim’s Jungle Retreat were inspired by traditional jungle lodges and built using local craftsmanship. And over two decades, the family regrew forest on land that had been denuded for agriculture. “We wanted to show that by replanting indigenous trees, grasses and shrubs, even small parcels of land could be regenerated and shared with other species”, says Akoi. His five hectares are now home to more than 100 species of tree, grass and shrub as well as butterflies, spiders and more than 200 bird varieties. “The oriental scops owl has returned to this area and been sighted for three years, gracing us with two vintages of fledglings”, says Akoi. “The first thing that struck me is how green and lush the retreat is”, says Sophie Kanpuriya, a guest from Delhi who visited last November. “You feel like you are within the forest, unlike other properties where the surrounding greenery feels manicured and landscaped. “You can hear crickets, insects, birds and other sounds you never hear in the city. It feels so peaceful and calm. “There is great emphasis on engaging guests, whether on a safari or while at the property, with interesting nuggets of information about the area and community”, says Kanpuriya, who went on a wildlife safari; visited the retreat’s organic garden; and chatted with resident naturalists about the wildlife they had observed. By bringing income that funds employment, tourists such as Kanpuriya can help reduce destructive traditional occupations, says Akoi. “Poaching for animal meat and skin, livestock grazing, honey and herb extraction can degrade forests in innumerable ways.” Ninety per cent of the retreat’s staff are from the area, and many now grow produce to sell to the lodge. Some of the retreat’s profits fund teachers and supplies for surrounding village schools. It also supports the forestry department, providing guides with expert tuition; replenishing watering holes in the summer; and alerting officials to unlawful activity. The owners of all these properties want their approach to be replicated across the country, and beyond. “A significant achievement is expanding our model to other parts of Central Asia, showing villages and rangers how they can sustain themselves using natural resources without depleting them, shifting from hunting these animals to earning a livelihood by hosting visitors for wildlife experiences”, says Rashid, whose team has collaborated with rangers in Kyrgyzstan and Mongolia, training them to track snow leopards and adapt to ecotourism. “The goal is […] to help local communities see predators like snow leopards and wolves as assets rather than threats”, says Rashid, who has worked with the Kyrgyz government to promote tourism as an alternative to the hunting of argali sheep and ibex goats. “In Mongolia we are working with nomadic shepherding communities to change their perception of predators that they have historically been in conflict with by introducing tourism […] to offset depredation losses.” Says Akoi, “Our future plans are to help create new forests and centres of learning, engendering a new love for the jungle and a desire to save it.”

How sustainable boutique hotels are revamping the environment and local communities in India

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Across India, boutique retreats are working in harmony with the environment while providing support to local communities to ensure all parties prosper

Across India, boutique retreats are working in harmony with the environment while providing support to local communities to ensure all parties prosper