Mewar Village: Getting A Second Lease Of Life

Regrowing a forest, one tree at a time, is how a privately owned reserve in a remote Mewar village is getting a second lease of life.

- Suman Tarafdar

It’s an oxymoron. Luxury quarters, actually a converted former hunting outpost, set in a private forest where you can stay and, well, be the only human around for as far as you can see in any direction. For company, there’s nilgai, leopards, jackals, langurs, an extensive range of feathered soonto-be friends, topped by a sweep of stars twinkling more brightly than you’ve ever seen them. Sitting at night in the middle of this melodious, breezy silence in the just opened Shikhar Odi of Kemri Nature Reserve, approximately 44 kilometres southeast of Udaipur, one can be reflective and philosophical. Or feel just plain blessed to be able to revel in such stunning beauty, deep inside a forest.

It has not been an easy journey. Mayur Singh will be the first to admit that the forest cover cannot be revived to its former level. It will not be for lack of trying though. This former HSBC VP, along with wife Bhawna Singh, has taken on the ambitious goal of reviving a forest in about 400 acres of rural Mewar. Acres of scrub are being revived by planting trees—each year about 800 new trees are planted. Volunteers, including students from Udaipur, do the planting, along with paid labour. “We plant trees with are to ensure their survival,” stresses Mayur Singh, contrasting his efforts to the sorry state of government tracts. Tourists are welcome, indeed urged, to join in the planting. For those with a ken for responsible rural tourism, this is ground zero.

The Singhs started this project about five years ago, on land that is cooperatively owned. While an overall uplift of the area through the education of girls and community-based projects is also part of the agenda, Kemri Nature Reserve is reviving a forest and hoping to attract tourists through select lodgings.