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Hideaway with a view

Photos: C.R. Manmadhan

Cool View from Nature Zone Jungle Park, with the mist lifting and the African safari tents seen from another hilltop on the same property

USP: Only Nature for company, not for the weak hearted

On top of the world: that’s the feeling atop the rock at the highest point of Nature Zone Jungle Park, Pulippara, Munnar. At your feet lies the town of Munnar, Kurunchithanni and the exotic view plays hide and seek as the mist wraps around the scene and lifts in turn. The furthest point shows a clean white speck — the Rajakumari church — when the mist clears. If you carry a pair of binoculars, you can see many of these buildings clearly, sitting on the patio of the African Safari tent here. There are 12 such tents and one tree house. Two more tree houses are getting ready.

The weather and views are part of the package that Nature Zone gives you. Lying cheek by jowl with the hardcore forest area that’s been cordoned off by electrified fences (only at night, to keep adventurous elephants at bay!), the undulating hills with shola vegetation, the lake below, and the twitter of birds take you to a green nowhere. No TV, no crowds, just unplanned nature. The eco-mantra is everywhere. Almost everything you see here is biodegradable. The coir carpets, the terracotta clocks, the bamboo frames, bins and cane lampshades. The bathroom/toilet in the tents are the same as you see in any hotel. They are permanent structures with the tent above. Says Sajeev Nair, whose dream Nature Zone is, “We have been very careful to make it a completely eco-friendly place. The land is kept as close to its original form as possible with the trees almost intact.”

The boulders and the many hillocks give Nature Zone a natural infrastructure for adventure sports like rappelling.

The Nilgiri pipit struts around sans fear, and at dawn, you wonder which Romeo is whistling a most romantic tune, long and musical. We had to wait till lunch to learn that it was a bird.

Just three men man the place. Chef Ambili tosses up a truly ‘naadan’ meal, while Chidambaram is the man about the place. “I have just a three member staff to mind the whole place,” says Sajeev who says corporates find the place useful for training camps.

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