Travel Articles

1. Adventures in Ranthambore.
2. Salt Flats of Rajasthan.
3. Kye Monastrey, Himachal Pradesh.
4. Pin Valley, Himachal Pradesh.
5. Nako Lake, Himachal Pradesh.
6. Tabo Caves, Himachal Pradesh.
7. Drinking Toddy in Kumarakam.
8. Walking along Mararikulam Beach.
9. Rafting in the Ganges.
10. Luxury in tree houses
11. Rhythm of the rain in Kerala
12. Sarahan: Of bottomless crevasses and gushing waters
13. On the trail of Tigers.

Holidaying on treetops!

Rainforest Boutique Resort, Kerala

Treehouse Hideaway, Bhandavgarh

Vanya Treehouse, Thekaddy

Tree House Cottages, Manali

Tree House Resort, Jaipur

Holidaying on Treetops

A classmate of mine once  invited me to stay with him during school summer vacations in a sprawling tea estate. There it got it into our head to build a tree-house. After several days of sporadic attempts we managed a rickety platform on the tree. We were justifiably proud of our work. But it had two minor drawbacks. We both had to sit simultaneously at either end of the board to counterbalance each other. A wind of sub gale force could easily cause a major cataclysm to our tree-house. Several decades later I finally got to stay in a tree-house- as firm as a  rock of Gibraltar- as comfortable as any deluxe hotel and as spacious!

Spread over several acres, The Tree House Resort in Jaipur is located on the outskirts of Jaipur, on NH8. In a stark contrast to the surrounding area, the resort is a veritable jungle of trees and fauna.  There are over a dozen tree houses with attached washrooms and an extended balconies with easy chairs -all on tree treetops! That's what you call top level comforts!!

A dining room perched on a small hill overlooks the resort. Small canals of water wind through the place. The abundance of trees at the resort attract a variety of birds at all times of the day. Every night an owl would comes and sit on the same tree on the same branch and sureys the landscape and its occupants with the studied gravitas of a lord mayor.

Dinner is generally served alfresco, with a bonfire during winter nights.

At ground level, a large number of rabbits have been let loose. Throughout the day you could see them gamboling about with gay abandon. You need to be a little quick on the draw, if you want to catch them. A variety ducks busily strut around scraping the ground for food pausing only if you come a little close to them. 

A water hole close by is the home for frogs, almost the size of a Baseball! They would just sit under the shade of leaves with the phlegmatic nonchalance staring deep into space with bulbous eyes . No sooner you try to approach them to establish a more cordial relationship than they would, belying their size, swiftly scuttle back into the pond.

There is a mini bar nestled among the Bamboo shoots and trees for those bent on their daily rendezvous with Bacchus.

It also caters to the athletic and non athletic occupants. For the athletics there is a badminton and a tennis court, a mini golf course and a small swimming pool. For the non athletic types there are a variety of indoor games to indulge in.

It is an interesting and a unique place of entertainment. When you come away the picture that you take with you is that of dappled leaves swaying gently in the breeze as you look out from the window of your room; white balls of fur scurrying across the verdant lawn, the near continuous parleys among the avian population punctuated with occasional croaks from the pond area, as if letting you know 'Hey we are also here!'

But despite the  passage of time, like your first infatuation,  I still fondly remember my first tottering tree house in a remote tea plantation estate!

Luxury on trees