Walk on the wild side
I went into the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, to find if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not when I came to die, discover I had not lived…
The pull that men sometimes feel to return to the wild, to a state of nature as it were, compelled Henry David Thoreau, Jack London, William Golding or more recently, John Krakauer to write about it. Whether it is because we feel the need to return to the long-forgotten environment where we first thrived, or simply because somewhere within us, we find the demands placed on us by civilisation and urban living unnatural.
We find something inherently soothing and peaceful about being in the midst of a forest. And yet, even as our minds are becalmed, our bodies become restless, seeking the trappings of modern comfort.
That is perhaps why the Tree House Resort, set in the Syari Valley an hour away from Jaipur, seems to be the perfect answer to our conflicting needs. Moving away from the isolated bubble that is the Jaipur airport, we twist and turn through the city’s bylanes to get on to the Delhi-Jaipur highway.
From then on, it’s a straight drive down to the Nature Farms complex within which the resort is located. The drive is as picturesque as our destination turns out to be. The occasional stationary camel, elephant or cow is dwarfed by a vista where the blue sky rolls away from rolling hills and meadows.
Just opposite the Amity complex, we reach the Nature Farms gate, and 700 metres along a farmland bordered narrow road leads us to the tiled roofs of the resort. The next few impressions are quick, of narrow cobbled pathways that take us to a bonafide treehouse.
A wooden structure that rises out of a cluster of trees, affording a view into a thicket of boughs on every side, and yet housing all modern conveniences within its walls. Not far away, we can hear the squawking of ducks as they float around their pond.
The quiet makes for an interesting companion, adding a certain indolent quality to all our activities, as we read, sip tea, chat or simply gaze outside.
It is the sort of quiet that is ideal for sorting out the questions that have been worrying you, for reassessing your life. Of course, if you’re the more active sort, then a dip in the pool, a game of tennis, cycle ride around the property or a jungle safari into the forests of the nearby Aravalli range can all be arranged.
If you’re looking for a weekend getaway to simply recharge your batteries, then this could be what you’re looking for.
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