Khem Villas, one of the most prestigious jungle camps in India, situated in Ranthambore was established on purchased land in 1989. Since then indigenous trees have been planted and small water bodies have been created which have transformed the vast, open grassland into a natural habitat. One can easily spot jackals, jungle cats, hyenas, desert foxes, and crocodiles, within the grasslands and around the luxury camp. It has also become a bird watcher’s paradise.
The story
The Jungle camp was started by Dr. Goverdhan Rathore, son of the world-famous Tigerman of India Fateh Singh Rathore. Fateh is credited for being the architect of Ranthambhore as we see it today, converting it from a desolate, grazed, and overpopulated scrubland to what is today considered the most successful Tiger Reserve in India. “Goverdhan grew up inside Ranthambhore watching his father and absorbing the transformation of nature that happens right under his eyes after his father convinced 16 villages to be relocated outside the park and then painstakingly put in dirt roads and created water bodies and zealously protected the park from poachers,” shares Usha Rathore, his wife.
After graduating from Medical school Goverdhan wanted to come back and live near Ranthambore and contribute in some way to the conservation efforts of his father. As a doctor, he started a mobile medical clinic visiting 33 villages a week providing primary health care and family planning services. More importantly, he wanted to meet local people and understand what their problems were and what they felt about the tigers and the park. There seemed to be a large number of people who felt that they got nothing from the park and it was only created to make foreigners happy.
The challenges
As Dr. Goverdhan went around the villages he saw abject poverty, abysmal literacy levels especially among girls, bad animal husbandry programs that meant pushing hundreds of cattle into the park, huge amounts of logging for firewood, and so on. He with a group of friends set up an NGO called Prakratik Society and over 3 decades they have established the best school and hospital in a district of a million people, established alternate energy programs using biogas and breeding improvement, informal environment education, afforestation, and so on.
The birth of the villas
In all these years he also bought land and built a house near the park and got married to Usha in 1995. Over three decades of painstaking landscaping and rewinding, he had created an oasis of 30 acres. In 2006 his wife told him that if he kept giving away money and time to charity the way he was, they would go broke and it would be difficult to raise their two children. She was at the time managing a camp next door called Sher Bagh which Goverdhan had helped build for some family friends. So she felt confident that she could run her camp. Thus was born Khem Villas, a jungle camp unlike most around Ranthambore, which offers a true jungle experience as if you were living in the park itself.
The camp follows an ecological way of life and is vegetarian and tries to grow most of its food on its land including maintaining a dairy. It strives to be a zero plastic camp and uses energy-efficient electrical appliances and water harvesting.
The lodging arrangements are as minimalistic and close to nature as they can be, there are mostly tents built on simple wooden / metal frames with canvas. The camp has 10 cottages that are built on a village hut model with a thatch. All accommodations provide uninterrupted views of the water bodies, grassland, and wooded areas with the Ranthambore hills in the background. Most of the food is homegrown organically as they are vegetarian.
The camp also provides you with fun activities like going for nature walks within the camp itself. Tigers and other wildlife frequently walk through the camp regularly with many guests sometimes seeing them as well. So if you are lucky you might get a chance to be visited by their wild friends.
As its Corporate Social Responsibility, the camp tries to provide scholarships to needy children living near the park some of whom are now successful doctors, engineers, lawyers and chartered accountants. Some even study abroad on scholarships. The company also supports the hospital by providing free cataract surgery and treatment for other ailments for those who can’t afford it.
For Goverdhan and Usha Rathore, there weren’t many challenges, everything went smoothly for them – it was because of their love for nature and the will to live their dream.
They have ambitious plans for the resort – they will try to buy or rent some more land and reforest it along with bringing in wildlife.
