09 June,2011 06:41 AM IST | | Tinaz Nooshian
How about a weekend spent hanging in the atmosphere, 30 feet off the forest floor in the Sahyadri hills, with little distraction except an orchestra of crickets accompanied by the occasional call of the large green barbet?
It was for the third time that I was experiencing the feeling. Clawing up the slick trunk of a Gulmohar as a 17 year-old at boarding school, balancing on the Y of its strapping branches; its orange canopy of flowers turning the pages of the book I was reading from pale grey to warm carroty.
Teetering at one end of the Canopy Walk at Mt. Kinabalu Park, Sabah, Malaysia, aware that a few sturdy wooden planks interlaced with ropes were all that separated me from the forest floor, a 100 feet below.
The Machan is a vacation home with three bedrooms (sleeps 6), two full
baths and a living room, let out as a single unit
The Machan is a nut and bolt steel structure clad in wood, designed to
withstand earthquakes and wind speeds of up to 200 kmph. No machines
were used in its erection nor were trees felled in the process, say the
owners. pics/tinaz nooshian
Resting my chin on the railing of a wooden deck of a luxury safari tent hoisted 30 feet above the ground, eyes unsuccessfully searching for a glimpse of the earth through a crown of wild evergreen trees in the Sahyadri Hills.
On its website, it calls itself a 'unique resort'. What The Machan actually is, is a test in lonesomeness. On a 25-acre private forest at Jambulne, a 2.5 hour drive from Mumbai, stands a tree house that shares a relationship with the fig tree it has depended on for three years. A nut and bolt steel structure clad in wood, it's designed to withstand earthquakes, and wind speeds of up to 200 kmph that are as frequent in the region as the cricket call. No machines were used while erecting it. No trees were felled, say the owners. With photovoltaic panels and wind turbines generating power on site, it's a strange lesson in architectural surprise and sustainability.
The family house is now a vacation home let out as a single unit, and can host six adults. The three double bedrooms and two bathrooms overlook a precipice matter-of-factly. The rest of the property including the kitchen tent that stands to its right, and the reception hut-on-stilts a short walk away, is isolated from it within minutes, with the winding up of a draw bridge, offering acute privacy just when you think this is as far as classified tourism can get.
And then the irony. The main deck, entirely enveloped in glass, leaves you standing stripped before the valley.
A walk up and down a labyrinth of small staircases shuffles you between 85 feet where The Crow's Nest offers a 360 degree aerial view that seems a shade more sublime when a glass of Merlot is in hand, and The Hanging Room suspended in the belly of the main deck, lending the illusion that you are engulfed by the forest canopy.
u00a0As an offshoot of the motherhouse, three 800 sq feet Camp Canopy machans (each housing a maximum of three guests) stand raised on a 30-feet platform accessed by a winding metal staircase. The platform supports a safari tent that holds a bedroom, bathroom and a hardwood deck plunging out into the heavens, seating a retro brass lamp in one corner to light a seating cove made up by two lazy armchairs and a side table that will hold your dinner for the night.
Disturbance here, is a bad word, and so, grid connectivity is weak (leave your mobile phones at home) and the staff, inconspicuous. Other than the customary welcome (with a big smile, wet towel and a glass of chilled Fresh Lime on a tray) by caretaker Sarla Adhikari, staff sightings are rare, and on-call.
A request to have your dinner sent up to the machan will mean a staffer discreetly leaves a 4-tier tiffin casserole packed with simple Indian fare at the far end of the sheltered passage, for you to polish off in privacy. They'd of course, be happy to host you at the open-air dining area by a fireplace where large visiting groups often congregate around chatter and spirits.
The kitchen staff prides itself on stirring up ghar ka khana, with a typical lunch menu including Chicken Methi, Jeera Aloo, rotis and raita. The all-day dining menu card that lies on a table that also holds a retro table fan that you may need to switch off unless you enjoy its decadent whirring, offers you nibbles between 7.30 pm and 10 pm; Onion Bhajia (Rs 110), Chicken Seekh Kebab (Rs 170), and a pot of tea (Rs 50) delivered to the tent.
A stay at The Machan doesn't come cheap. A night's stay at Camp Canopy costs Rs 12,000 (couple), and at The Machan (weekdays) costs Rs 25,000. Well, it's the price for peace.
And if 'what's there to do?' is the question currently circumnavigating your mind, go book a 2 night-3 day deal at a hill resort where the cackle of kids at the community pool will drown out the noise in your head.
