The Ibnii: Evergreen tourism

Eco-tourism is a young but fastest growing concept in India even as environmentalists mull its efficacy to conserve Nature and boost economies of the local populace. MEENAKSHI RAO visited Coorg, a leader in eco-tourism, to tell you that this is one place where it is truly working

The Silver Oak tree is very English. So is Scotland. But Coorg is far removed from both in distance and environment. No cold sea here threatening to rise over mountain wilderness to engulf you. No snow trying to bury you in. And no weather greys whatsoever, pushing your mood into the pits.

Yet, Coorg is called the Scotland of India and yet, you see miles and miles of silver oaks trying to reach the skies. They sway gently in the gentle breeze over gentle slopes, performing their daily chore with becoming grace — the chore being guarding the fledgling coffee plants from rough weather and sun.

The dewy fresh terrain, the heady smell of coffee, the therapeutic solitude broken only by the chirp from treetops, the mist dropping into your cottage unannounced, the sun peeping out of the rustling leaves with a catch-me-if-you-can agenda and the dainty road winding up to a hanging bridge over a duck-laden water body — that’s The Ibnii for you, one of the few super luxe eco resorts which prides in its comprehensive conservation mores. Nature here enjoys divine status, presiding pristinely over a 120 acre coffee plantation near Madikeri, Coorg’s stunning, clean and quiet district capital.

The story here is not about this resort or it’s totally stunning pool and jacuzzi villas hiding behind a lot of timber and vegetation, or its wooden cottages imported all the way from Bali and China, or it’s serpentine pathways up and around the hills, or its four-tier cascading swimming pool going down a terraced hill, or even its viewing point reception which you reach after an exciting walking over a bridge dangling on an untroubled landscape, serving as a gazebo overlooking the vast green expanse of the plantation dotted with reflective water bodies.

The story here is about the trending concept of eco-tourism and The Ibnii figures up there in this category as it is the only eco-tourist resort in India to have been awarded the stringent and prestigious Indian Green Building Council Platinum Certification for energy and resource-efficient, sustainable, cost-effective building, imposing minimal stress on the environment. The resort is all set to get its Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design (LEED) certification next month.

The rating system of IGBC is based on the five elements of Nature (Panchabhutas) applicable to all five climatic zones of the country. Ibnii Coorg is an ecological and bio-diversity hotspot which cuts minimal trees for development and is actively involved in rainwater harvesting with three large water catchment areas.

“We harvest nearly 5 million litres of water annually. Apart from a waste management plant, we have a state-of-the-art Sewage Treatment Plant (STP) too to further minimise our dependency on fresh water. The treated water is used for landscaping and other utilities. Ibnii is also a vehicle-free zone with only electric buggies used for internal movements. Guests are encouraged to walk around the resort,” Sebastian Perumpullikkadan, the group chairman says.

The resort has also introduced other ecological initiatives like an in-house tailoring facility wherein articles are created from recycled materials like shopping bags out of used cement sacks and bubble wraps. The kitchen uses only steel fruit and vegetable crates not the conventional plastic ones, not to mention the drop pops in restaurants in place of finger bowls for washing hands. The resort is also part of a new project with Madikeri town for making a road using recycled plastic from the resort.

Such and many more eco-friendly measures are brainstormed and pledged by the staff daily at a morning meeting where the team salutes and pays obeisance to Nature in a collective salute.

The Ibnii is a case in point but Coorg has many more so-called eco resorts commercialising natural beauty, apparently with concern and care. As the image manager of The Ibnii, Manoj, admits: “Orange County has virtually made Coorg and brought it in the eye of the discerning traveller.” But he is quick to add that his facility is in no competition, it is in the business of setting eco standards that are unmatched, genuine and passionate.

The concept of eco-tourism in India is fresh but worldwide it was taken note of in far away Costa Rica in the ’80s. Costa Rica today is the poster boy of sustainable commercialisation of virgin natural resources. Cocos Island is a prime eco-tourism destination in Costa Rica, a world heritage site ranked among the top 77 nominees for the world’s New Seven Wonders of Nature.

Even as environmentalists debate and worry over the question whether this form of tourism is actually doing more harm than good to Mother Nature globally, they are united in agreeing that the Costa Ricans are true in their safeguards while pushing their tourism profits, that they are true conservationists, that they develop but not at the cost of Nature, as promised.

Back in India, Sebastian fears that slim guidelines and the lack of implementation may give fodder to critics but “over the years, the concept has grown tremendously and not just those in the hospitality sector but also tourists have learnt the benefits of de-stressing Nature while de-stressing themselves in natural environs.”

Since India has a diverse and rich geography — from Himalayan mountains, to lush National Parks to wildlife and a long coastline, many tourist destinations have emerged in hitherto unknown and untouched expanses of Kerala, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Lakshdweep Islands, the Himalayan region, the north-east and Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

Not many may know, but in Kerala, Thenmala (Kollam district) houses India’s first of its kind planned eco-tourism spot. Great care has gone into the care and preservation of Thenmala so that it caters to nature lovers and eco-tourists.

Back in Karnataka, Coorg has led the way but Mysore is fast catching up with this “away from the noise” tourism, so is Chikmaglur, the other coffee hotspot for the Kannadigas. An aerial view of Coorg boasts of its cleanliness and greenery amid which lie exotic thatched roofed Coorgi houses and people high on spices, natural oils, pork pickle and, of course, coffee which is the region’s main crop. The Tata Group, for example, owns a whopping 32,000 acres of coffee plantations in Coorg. They are bulk suppliers of high quality coffee beans to Starbucks globally and the sole ones from India.

Talking about the coffee trail of Coorg, The Ibnii’s Plantation Manager Pouwaiyya tells you how Coorgis are fiercely passionate about everything, including their greens, especially their coffee greens. After a long stint in Switzerland as a purchase manager with a five-star chain, this young and dapper Coorgi returned home to his own coffee plantation once his father gave up.

With an intimate knowledge of coffee beans, he is a delight to walk with as he takes you on an eco walk on serpentine roads cutting through the plantation. He tells you how there is a high content of chicory in every brand of coffee which is not good for health, how the Tatas have cracked the Starbucks’ standard requirements by getting to do business with Arabica beans and how the word “instant” in coffee terms is a total no-no.

Amid such engagement, there is a growing chirp of birds which he can no longer ignore and as it emerges, he has even better knowledge of the winged population than of the brew he grows. Incidentally, Coorg houses 25 per cent of the total bird population of India which gives it pride of place.

Bird watching here is a delight as you actually get to spot the colourful — and noisy — birds even though they have a penchant of finding the highest branch of the tall Silver Oaks to enjoy the morning sunshine.

Of the star wingers, one is a mimic (this bird also starts mimicking anything from a generator sound to other birds’ calls if she is near one). Then there are the white bellied treppie, stork-billed kingfisher, crimson-fronted barbets, white-headed starlings, Malabar parakeets, Nilgiri flower peckers and the yellow-browed bulbul. These are just a few of the 356 species found in Coorg, of which 275 are residents. Birds may be a major part of eco-tourism but giving it back to the local community is what powers this form of hospitality. Local employment, buying of local produce and engaging in welfare schemes are some ways that eco resorts justify their presence in remote terrains.

“We engage the locals in all kinds of health, sports and education activities. Besides employing 40 per cent locals at our resort, we also educate them in producing and selling their produce at set standards. Hygiene, conservation and cultural exchanges are our off-resort must activities,” says Sebastian.

Building this resort was no easy task. Roads had to be carved out in a terrain where there was no possibility of vehicular carriers reaching the heavy materials. Besides, the pledge was to not cut trees. So you can see trees growing into buildings and building opening up their roofs where and when the need arises in terms of accommodating a tree trunk or even a giant shrub. The result has been stunning, airy and a totally different kind of accommodative architecture. So you have a barbecue restaurant on a glass platform hanging over rainforest trees, open from all sides. Dining here is quite an experience — the food choice is tasteful as the chef Ranjan Shamal has a yen fresh, there and then cooking.

“The mainstay of any eco-friendly resort is the quality of food it serves. We do not believe in any preserves. Even sausages are made to order here. All orders are freshly cooked and, at the end of the day, we weigh the leftover and wastage. We have never crossed the three kg mark in this section and that too goes into our compost plant to come out as manure for our vegetable garden at the extreme corner of our facility,” Shamal tells you with pride.

So having breakfast, lunch or dinner is a super leisurely affair with everything being cooked live for you. Even the juices are squeezed after you pick the fruit, which incidentally has been freshly plucked. The mains emanate from local produce, taken from vendors who meet organic standards.

The effort is genuine and passionate, much like the local Kodava tribe known for its worship of river Cauvery as the reigning deity and there fierce military skills of yore which kept warriors like Tipu Sultan and the British at bay for a long time. Today, most of these people have converted their homes into B&B facilities with a difference. The guests are given a wholesome Coorgi rural life experience, making them sow, harvest, dry the pickle content etc being part of their activities when that is, they are not scheduled to merge into the bliss, delight and peace suffused natural beauty of Coorg’s gentle elevation of 1,800 metres which is home to three wildlife sanctuaries and a national park dotted with bamboo, rosewood, teak, sandalwood, silver oak, and spice plants and housing some of the endangered mammals, reptiles, insects and amphibians.

Babithha, the front desk manager at The Ibnii who hails from a village in Madikery district and takes the local bus to work daily, wears the Coorgi version of the sari wherein the pleats are at the back. So does Kavitha, the spa therapist who leaves her two toddlers and mother-in-law behind in another village 30 km away, to work at The Ibnii. Folklore says it is so because “Mother Cauvery” chose to wear it thus once she was abandoned by her beau and had to make her home in this lush green countryside to bless the locals on the condition that they would preserve the environment and protect her.

 The tradition has, thankfully, hopped centuries to remain true to its promise. So, it is only natural that Coorg’s myriad tourist hotspots too embed their showcasing of Nature with that ageold promise in mind. 

Source: Sunday Pioneer, 12 March, 2017