11-Jul-2009
Wildernest is a wonderfully & strangely serene nature resort. Why I called it strange because of its location. You park your vehicles in Maharashtra, you travel the red soiled dirt track in a four-wheel drive gypsy to get to your room in Goa, and you see the rain-forest of Karnataka out of your window. Strange enough isn’t it? But I won’t like to babble on about the location of this resort. The point is, it is a magical place and it provides a much needed slow down from our usual hustle bustle. It provides peace through nature with enough luxury.
Like all other resorts it has cottages, but the best part is that they have built it without disturbing the natural ambiance. It is such an experience that you can glance to the valley when you are having a shower. It isn’t the most usual, isn’t it? In addition to that, I will never forget the approach way towards my cottage. You start climbing up in the forest with no idea in your heads about how your cottage looks like, you’ll walk through a little man made, rocky walk in a wood, and all of a sudden the door of your cottage appears in front you. Nice, I liked that!
The cottages are eco-friendly. It has decks too. What makes the deck unique in the world is that it is built on 2500 feet above sea level with a mesmerising view of green valley and a huge waterfall in front of you (ofcourse if there are no clouds below and in front of your deck). The deck has a chair. Sitting quietly observing the nature around (many rare species of birds, butterflies and obviously the surroundings) you feel like you are Buddha. Fortunately I have been there in Monsoon and I have never experienced the clouds entering the room and surrounding you. Mystic!
Speaking about the seasons to visit the resort, the opinions will be varied. If you are a lethargic kind of tourist, monsoon is suitable for you. If you like to have large share of everything around available, you should go there in winter or summer, and if you are an avid trekker and want to explorer the surrounding jungle then simply don’t go there. You can simply pack your bag, take enough tenting equipment and start roaming around the jungle; stop when you like and go on when you want to perceive (I don’t know if you are permitted there to roam around in the reserve forest though). It can be a pain in the neck in the monsoons if you are sucked by leeches (and almost ruining your day when you have arachnophobic people around you! LOL). In addition to the diversity of life around; you will have to spend a little time adjusting with constant nocturnal crunch of the squirrels & monkeys on your cottage roof.
Then the most sought after part of the resort was its swimming pool. It is very original in design and it is built in such a way that it looks like as if it is integrating with the valley below. I saw its pictures on the website and being there was fulfilling. Delightful!
If you like alcohol, it has a bar too. What I would have like there that instead of the regular glasses and mugs, they should have used some equipments like those shown in the cartoon television serial Flintstones (kidding). The bar has everything essential you need it. Ofcourse they don’t offer a range of ninety plus cocktails, but you should expect things that look rational and realistic. I mean why would you have ‘dead man walking’ in the middle of the jungle? I mean you will be happier in what you are made available rather than cribbing for what you have desired. Good enough!
It summarises my experience at Wildernest. The only glitch I thought was the approach road. We were unfortunate to have chosen the road (from Pune) through Belgaum – Dandeli reserve forest. It was raining, the ride was torturous with full of potholes. There was a stretch in between where the road did not exist. The journey then tested us when we stopped for a break and there we were accompanied by the new commuters in our car- leeches. Those blood sucking organisms even entered in one my friend’s trousers. It was good that I was travelling with few of my great friends, so we enjoyed every moment of the dreadful journey. We knew the alternative route (sawantwadi) but sadly we have earlier fixed up the route and so we couldn’t do anything then to resolve this mistake. The fatigue of the horrible journey did not take much of time to turn round when entered the resort.
Now I will wait and see when my next winter trip to Wildernest goes off.
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