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We are part of the earth and the earth is a part of us’ Chief Seattle

In 1985, two brothers William & Denzil acquired a family home in Khandala, a quiet forested hillside getaway located between Mumbai and Pune, very popular with residents of Mumbai. Spending long weekends away from the noisy bustle of Mumbai and even more so at the slightest hint of a wet spell during the monsoons, the getaway soon became a home away from home, a retreat from the heightened stress of everyday life.

Trekking in the adjoining forest and hilly areas, immersed in birdcall and monsoon waterfalls, picking wild fruit and listening to tales of wildlife – the Khandala getaway soon became a family favorite.The spectacular greenery, bird life, nearness to sky and stars, to descending clouds, at night a forest lit by a billion fireflies, the call from this hillside paradise slowly by slowly defined the brothers love for the wilderness.

Several years later they found themselves at the Shillim Valley – bowl shaped and ascending to the rangy mountain range of the Sayadri’s an eco hotspot. Struck by love at their first sight, they made what was then an investment into a 500 acre land. On frequent journeys to the valley they discovered that the adivasi’s or folks who live in the forests, were extensively indulging in what is called as “slash and burn” agriculture. Born out of a sheer necessity to live off the land this form of farming involved slashing down the trees of the forest and scorching the earth in the simmering hot months of April and May when the forest with dried out grass was tinder dry, slightly ahead of the monsoons, the resultant ashes being the fertilizer required to harvest their monsoon crop. This being a one season crop, every year a new part of the forest was identified and the process repeated.

On the journey from Khandala to Shillim, then an uncomfortable two hour four wheel drive trip over broken roads and mud tracks that often washed away in torrential rainfall, they witnessed the annual burning of virtually every forested hillside. The realization set in – the only way they could preserve the Shillim forests would be to buy and conserve it. By then roughly a third of the valley was already subjected to ‘scorched earth’ farming with the entire forested valley being at risk. The need to acquire and conserve turned critical. So began the journey of the brothers road to Shillim.

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