Eco India: This 700-acre biodiversity hotspot is the best-kept secret of the Western Ghats

Every week, Eco India brings you stories of innovations from across India and Europe, and the people who make them possible. Our top story this week looks at how an eco-tourism initiative is providing a platform for homegrown scientists to study the rich biodiversity of the Western Ghats, and provides a safe space for visitors to coexist peacefully with it.
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CREDITS:
Supervising Producer: Nooshin Mowla
Director of Photography: Omkar Phatak
Video Editor: Sujit Lad
Script & Field Producer: Swati Ali
Assistant Producers: Shibika Suresh, Nishant Kanekar
Executive Producer: Sannuta Raghu
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Eco India is a co-production between DW and Scroll.in. You can watch the full episodes on scroll.in/ecoindia
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[@shubhamkhandare2168]

Water doesn’t come from tap it comes from forest 👌🏻

[@jyotichugani2996]

If people of India knew that truth they wouldn't allow mindless destruction of our forests. Now the very survival of people in this country is threatened but still they continue to sleep.

[@skanda9733]

What does this resort do for Electricity & what does it do with its sewage?

[@Пополюбосиком]

@@jyotichugani2996 It's not just India's problem. In Russia, too, people sleep. And only a small part of people understand everything

[@srinidhi7140]

Trees

[@aadityaunni8202]

@@jyotichugani2996 Sister let them sleep..... What's the problem in that, They will wake up and also will beg for the resources after they won't get even a drop of 💧.

[@shubhambaswant]

not all heroes wear capes,very proud of their initiative.

[@abhiraj.sharma]

metro boomin want more nigga

[@kumarnavneet8968]

They are the heroes that should be our inspiration.

[@skanda9733]

India doesnt have many. Increasing population & their needs alongwith corruption if Govt Officials ensures that this remains low on priority list & voices of those concerned get silenced

[@skanda9733]

Read abt Mangar Bani. Tribals & green activists put in decades of effort to protect it. But Indira Gandhi's relations wt Latit Suri dominated all. Laws were manipulated, hotels emerged & the green lungs of Delhi are steadily disappearing alongwith the tribal beliefs & traditions that protected Mangar Bani for centuries

[@girishkumarg]

The solution to recent flash flood which occurred kerala is here. Wayanad which has similar topography has been deforested extensively.

[@GROOVwithme]

I hope that unlike these people, Forest isn't up for grabs for private investors in Wayanad.

[@skanda9733]

Read abt Mangar Bani. Tribals & green activists put in decades of effort to protect it. But Indira Gandhi's relations wt Latit Suri dominated all. Laws were manipulated, hotels emerged & the green lungs of Delhi are steadily disappearing alongwith the tribal beliefs & traditions that protected Mangar Bani for centuries

[@GROOVwithme]

@@skanda9733 that's terrible. Forests only get lip service in India. Behind the curtain, laws are lax, rich encroaching on it

[@aadityaunni8202]

@@skanda9733 And now the Modi government is doing the same thing as Indira Gandhi did...... Useless governments are evil to Mother Nature..........

[@rikilshah]

@@aadityaunni8202 Rahul Gandhi is MP of Wayanad. And Wayanad is situated in Kerala, state ruled by Mr Vijayan. Where is BJP in the question? India's forest cover increased in recent years.

[@brucewayne1234]

It's the kind of empowerment we needed to understand our country

[@Mhmdwazpedo21]

Bloody hell... dis is my dream. Owning lots of land and growing trees and let wild animals live free. 😍

[@rameshg2717]

U can do it even in ur roof

[@nitipriyasingh1387]

It's so green 😍. People often forget green matters not the green money.

[@saumyabhattacharya5477]

I am very surprised to hear captain dhond saabs name on a video all of a sudden.. iam totally blown away by seeing the whole forest and the resort of dhond Saab. I had the good fortune to sail with him for six months as a cadet. Without a shred of doubt I can say he has inspired and encouraged me then and even now after seeing such a beautiful forest and the effort that has gone in protecting it. Sir it would be amazing to have seen an interview of you. But I hope to visit you soon in wildernest and will hopefully see you there. Thank you for your wisdom and may you shine brighter than a thousand suns..

[@KumarSanu-qf7ed]

❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤

[@yatoyamato5332]

Please continue "morning fix". It was heart and soul for all "scroll" subscriber's routine.

[@amritadouglas5994]

This voiceover is perfect!

[@tamalraha259]

Privileged to personally know each of them, know the place and the effort that that they put in... Kudos to the team and their leader Nirmal and Captain..

[@skanda9733]

Any thoughts on what they do for Electricity & sewage waste? No mention of solar panels or waste management --only glossed over details of forest cover

[@tamalraha259]

@@skanda9733 This particular project is about forest cover. Lot to be done on alternative source of energy... swapnagangha uses solar power as one of the energy source I know

[@bksidhu6437]

Lucky you are. Any Idea about the rainfalls? Is it like seasonal or tropical?

[@skmaurya19]

These guys are living my dream.

[@skmaurya19]

@koysor and I want it here in Varanasi

[@rapidkannada7745]

@koysor buy a barren land and make it a forest .

[@k9N7p]

Waynad is very beautiful now without pests and fucking moron animals. Forest doesn't give local people to survive. All forest should be burned.

[@himdr7460]

some enlightened citizen like this are require to conserve our nature than govt alone.....awesome intiative

[@avdeshtomar5986]

May you own so much money that you an buy whole western ghats and save them.really amazing

[@taifshams]

Awesome video. NAT GEO will have tough competition.

[@atulkumar-pk8dk]

Wow...these people are amazing, more projects should be done on this model, mankind is nothing without the nature and we should always acknowledge this

[@navneetpatil6600]

Swapnagandha- preserving the lungs of india

[@Tascountrygirl]

I am an Australian living in the smallest state, Tasmania. We have also been facing the same problems with mining, deforestation, and selling off the most beautiful areas of this island to private entrepreneurs who do not value this most beautiful island's values. I congratulate you highly for your foresight and protection of the beautiful forests and waterways, and living creatures that you have.

[@Mohitkumar-mv8mj]

What a great video!!! I want to request every Indian that if u feel that this forest is a heaven then plz do something to protect this heaven

[@ayushir33]

Surprised to know These kind of People Also exists in India Hatsoff 🙏

[@siddhantkhorjuvekar]

I am from Goa and I salute work done by these guys to save water supply to most of North Goa. If not for them this would have become another pits of mining. Few days back simple water pipeline burst to Panaji city and it took more then week to fix the problem for government... It was a big issue in goa Can u imagine only hospital in Goa had to postpone surgeries because apparently there was no water to operation theatres..... Just imagine what havoc it would create if mhadei river had no water ..??.

[@shambhulingsheelvanth3507]

This is a type of army which protects biodiversity great work👍👌👏👏

[@prathapdugasani6922]

It's my dream to work in this field....I hope it's come true one day..

[@bootup856]

living just 20 km away from the western ghats i always admired its beauty but never have i ever imagined of conserving them. i feel ashamed of my self.

[@Yetobefinalized]

I am currently reading 'Small is beautiful - economics as if people mattered'. And watching this video. It bring me such joy, if you reading this have time, do read the book. The book suggest model of economic in a sustainable way while still making profit

[@prashanthbk3760]

Good to know that some are concerned.

[@tarunmuvvala-q3e]

Proud that my father was part of making this area unesco protected and creating a corridor for tiger and animals to move

[@zakiyakhasdar2141]

Salute to all for your efforts

[@shash3391]

Well... Now it ain't no secret anymore lol. 😉 Love the video! ❤️❤️😊

[@val-schaeffer1117]

What is "ain't no" supposed to mean?

[@piyushuniyal6129]

JarJarBinks I guess ain't already means its not so doesnt make sense to use ain't not

[@akhilsharma711]

Salute to this idea and man behind it. Huge respect from heart to both of you. (karma)

[@chrisfernandes3353]

Beautiful and truly divinely inspired initiative by these two gems.. Goan villages already witnessed the drying up of a little river that is fed by a tributary from the Mhadei, and then floods when our sacred rivers burst their banks, all in the same year. This is what the world needs; women and men working for good, true Earth politicians and selfless visionaries..love and good energy from Goa

[@limao.s7616]

One word about them... Wowww

[@PradeepRajendran2014]

Beautiful. I remember driving through these forests and stopping by Wildernest with my friend and she was telling me about her time here doing a workshop on snakes. :)

[@tejkrishna9999]

These guys deserve Bharat ratna.. Hats off.. 🙏

[@aadityaunni8202]

Salute to this real Hero 🙏🙏🙏🙏

[@junebhattacharjee9669]

The blue misty mountains are eye catching cheers to the green heroes for ther wonderful job in saving the ecosystem.

[@dr.rohanrathod8643]

Thank you for covering this topic of great significance 👏

[@aloma1501]

Amazing Work by both the gentlemen. It's great to see the locals at work and also women empowerment. Hopefully I can visit some day. You are an inspiration. Wishing you success in all your endeavours. Lots of love and blessings from Mumbai. 🙏

[@Tarotaro23-k5r]

These guys are heroes..thank you for your work.

[@anshdivakar9267]

Salute these guys and everyone who are making this Haven beautiful. Guys please do something for nature as possible as you can. It's hard to give time for it from our busy life but it's not impossible. How we can visit and stay some day. Thanks for sharing this video.

[@MinsKad]

Ryotuppyi

[@thesource479]

Yes, we need more of this. Entrepreneurs, as groups, centralizing in places around the planet, Conservation zones.. And may each create their own local currency/ crowd-sourced funds.. May the core groups produce a valuation of the lands, and all infrastructure & revenue streams, maintained in such way for future generations.. May true/ real value of the species and serene , beautiful habitats .. be the new sacred value system, in which we mint all that we value into currency form, & fund the world we all wish to share for all future generations.

[@navneetpatil6600]

Its people like them who r providing us air to breedth. They r warrior and savior of india

[@huihohuiho4682]

Pls save mountains & jungles from greed of politicians, corruption & corporates, they are killing tomorrow..

[@pranavnaik2133]

Great work bye Nirmal and Nitin sir.. very inspirational

[@1699ArunjeetSINGH]

Best wishes brothers🙏

[@avinashkumar-td2dp]

These things made us to believe in humanity and inspire where most of us are just exploiting our nature some of us are doing great service to nature.

[@capdink]

Thanks for not ruining the video with some crap music. How lucky are the few who sacrificed a lot for saving the future.

[@RahulPal-wv1im]

Wow, a great initiative 🌲🌲🌴

[@anushkabahutule4970]

I want to visit this resort and contribute to and support this cause!

[@thomasranjit7781]

Go to Kerala...you will be happy....get in touch with Kerala tourism board

[@prachitimhatre706]

wonderful initiative!

[@chetanrawool]

That's near my home town

[@mayaravinder2249]

Great video

[@abdm1311]

A Dreamland for me . I wish I could do like this wildernest

[@syedmohdgulamasghar8809]

Positivity always finds the way of conservation . Also a great idea to surve local people .

[@TourUK]

Woow... simply amazing'

[@ayushir33]

My future Goal❤️

[@dr.ravikirann1865]

Just wow work: great video: keep it up

[@maheshkadu3751]

best-kept secret.... Social media influencer:- not anymore

[@karthikshetty2206]

Very beautiful video. We need build such economy which profits having forest more than replacing them.

[@payalsukh6677]

It's so inspiring, hatsoff, they are real real heros, respect comes directly from heart, I wish I also able to save trees

[@ankeshpandey9640]

Incredible work ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏

[@bishal_k_roy]

This is an absolutely brilliant business idea

[@NITESHYADAV-yv2im]

Great Job Guys..... Please keep up the good work. Never lose hope.

[@Rashi.Chauhan]

So happy seeing this

[@inkipinki4648]

Please make a video on rally for rivers and cauvery calling 🙏

[@dineshkumar-ry4cy]

That's just publicity stunt by jaagi

[@bhanupriyapv]

Water doesn’t come from the tap, it comes from the FOREST 👍🏼

[@nipinjaiswal6551]

Amazing initiative,

[@kaustyagi]

Much respect for these people for what they did and are doing

[@ludwig223]

Please continue 'morning fix' you are one of the only reliable news sources on the internet!

[@prakashmc2842]

Miga Miga Arumai!! Vazhthukkal!!

[@udaybhaskar448]

Fantastic video, thanks to you all for this insightful treat and I felt very warm to see this heartening work by few individuals to transform our culture to respect the nature as we are nature...gratitude and hopeful to make some contribution in this cultural transformation.

[@PeeyushSekhsaria]

it would be effective to show images of open-cast mining and rubber plantations when talking about it - very few people know how awful they look and when compared to the pristine forests would make people realise (perhaps)

[@arun99633]

With lots of ❤️

[@sagardave3947]

Such amazing work I want work in this for a month as volunteer

[@manishbhandari1494]

Thanks for this great initiative, you are real heroes

[@isaackehimkar]

Wildernest is one of my favourite places to experience and explore the forest. Highly recommended for their great initiative!

[@happylives7]

Topclass inspiring work

[@luukeluketer1024]

Nice...Keep it up....

[@4m1t]

Nice video scroll. Keep up the good work.

[@abhinavbharadwaj13]

Need similar initiative for himachal too

[@abhishekjaiswal7146]

Hats off sir!! Commendable job

[@joydeepghosh1781]

Excellent beautiful

[@vinitadas7485]

खूप छान उपक्रम खूप खूप शुभेच्छा 👍

[@jayasreekpj3974]

💕

[@HaritTrivedi7]

I just love what you guys are doing, wish you very best scroll!

[@ilbertsubba420]

Amazing

[@007Chakochi]

This is inspirational.

[@antoniacurreli6703]

It is a pity to noto nave subtitles forma better understanding. Very good job. Bravi,bravi.

[@bharatvas8286]

If every one India understand the key part of nature around that plays important aspect of their life, whole of India can be made a paradise. I did not like the sarcastic comments on temples and untouchability, caste etc in the video. Though people are doing good job looking after forest, nature & animal lives, looks like they are still stuck with narrow mindedness of caste, religion and social enigmas, which is a shame

[@rudraksh634]

Great efforts to preserve and save extincting specie's from extension.

[@praseedpg]

do u have organique produce ? not mentioned clearly, just monocrops . which will add more opportunities to people

[@otakuslive9996]

Good work ,inspiring stories.

[@sarvapatel683]

please start the morning fix it was perfect no bullshit and straight facts and everything one should definitely know

[@sunnythakkar5638]

Please come back with your Daily Morning Fix, that was so helpful.

[@AkshayAbhang]

Proud of you

[@souravbanerjee6564]

Environment is everything So save wildlife

[@amolthete5670]

Great

[@shreyashtodkari908]

Maharashtra government and people should work on it.

[@MrCoolprax]

Good work guys

[@ankeshpandey9640]

please make a video series on how the western culture is affecting the traditional, cultural and ethical diversity of India . please discuss the negative impact also on how the humanity is effected in India by it . And through your voice please help to make a campaign on increasing the awareness amongs the people..... it's a hearty request to you... 🙏🙏🙏🙏❤️

[@ravin2363]

Neither the western culture nor the Indian culture have all the good things in the world. Even swami vivekanand asked us to adopt good things from both and forget the worst things in both cultures. At present it seems people are more attracted towards bad things in both the cultures hence the dilemma.

[@ankeshpandey9640]

@@mohammedalam1361 bro please correct yourself I am not saying any thing to modernization. Modernization and Westernisation are two different things don't mix it .... I have the sence what is right or wrong .

[@ankeshpandey9640]

@@ravin2363 okk I will be agree with it but do know how fastly Indian culture is vanishing from our own India .the diversity which we have in our culture and most importantly the humanity .

[@ankeshpandey9640]

@@rk1785 who ever you are frnd I only talked about the negative impact which must be vanished .... And you are taking it in wrong way.

[@ankeshpandey9640]

@@rk1785 I never ever going to support the cast based discrimination .I just want to say India is a amalgum of various cultural diversity and by adoption of Western culture without thinking about the conciquence on our diversity... There are verious things which are emencly good on our Indian diversity .why to vaish it by following Westernisation madely

[@vimmaisuria2455]

Best kept secret until now