Boutique luxury retreat Coco Shambhala in Sindhudurg, India, is the cat walk where nature struts its stuff
Designed artfully to embrace the great outdoors, the picturesque villa property, moulded into a hill, is located in the western Indian state of Maharashtra. Like the mythical Shambhala, there is a sense of peace and sensual perfection here – the sound of waves washing up to the white swathe of Bhogwe beach 200 metres away, the fragrance of a salt-laden breeze and of birds tweeting on unseen boughs.
Billed as amongst the world’s top 25 villas, the sustainable tropical retreat‘s four villas on stilts come with two en suite bedrooms and a breezy open-sided living space that opens onto a private infinity swimming pool and ropes in stunning views of the curve of sand and sea in the distance. Bird watching is de rigueur when one relaxes on the tiny sit-outs of the two bedrooms, or a lounger on the edge of one’s private swimming pool. Feathered beauties flit in the tangle of lush vegetation in the foreground which serves as a nesting site for richly plumed birds.
Coco Shambhala (not to be confused with Como Shambhala, the wellness brand of Como Hotels & Resorts) was designed and built by 47-year-old Giles Knapton, an avowed Indophile, and a backpacker in his youth. As a callow 17-year-old, he had backpacked in India and returned to the UK only to be haunted by memories of a wondrous land. In his 30s, he was back in India and did not leave. He was restless, however, and trekked for another five years, exploring unvarnished beaches in the coastal belt of Maharashtra to the north of India’s loved-to-death destination, Goa. On these sandy stretches, lit by flaming sunrises and sunsets, all you can see even today are hermit crabs and the occasional fisherman.
READ: We Talk Inspiration with Taiwanese Designer Celia Chu
That is when he stumbled on the hilltop with its sea-hugging vistas. Though just two and a half hours away from the frenetic buzz of Goa, “this is one of the most bio-diverse places on the planet,” he avers. Giles felt at a visceral level that the healing energy of these sandy swathes had to be preserved. He set about building the four-villa boutique property overlooking Bhogwe beach. He used local materials and labour and designed his low-impact resort in the style of the traditional vernacular with pitched Mangalore tile roofs.
Giles was “the architect and project manager” rolled into one, as he puts it, and felt a sense of responsibility to a land that wasn’t his. The property is so well coddled into the landscape that it is not visible from the outside. Indeed, Coco Shambhala reveals its charms slowly – one mounts a series of laterite steps to reach the hilltop villas, buried amidst fragrant frangipani, plumeria, lilies and glistening green foliage.
READ: Galapagos is the Land Before Time
“My desire was to create a sustainable model, which, when we chose to vacate, would not leave any mark on the land which played host to us,” Giles explains. “I took the responsible direction ever more seriously, striving to employ from the local community, retraining the workers from the building site to become hospitality professionals.” The steep hillside was not scalped but instead construction was dovetailed with the natural topography of the land.
Coco Shambhala has an understated design style enhanced by its open-to-nature air. Sleek handcrafted furniture and the slatted wall that frames the entrance to the villas were made on site with local renewable coconut wood. The villas exude an aura of sustainable luxury – recycled lamps, copper glasses, jugs and crockery meld with all the mod cons including a spa.
READ: Where to Eat, Stay & Play in Buenos Aires
One of the most pleasurable experiences at Coco Shambhala is to dine on imaginative local and international fare in the pavilion-like living area of your villa, all of it crafted with local ingredients and the fresh catch of the day. The meals are virtual banquets with choices ranging from Mezze platters, Spanish gazpacho, raw papaya and mango salad, Italian poke bowl, soft tacos with grilled chicken, ravioli of fenugreek and cottage cheese, butter and curry leaf poached prawns and a spectrum of earthy local fare spiked with honest-to-goodness authenticity.
The outdoorsy lifestyle is a gift that the retreat offers its guests – there are crescents of sand and a forgotten sea fort to explore within hiking distance; snorkelling, scuba diving and scoping out hidden cascades that gush at the end of rocky trails; and a boat trip on Walawal river which ends at secret temples in a village; paddling past mangroves in a canoe along the Karli river for a spot of bird watching.
READ: New Six Senses for Kyoto
Come evening, you can relax by your private swimming pool and gaze at the moody landscape flush with colour – greens, blues, browns and the white of scudding clouds – much like an Impressionist painting.