Face To Face with Daleep S. Akoi
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What drew you to the hotel and hospitality industry and how did you get here?
Quite accidently, actually. I come from a family of builders and agriculturists, attuned more toward conservation and philanthropy. I went to the United States for a bachelor’s degree and after an eleven-year spell in New York, I was eventually drawn back to the familiar. During my last year in NY my father started to build what he called his pet project, a jungle lodge at the edge of Corbett Tiger Reserve, Asia’s first protected national park and the staging ground for India’s tiger conservation effort. His decision to set up a lodge stemmed from a desire to provide employment to local villagers, historically dependent on forest produce, and to give a quality jungle experience to our guests. Having spent many family vacations in the same forest, it was natural that I begin my new career from there as well. My father’s association with Corbett traces back to his early childhood and were cemented in his school years, with frequent angling excursions and month-long photography sabbaticals inside the park. So were mine. And providing our guests with a similar experience is our primary aim: a thrilling wildlife experience with a tactful implantation of conservation ideals.
Tell us about your current property and the concept behind it?
Specialty lodging in India has gained popularity over the last 10 years, particularly in the wildlife space and there are several options to choose from in Corbett. Recognising this, we set ourselves apart by focusing on the authenticity of a jungle experience. We have tried to maximise our relationship with the landscape around us – the 15 acres offer 20 private lodging units, styled to integrate with the surrounding environment. Apart from the nearly 100 bird species that are resident or visiting, the retreat is also host to India’s largest antelope, deer, wild hogs and jackals, all regular wanderers, followed keenly by leopards and tigers, while the electric fence surrounding the retreat provides security from herds of migrating elephants.
The lodge’s design captures the area’s architectural history, borrowing from Raj-era bungalows, shikaari tents and gujjar-inspired thatched cottages. The gujjars, a pastoral community, live within the buffer forest and nearly 90% of our staff are local villagers. Their employment with us supports between 35 and 40 families, most of whom don’t venture into the jungle anymore, thereby reducing man-animal conflict.Our guided jungle walks interpret the forest and its wildlife, and have provided tiger and elephant sighting on foot! Our safaris are managed by professionals with years of experience in the jungle, while born-fire evenings are often hosted by visiting conservationists, photographers and writers.
How long has it been open, what kind of market are you aiming at and how are occupancy rates looking?
We began operations in December 2006, focusing on the guest experience and exploring new ways of delivering the jungle. Considering the number of wildlife lodges to choose from, it has been a slow process to gain access to a larger market share. Having succeeded in establishing our brand, travel agents have begun to respond to guest requesting our property and not one the agency has a tie up with. As a result, occupancy rates are looking up and have grown year on year.Corbett is a roughly five-hour drive from Delhi, connected well by a railroad, a fast developing highway and an airport roughly an hour and half away. It also is a staging ground for further exploration of the mountain-state of Uttarakhand. As a result, the market of potential buyers of the Jim’s Jungle product is very diverse and dependent on seasons. There’s the inbound foreign traveller who visits during the October-March months, there’s the Delhi weekender and the pan-Indian holiday maker, and also hardcore wildlife enthusiasts. All in all, we hope to capture those interested in a jungle experience that is meaningful, exciting and private.
What are the main external influences affecting your business? Are there particular issues of concern to you and your business?
For several seasons connectivity was a major issue. A serious governance deficit in the connecting state of Uttar Pradesh meant that the road networks have only recently begun to resemble modern highways. Meanwhile limited seats in the train coming to Corbett meant long waiting lists and unreliable service. That has changed a bit over the last two years. While overbooking can still be a problem, there are now two trains that serve Delhi-Corbett daily. The Pantnagar airport, long forgotten in the scheme of things, is now back on the policy planner’s radar. Apart from a few chartered flights and an expansion plan, the airport is going to come to life again with a scheduled flight from Kingfisher Airlines I’m told later this year!
While connectivity is being sorted out, the real problem one envisages is the quantity and quality of rooms available in the Corbett area. Unfortunately, in the blitzkrieg of development, environmental and building standards have been ignored. The state government needs to realise that Corbett is a limited resource and can only sustain a finite number of visitors every year. A balanced approach toward development is sorely needed, both in limiting the number of lodgings available in one area, and in exploring and developing new tourist centers in the state.
Do you have any more projects in the pipeline?
Happily, yes. Having gained quite a bit of experience in the lodging sector, I’m looking to develop some of our ancestral properties that have a unique history and story to tell. In Dehradun, the capital of Uttarakhand, an early 20th century Gothic-Saracen-inspired home is being converted into an eight suite bed and breakfast. The castle-like building is in a quiet part of the city, close to the state’s iconic buildings, the Indian Military Academy and the Forest Research Institute, both contracted to my ancestor to construct in the early part of the 1900s. The house he built, Shumshere, will be an experience of the old Raj lifestyle, of butlers and bearahs and vintage and classic cars.The next project involves a lovely wooden cottage up in the Himalayas in Himachal Pradesh, in a small town called Khajjiar. The town has a naturally occurring meadow, thought to be the product of a meteor burn, surrounded by a thick coniferous forest teeming with birdlife. At its center is a pond fed by an underground stream and a 12th century temple to Shiva. The cottage sits on a hill away from the bustle of the town and was built by my great-grand aunt, a Scot who married into the family and decided to stay on. Overlooking the magnificent Dhauladhar mountain range of the Himalayas, Elizabeth’s Cottage will come online this October.
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