The Trees
The land we are built on was once a banana plantation, flanked on either side by thick tropical rainforests. We began our journey by planting many hundreds of endemic saplings that have now grown into a canopy of tall fairy-tale trees, seamlessly merging into the forest around us.
Our Cottages
Drawing from vernacular architecture, our cottages and villas are built using natural, renewable material - cane, thatch and wood. The wood is sourced from plantations that have a certified replanting program. As they are built raised on stilts, the cottages and villas do not interfere with the runoff after rain.
For the Birds
We, as well as ornithologists, have spotted over 50 species
and subspecies of birds within the resort, including most of the 22 species endemic to the Andaman Islands. We have chosen not to add pathway lighting so as to not disturb our resident endemic owls. Instead, we give you flashlights, to enjoy your experience in the midst of the jungle.
The Island Life
With a diverse group amongst us, only very few from our team come from mainland India and most are from the local communities of Andaman settlers, including those belonging to the Andaman Karen tribe whose origins are in Burma, as also those collectively referred to as the “Ranchis”, who belong to the Oraon, Kharia, Munda, Mahli Turi, Ghasi, Cheek and Dom tribes of the Chota nagpur & Santhal Paragana region of what is now Jharkhand and of course the more visible Bengali settlers who make up the majority population of the Andamans. We would be happy to share a glimpse of the Andaman way of life.
It Takes a Village
We are actively engaged with village life at Havelock, as we sponsor various village sporting tournaments, support the local primary school and fund festival celebrations of the local community. While we grow a part of our produce, we lend our support to the island’s local business community, sourcing most of the fruits, vegetables, meat and sea food from them.
The Circle of Life
We have no alien, exotic or water-hungry plants in our landscaping and our open areas are naturally landscaped to mirror the forest. We compost organic and garden waste. Food waste is fed into our piggery. Organic compost, including refuse from our livestock is used in the garden and our livestock sometimes find themselves on our menu. Our menus at the resort and many more have been printed on recycled paper.
Waste Management
Kitchen waste water flows through grease traps and sewage is directed into septic tanks before being taken through our Sewage Treatment Plant. Waste water flows into soak pits. A natural purification process then takes over, ensuring the ground water is not polluted and the water table is undisturbed. We have limited our use of non bio-degradable waste and are moving towards complete elimination, while also choosing responsible means of disposal.
Cleaning the Beach
We are increasingly taking responsibility for waste generated by others, for example by collecting debris washing a shore through regular beach clean-ups. We encourage our guests to join us in this activity and to help us rid Havelock of non bio-degradable waste.
Water, Water Everywhere
Our primary source of water is a confined perennial underground spring emerging at the base of the hill behind our resort. Overflow from here is fed into a pond. In addition, we have two more ponds and two open wells to harvest and store rainwater. As we have been entirely self-sufficient in our supply of water, we have never found a need to tap into the local water supply system and do not compete for water resources with our neighbouring farmers. In order to minimise the usage of water, we change towels and sheets on request, when they are placed in the laundry basket. Flush cisterns have been modified to require less water per flush.
Many a Drop to Drink
Our in-house Reverse Osmosis plant supplies water to drink and for kitchen use. We urge guests to refill their bottles with this water and avoid buying single-use plastic bottled water. The reject from the RO plant is used in the garden and has been tested fit for the purpose.