BCIL has signed up with the Centre for Rainforest Ecology [CRE] for a collaborative platform that will be created at Zed Acres in the lush Kopatti valley of Coorg, a 20-minute drive from Madikeri.

This rainforest patch of BCIL is over 70 acres with 4 mountains, and two perennial, roaring streams that form part of the campus. The rich flora and fauna at Zed Acres marks the rare tertiary stage succession rainforest that Zed Acres is. The Company had acquired this land in 1997 only because of its receiving 24 feet of annual rainfall, or over 7200 mm.

The CRE, headed by Gowrishankar, a core environmentalist, is a rare organisation dedicated entirely to training experts on high-end ecology and rainforest programme at the Post Masters levels for specialized professionals in biology, taxonomy, herpetology, ornithology and other upper reaches of scientific research. Says BCIL’s Dinesh, who created the collaboration, “As an environmentalist myself, I have worked with the Whitaker farm and Romulus Whitaker and his son for many years. Gowrishankar is a fine researcher who will know how to guide the highest values on such biodiversity research at Zed Acres.”

Dinesh envisages the further populating of Zed Acres with a very responsible, and eco-conscious, tourism initiative that will host extremely discerning nature-lovers at the tastefully designed set of chalets that Zed Acres will launch early next year. Plans are afoot for completion of the facilities that will offer a truly out-of-the-world, deep-ecology experience of this rainforest patch.

source: http://www.zed.in / ZED / Home> ZED Updates