As stewards of the local land, we do all we
can to create an eco-friendly environment:

• We operate a ‘no-plastic’ policy. As part of our ‘no plastic policy’ we do not use bottled water, as even a hotel this size could easily generate a hundred empty bottles a day. All our drinking water is purified on site by the most up to date ‘reverse osmosis’ method, and is perfectly safe to drink. This water comes in copper jugs which, according to Ayurveda, give it added nutritional value. Not only is this water safe, nutritious and delicious to drink, but it leaves no plastic footprint.
• We also use bags made of cotton and recycle paper (which gives work to the local people)
• We are a non-smoking hotel
• All kitchen waste is recycled to provide bio-gas for rubbish incineration
• All human waste is purified and used to water the garden
• All garden waste is recycled to make mature compost
• All burnable waste is incinerated on site
• Water is conserved
• The gardens are kept free of artificial fertilisers
• The site has been landscaped to encourage butterflies and a large range of local and migratory birds

Future Plans
In the next phase of our development we shall be setting up an organic vegetable garden and making use of solar energy in the site.

The Malabar Foundation
As part of our commitment to ecological awareness and the fostering and preservation of all wildlife in the area, we have established the Malabar Foundation. This organisation will work with relevant governmental bodies, local NGO's and also other hotels in the region to do everything we can to raise awareness of, and implement genuinely beneficial programmes for, the precious ecology of Malabar.

Wildlife

Turtles Our beach at the Hermitage is part of a 12 kilometre stretch on which a rare and beautiful species of turtle is battling for survival. This is the Olive Ridley, named for the delicate olive colour of its heart-shaped shell. One of the smallest of the sea turtles, with adults reaching 2 to 2½ feet in length and weighing 80 to 110 pounds, the Olive Ridley is now an endangered species. Between August and March each year the females visit our beach at the full moon to lay their eggs, which they bury up to a metre in the sand. Between six and eight weeks later, again at night, the eggs hatch. The newborn hatchlings struggle gamely to make their way to the sea, their tiny heads bobbing above the waves as they swim far out into the moonlit water. For the next 20-25 years they will swim thousands of miles around the oceans of the world, before the females return for the first time to the very same beach to lay their eggs; the males also return after 30 years.

But these amazing figures also tell a sad story: though eight out of ten eggs hatch, only 1 out of 1000 hatchlings that make it to the ocean survive. Birds, large fish, diminishing breeding habitat and food stocks are not their only enemies; humans have traditionally harvested eggs, fresh hatchlings and adult turtles.

Fortunately, at Neeleshwar there is now there is a local volunteer NGO group that collects the eggs [totalling 7000 in 2006], takes them to a protected hatchery 2 kms south along the beach, and supervises the safe return of the hatchlings to the sea.

We are keen to do all we can to help join in the worldwide fight to preserve this rare and endangered species.

Birdlife The Hermitage is surrounded by rice fields and coconut groves. The nearest belt of forest is some kilometres away and one can see grassland species such as chats, robins, warblers, and species that may be seen in open country such as pipits, drongos, babblers etc. The most evident bird of prey is the Brahminy Kite which replaces the Pariah Kite seen commonly in the north. The gardens, with their many varieties of trees and plants, attract a number of species such as sunbirds, white-eyes, mynahs, wagtails and even coucals and woodpeckers. What is more, they can often be seen, frolicking outside, from the window of your cottage. Outside the grounds one can stroll along the beach, saunter along the little lagoon to the north or ask for a boat ride to be arranged to the backwaters. The best time for bird-watching is between November and February; at this time the local population of waterfowl - moorhens, water hens, swamp hens, egrets, rails, crakes is joined by many types of migratory birds.