Mandvi beach is the only privately owned beach in India, with the property extending right up to the waterline



Two-and-a-half kilometers of beach all to yourself. A waiter from the restaurant trudges across the sand, bearing provender. Long pool-chairs, under a thatch umbrella. The waves gambol in a few feet away. A fairly determined sort of breeze comes in from the west. A chap could get used to this.

It sits in the middle of the 450 acres of mildly domesticated jungle that make up the backyard of Vijay Vilas, the summer retreat of the former rulers of Mandvi. Seeing the tent resorts in touristy places, you will decide that tents made better sense to start up with, raters tan built-up structures, which require lots of paperwork.

There is accommodation for 10 pairs of guests at the moment, so it works out to a comfortable 200 metres of beach per couple at peak occupancy, a ratio that I have only seen in one beach in Goa and one other nearer home. (And no, I'm not telling you where either of them are.) Since it's an eight-kilometer drive to Mandvi, which in turn is many miles away from the rest of the world, you're not going to get Anjuna levels of madding crowd any time soon.

The camp consists 10 tents in a clearing, each sleeping two, a sand dune and a line of scrub and tress separating them from the beach and protecting them from the worst of the weather. Each one is set on its own concrete plinth, a little sit-out in the front, with a couple of dinky camel-leather deck chairs. Te styling is reminiscent of royal expedition tents of yore: scalloped edges, carved finials atop the tent poles, awning over the entrance. One looks around automatically for men on horseback returning from the shikaar or from a battle.

A quibble: considering the vast acreage available, they're set rather too close to each other, with the support ropes of neighbouring tents overlapping. Given canvas walls, it might get noisy when the place is fully booked.

The tents are triple-layered, a candy striped inner tent, over that a thicker outer, and over it all, a waterproof roof. It keeps the rainout very well, and the lack of natural ventilation is more than compensated for with a high power air-conditioner.

Inside, a coir-carpeted floor, twin beds, bedside tables with a small storage space, carved wood chairs, and a writing table. The chairs are nice-looking; Lighting is a couple of lamps beside the beds. AT the back, behind the flap, is a largish titled, walled bathroom, its roof an extension of you tent. Electricity and water are on 24 hours.

Meals are delivered to your tent, or you can amble over to the thatched roof restaurant that looks out on to the beach. The restaurant claims to serve India, Continental and Chinese, and local specialties.

Overall, the place does itself a disservice with its branding: it calls itself a luxury beach camp, which raises expectations way too much. It is, no doubt, very comfortable, (ACs and proper plumbing in the tent, woohoo!) and gives fair value for your money, Dismiss the claim of luxury and take the place for what it is, and you have a pretty unique getaway.

The service is excellent-polite, attentive, and eager to cater to personal preferences, quick to acknowledge, and compensate for, shortcomings. And the location, the location.

Item: A waiter making the long walk from the restaurant with a tray of tea and toast, waving out to you as you wallow in the blood-warm tide pool you have discovered, waiting patiently for you to get back and get dry to offer to pour a cup for you. As along as the Mandvi Maharao and his family use their property as they have thus far, their little slice of paradise is likely to stay pristine.

THE INFORMATION

GETTING THERE

Bhuj, a title over 60km away, is the nearest airport and railhead. There is at least one flight in and out every day, mainly to Mumbai. Two trains connect with Mumbai and other parts of Gujarat. From Bhuj, you can take a local bus (roughly half-hour frequencies), to Mandvi, and ten take a taxi or a rickshaw to the Beach Camp. Or you cold haggle for a taxi, fares are extortionate, higher even that Goa, so you could wind up paying as high as $50 for the trip. Other possible connecting points: Gandhidham, 90km, Rajkot, 250, km: Ahmedabad, 450km.

THE CAMP

The tariffs at the 10 tents currently available at the camp are $150 per night for two people, with breakfast, lunch and dinner. Packages are also available. The standard package, which is for three days and two nights and includes all meals, costs $120 from Monday to Thursday. On weekends, public holidays and the Christmas/New Year week, the rate goes up to $150 for a couple.

WHAT TO SEE & DO

The Places is open for guided tours during the day. You can also take walks, or camel or horse rides, on the beach or within the woodland around the camp, effectively a private sanctuary, with plenty of birds-flamingo in the right season, partridge, peacocks- and if you're lucky, nilgai, chinkara and jackals,

The management will make arrangements for you if you want to make day trips from the camp. The Lala Bustard Sanctuary is 74km north of the camp, where you can see the Indian Bustard, an endangered species, and the rare Lesser Florican. You may also see gazelles, foxes, jackals, wolves, and of course a wealth of bird life.

For the devout, the 72-jijalaya Jain complex at Badreshwar, the Jain temples at Naliya and Tera, the Hindu sore temple of Kotshwar and Narayan Sarovar, and the Lakpath Gurudwara are within striking distance. The Bhuj-Mandvi area is god for shopping for the exquisite Kutchi embroidered textiles and other handicrafts.

Mandvi is a big boat-building centre, and on your way in, you cross a creek where you can see massive wooden boats being built from the ground up.

WHEN TO GO

Gujarat gets some pretty extreme doses of the monsoon, so, while the place is breathtakingly beautiful and pleasant in the rains, you could wind up stranded if transport succumbs to the weather. And, though the water deepens very gradually, the current is strong, and the water, the choppy and brown, summer gets extreme too? over 40C in the day, peak season December to March, When the westerner come in search of sunbathing. The water is calm and blue then-so management says, and the photographs l've seen agree-and it's cool. In fact nigh temperatures in December can go as low as 7C so take thick pajama.

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