In the times of shrinking forests and quick-fix plantation drives, a small community at the Gurukula Botanical Sanctuary is doing something truly special.

For the last 44 years, this small group of “gardeners in service to forests” has been patiently nurturing a part of the Western Ghats, bringing degraded lands back to life. What they have achieved is mind-boggling.

They have managed to grow and propagate over 2000 native plant species. To put this in perspective, growing even one wild plant species is extremely difficult. These aren’t plants you see in a nursery, almost no one else in the world has done this at their 80-acre scale.

It has become one of the few places that is a real training ground for restoration, with over 5000 people visiting each year, including some of India’s top experts.

They plant species on trees (epiphytes, as shown in the second picture) that literally help create localised rain, which in turn feeds our rivers and aquifers.

What I understood was that there’s no rushing a forest back to life. It requires immense knowledge, patience, and being in it for the long haul.

We partnered with them through Rainmatter Foundation last year to support the School of Ecological Nurturance and expand their conservation and education efforts.

The kind of work that is easy to miss but is exactly what we need.

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