The green visionary

The ‘Rainman’ of Barka
BW May 7, 2010

“Wait and watch!” the duo said. One of them had that enigmatic smile playing on the corner of his lips. The other was jovially grinning from ear to ear unable to conceal his glee. It was around mid noon. Outside the enclosure where we sat, ensconced by green foliage, the temperature was doing 40 to 42 degrees Celsius.
Inside, where we sat, the temperature was around 26 or 27 degrees.
We waited, we watched. Then, suddenly, our ears picked up that rhythm. A distant rumble; the sudden drum of rain drops pitter pattering in the distance and then working itself into a storm, and – and in the next moment the whole area shuddered and coalesced with pounding rain.
Outside the enclosure, it was blazing hot. Inside, it was pouring rain. Something wrong somewhere?

No, things couldn’t be better. We were with the ‘rainman’ of Barka. “If you think Barka is hot and dry, you could be so wrong!” both J. S. Dadwal, senior general manager, Barka division, Al Bahja Group of Companies and Stephen Hatton, general manager, Al Nahda resort & spa chorused to us.

Yes, it was hot and sticky outside, but inside this verdant enclosure, it was monsoon at its peak. No, we are not in Kenya, Kerala or in the Khareef season in Salalah. We were at the ‘rainforest’ or simply put, the sprawling farm behind Al Nahda resort in Barka, enjoying an indoor monsoon. Some minutes ago, we were pushing ourselves through dense foliage in one of the many greenhouses in the farm to reach this little green and rainy corner.
It was a real oasis in the desert and certainly not a mirage!

“Isn’t it just like the Amazon jungle?” Dadwalji (as he is fondly known) asked us as the tempo of the rainfall increased. We did not know. But, we knew rain when we saw it; we knew rain when it soaks our body right down to the bone and these showers were like that, and punctuated with thunder and shrill bird calls. We sipped fresh grape juice as we listened to an unusual tale of some men who carved a green wonder on the desert. As they spoke to us, we realised that this oasis was just the beginning and they still had plans to create more wonders.

The ‘rainforest’ is a virtual Greenland behind Al Nahda resort, which was the brainwave of the former chairman of Ajay Group of Companies, the late Ajith Hamlai. The man who put the visionary chairman’s plan into action was Dadwalji and he is slowly bringing to life various dreams that the duo jointly planned. “Our chairman was a visionary, who had some 30 years back, planned this green revolution. He planted the seeds then and today, here we are, with that dream turning into a green reality – here we are standing right in the middle of a tropical rainforest!”

Often, when Dadwalji spoke of the late chairman, his eyes would mist over, but when he spoke of the passion behind making this green sanctuary, his eyes sparkled. “There is so much to say, it will take days before I finish telling you the story behind all this,” Dadwalji said.

Mere chance had brought Dadwalji, who was into R&D, botanical research, animal tissue culture etc., in India, to Oman. “I was with a reputed laboratory in Mumbai between 1987 to ’88, when chance brought me here to Oman. I was consulted to create oil extracts and to dispose of the residual extracts after process. I came to Oman to help produce essentials oils from Oudh, Rehan, Yash leaves!”

Apparently, 350kgs of Yash leaves used to be brought down from Jebel Akhdar then, to produce approximately 10 to 15kgs of Yash oil. “We were discussing what to do with the residues and the thought of creating tablets came up. These powder residues were harmless, but they were in abundance. Since we did not want to waste it, we began to make it in to sweet-smelling bukhoor tablets.”

The green visionary

“We were into the chemicals and extraction processes. And at the same time, the thoughts and ideas of making the farm green came up for discussions. That was the beginning of the small green revolution that took root in greenhouses, tropical rainforests, and later on to roses and orchids. There were no roads in this region at that time. It was all graded roads, and there was no landscaping. So it was more of a challenge for all of us. It was our chairman’s vision to create a green haven. We knew it would take years, but if we did not take the first step then, we would never be able to take it, so we took the plunge. Today, whatever you see in the 350 acres of land is the end result of that first, bold step taken,” Dadwalji said sweeping his hand across the greenery.


Mangoes and lemons
Dadwalji and his skeletal team began a small green house, with cucumbers and roses. The results were so positive that they created four greenhouses. “We made one exclusive for roses, indoor plants, and flowers. To be honest, at that time, there was no concept as such or huge manpower. We just had two to three staff and myself! We brought mango saplings and soon it grew up to 2000 mango trees. It took us three to four years. We have all sorts of mango varieties. We have one variety where each mango is 1.5kgs to 2kgs in weight. And we used many of the local variety saplings, later to be modified in to hybrid varieties. The end result was astonishing. This land is very fertile and gave us very fruitful results – very sweet tasting and big-sized mangoes. There is a local variety that bears fruits throughout the year.”

Dadwalji explained how such encouraging results gave them more confidence and slowly they ventured in to planting lemons, vegetables, in fact, every other fruit varieties. “But for apples, we grew it all here! Today we can proudly boast of a 75-acres lemon farm.
“And, as for mangoes, last year, we sold approximately 500 to 1000kgs of green mangoes a day. We reach it out to Al Mawaleh market,” Dadwalji said, adding that the period from June to July was the mango season.

Orchids bloom
Dadwalji and Stephen then led us into a greenhouse where orchids bloomed by the hundreds. “If orchids can bloom in Thailand, why not here in Oman?” Stephen asked out aloud as Dadwalji once again led us through an incredible orchid garden in full bloom. “We brought some saplings in a bottle down here and placed it in our greenhouse. Today, we have one of the most exquisite varieties of orchid right here in Oman!” Dadwalji added. The varieties present were dazzling. There was even a ‘non-vegetarian’ orchid that promptly fed on ants and other tiny insects that happened to be in the vicinity of the flower trap.

The wellness story
As more and more additions filled the farm, slowly the feeling came to them that they should go beyond being just a unique farm. “The greenhouses, the farms, the greenery brought us to a point where we wanted to share all of this with the public. The idea of wellness, spa came up and then we thought why not a resort? A resort that will feature tree houses, farms, mangoes, orchids, and peacocks.
And that is how Al Nahda resort came into being,” Stephen said.

Harmony with nature
“Needless to say, our late chairman was a visionary. He caused a green revolution in Barka. It takes many years of conceptualisation, initiation and hard work to bring out green results. Al Nahda is a wellness concept, a wellness created out of nature. Everything here is created as a compliment to nature itself. Being in sync with nature takes exceptional vision and I am glad to be part of the Al Nahda. Dadwalji is the green man here. The greenhouses, the trees, the peacocks are all manifestation of his dedicated efforts in live with the far reaching vision of our late chairman,” he said.
To visualise the creation of agricultural/horticultural landscapes for the local community welfare is not a simple process, he added. “This project has been happening since 1987 and today we have 350 acres which include lime plantations, green houses and nurseries, resort, spa, rainforest restaurant, rose, solar and jojoba gardens and agricultural lands, which include banana plantains, sugar cane, vegetable and natural foliage waste areas for compost development,” Stephen detailed. While the farm may dazzle with exotic flowers, plants and fruits, it was also a small zoo with a variety of birds and animals in wide open enclosures. “We have peacocks, peahens, rabbits, ducks, dogs…” Stephen noted. But the most exciting part was the peacock enclosure which had around 60 peacocks. The peacocks generally stand for auspiciousness and beauty. Two of them spread out their feathers in an impressive show for us.
By Adarsh madhavan, Najib Al balushi, Priya Arunkumar

Nature adopted me

Al Nahda resort has adopted some of the attractions too. Today, the resort has waterfalls, a 25mts long sauna tunnel, and fountains. A variety of trees dot the resort’s landscape.

Although Dadwalji spoke at length about the project, at no point did he take credit for the wonders that he had created. At the most, he would claim to have brought to reality the vision of his beloved chairman. “I will not take any credit for all this. I just love nature. And I am blessed that nature has adopted me. I love to be near plants and flowers. If you love nature, she (nature) will love you back. I am fortunate that I could be of use to this society.”

Think green

“We all should think green. It does not take much effort; it is just a thought that can soon be a way of life. I feel I have only done 30 percent. Another 70 per cent is still pending. I still believe it is nature that brought me here. I was destined to be instrumental to create whatever green I could with the vision of our late chairman… he is still in our hearts, amongst this greenery…” Dadwalji said looking into the distance, his eyes misting over again.