Native place Kamshet-Nirvana Adventure's basecamp

This post shares my stay experience at Native Place,  Nirvana Adventure's basecamp in Kamshet. A detailed FAQs about Native Place has already been covered in this earlier post.

Native House complex includes a main building that has two floors and a terrace, and an additional building that houses about 4 private rooms. Terrace has a motion detecting light system which switches on when someone is passing and switches off thereafter.

My stay was in a Non AC dorm. Thanks to lots of trees in the campus, fan was just fine, didn't feel need for AC. Guests are required to bring their own towels and toiletries. If you've paid for a paragliding course, dorm accommodation is included in the fees. For other guests, tariff starts at Rs 2500 per head per day for the dorms/tented stay, to around Rs 7500 per day (2 pax) for the more luxurious Nirvana wing. There're multiple balconies, open areas and of course terrace for a relaxed stay.

The lake: Main scenic spot near the Native place is a man made lake, created by irrigation department to store water. The lake looks very scenic in the morning. Unfortunately the lake isn't very suitable for swimming, thanks to sharp rocks on the floor and uneven depths.


Above: View of the lake from terrace of Native place
Below: A cleverly designed bird feeding spot, made from oil can. Chirping of various birds is very common sound in Native place campus

 Few clicks from the garden. There'a a firepit for bonfire,

What you see below on left side is the simulator- a paragliding harness hung to the roof complete with brake cables. Students can practice their next day sessions here. You can try rope walking or relax on the slings under a tree.

A tent, seems to be made from old glider canopy
Food at Native Place - A bell is rung when food is ready. Lunch/dinner involves chapati, rice, sambar/dal, some salads and usually a non veg item. Saturday night is little more luxurious with barbecue (Saturday night usually gets maximum occupancy/crowd)

Central court yard is the dining area, with open lighting and trees it is a lovely spot to sit and eat.

Day 02: Morning I got up early, was waiting for the mess bell to ring,(once food is ready bell is rung) but it never did. Walked around the campus, went to the lake nearby. At 8.30 I asked kitchen staff when will breakfast be ready- I was told if I want it now, it will be ready in 5 mins. When I asked about bell, I was told it is used only when there’re large enough crowd. They quickly made some sandwich for me. I had them and left out on the bike to explore the area- rode around a bit. Went closer to the dam which was visible from Native place. 
Rode further to another dam, but security at the gate said no photos, thus didn’t click any. This was a large dam but had little water.

On the way back saw a series of steps. Out of curiosity climbed up the stairs, hoping to spot some temples or something on the top, but there was none. Only got a good view of the surroundings.

Back at native place, map showed two caves within walking distance, but unfortunately didn't manage time to visit on Day 03 and Day 04, which had sort of hectic schedules. Lohgad fort, Lonavla, Karla caves, Bhaja caves etc are within 1 hour driving distance from Native Place. I'd already visited most of them, so didn't make an effort to revisit.

Above: Main entrance of Native Place, made more green and comfortable with lots of flora around.

Besides serving as a base camp for paragliding students, native place also offers outdoor activities for corporate employees, school kids and so on.

If you're in Kamshet area or if you're based in Pune/Mumbai and looking for a weekend getaway, go consider Native Place. When I went in March it was like peak summer. Post monsoon, I am sure it will be lot more livelier.

Related: Nirvana's basic Paragliding course- My Experience * Lavasa Hill city- my thoughts *