From barren ground to 150 species

When we first walked the site at Anjar in Kutch there was very little to read. The ground was bare and exposed to wind and sun. Nothing on it suggested a garden, still less a place that birds and animals would one day choose to visit.

Barren land asks for patience before it asks for planting. A nature park cannot be installed in the way a lawn can be laid. It has to be built in layers, so that each stage of growth prepares the ground for the next. Shade makes room for understorey. Understorey brings insects. Insects bring birds.

The planting grew to more than 150 species. Variety was the point. A park of a single kind of tree is a collection, not a habitat. Many species flowering and fruiting at different times give wildlife a reason to stay through the year rather than simply pass through.

Today the park supports a rich life of birds and animals on ground that once held almost none. It is the clearest expression we know of our belief that a landscape should give back more than it takes. Even the most barren site can become a living place when it is given time and care.