Long-tailed shrike
Flora & Fauna
The Land
The land came first. Two hundred species of plant, and the birds that came with them.
The Estate
Satori is a working estate above Mulshi Lake. More than two hundred species of plant grow here, and most of them have a job: fruit for the kitchen, herbs for the spa, a tree for every birth star.
The birds were not planted. They came because the rest was. What follows is a record of what lives here, counted where we could count it.
The birds of the estate.
Some homes are named for them.
Photographs by Sachit Handa
Red-whiskered bulbul
Red-wattled lapwing
Jungle babbler
Long-tailed shrike, juvenile
Red-vented bulbul
Jungle babbler
Long-tailed shrike
Butterflies, too.
The ixora and jatropha along the paths were planted for colour. The butterflies read them as a menu.
Common Jezebel on jatropha
Swallowtail on ixora
Once in a season.
Some of it you have to be here for.
Brahmakamal
It blooms once a year at Satori, at night, and is closed again by morning.
The monsoon bloom
A purple flower that arrives with the rains and goes with them.
The Nakshatra garden.
Find the tree of your birth star.
Twenty-seven lunar constellations, and one tree planted for each. Nine of them are below. The horticulture team will walk you to the other eighteen.
Bharani
Amla
Rohini
Jamun
Pushya
Peepal
Purva Phalguni
Palash
Hasta
Neem
Vishakha
Wood apple
Moola
Mango
Uttarashadha
Jackfruit
Shatataraka
Kadamba
The orchard.
In season, you pick your own.
Every fruit tree on the old land, as counted in October 2025. The breakfast comes off these.
Banana
50
Papaya
50
Mango
49
Avocado
35
Guava
20
Karonda
20
Lemon
19
Wood apple (kawath)
17
Litchi
16
Amla
15
Cashew
14
Custard apple (sitaphal)
14
Sweet lime (mosambi)
12
Chikoo
12
Jamun
12
Ramphal
12
Water apple (pink jamb)
10
Wax apple (white jamb)
10
Barbados cherry
10
Indian jujube (bor)
8
Jackfruit
8
Nagpur orange
8
Dwarf coconut
7
Pomelo
6
Spanish cherry
5
Carambola (kamrakh)
4
Fruit trees on the old land
443
The young forest.
On the new land, a Miyawaki planting: native trees set close together so they race each other upward. It will not look like much for a few years. Then it will.
Kadamba
20
Karanj
20
Gulmohar
20
Bakul (Mimusops elengi)
20
Pride of India (Lagerstroemia)
20
Copper pod (Peltophorum)
20
Tabebuia rosea
20
Spathodea
20
Sonchafa (Michelia champaca)
10
Portia tree
10
Areca palm
10
Trees planted, phase one
190
The medicinal beds.
What the spa and the kitchen draw on, by name. Ask the gardeners which is which.
Wekhand
Acorus calamus
Insulin plant
Costus pictus
Ashwagandha
Withania somnifera
Shatavari
Asparagus racemosus
Gokarna, butterfly pea
Clitoria ternatea
Moringa
Moringa oleifera
Krishna tulsi
Ocimum tenuiflorum
Kapoor tulsi
Ocimum kilimandscharicum
Hadjod
Cissus quadrangularis
Davana
Artemisia pallens
Brahmi
Bacopa monnieri
Karvi
Strobilanthes callosa
Peppermint
Mentha piperita
Sadafuli
Catharanthus roseus
Haldikunku
Lantana camara
Marigold
Tagetes erecta
Sonchafa
Michelia champaca
Citronella
Pelargonium citrosum
Multivitamin plant
Sauropus androgynus
Sarpagandha
Rauvolfia serpentina
Lakshmi taru
Simarouba glauca
Gulvel
Tinospora sinensis
Gurmar (bedki cha pala)
Gymnema sylvestre
Chichardi
Solanum indicum
Murudsheng
Helicteres isora
Kuda
Holarrhena pubescens
Satwin
Alstonia scholaris
Anantmul
Hemidesmus indicus
Wawding
Embelia tsjeriam-cottam
The kitchen garden.
A few steps from the pass.
The spices are picked the day they are used, and the seasonal vegetables in the beds between them decide the menu.
Cinnamon
Nutmeg
Clove
Bay leaf
Allspice
Black pepper
Kokum
Tamarind
Curry leaf
Drumstick
Lemongrass
Sweet basil
