SpaAshram RiverMountain Retreat is situated on the Upper Ganges, 32 km upstream of Rishikesh, 280 kms by road from New Delhi. The site is located on a rugged mountain side, descending all the way down to the river Ganges and its silver beaches, through original and afforested verdure. Using ecomagination and vision only limited areas have been “humanized “and much kept as wildland. Rather than the city style gym, the site offers inbuilt, naturally inclined walks.

Biodiversity, including wildlife and bird life, and conservation
The jungles across the river and in the gorges are dense and harbour fantastic and rare wildlife including the Himalayan black bear, Leopard, Kakar, Goral Ant Eater, Ratel and Porcupines. Jim Corbett's (the legendary Shikari of the Raj) famous chapter on the Maneater of Rudraprayag is set not far from here as the crow flies…The well known Chilla Rajaji National Park which also has wild elephant is also close by...You will hear the alarm call, a short yelping bark of the kakkar at night –given when the predator (that self same leopard- panthera pardus) lurks in the shadows of the night. In the summer months, Himalayan black bear can be sighted opposite river. Bird life include amongst numerous others, the Himalayan Goldenbacked Woodpecker, Great Indian Tree Pie, Grey Wagtail, the darter or Snake Bird, and the Black Cormorant

SpaAshram RiverMountain Retreat primarily uses local staff native to the region. Using traditional knowledge and incorporating this in its activities and operations wherever possible, this policy has accued benefits and goodwil,l and therefore there is a direct plough back of revenue into the region.

The retreat follows a strict rule of packing out all non degradable garbage to city dumps, and orients staff to this practice. It also exposes select staff in techniques such as composting and sericulture, mahseer conservation and has turned “poachers” into wildlife and fishing guides.

For those bathing by the river, rather than allowing soap and detergent, we use native bark which lathers and which is the perfect environment friendly detergent. This is just one example of benefiting from deploying local staff and leveraging native traditional knowledge of medicinal plants and herbs.