My first visit to the Tree Tops (now called the Tree Tops Hotel) was several years ago. It was built on stilts to accommodate 100 visitors overnight, and overlooking a spacious water hole where buffaloes and elephants came to drink in large herds. You will also see a number of other game, such as waterbuck and bushbuck and an occasional bongo in the evening.
The balcony is at least 30 feet above the pool, and from here you can see the remains of the old Tree Tops on the other side. It was burned down by the mau mau in 1954. It was built on a giant ficus tree and accommodated five or six people one time. That was the place Corbett knew, and it was here in February 1952, the then princess Elizabeth arrived with her husband to spend the night, and Corbett was invited to join them.
The royal party, upon arrival at the site was welcomed by a large herd of angry elephants. Once the visitors climbed up and settled down on the balcony, the young princess started filming the wildlife below, and asking Corbett’s opinion of these animals. After dinner, Corbett excused himself went out of the dining area to have a smoke. The duke of Edinburgh joined him and they discussed the Abominable Snowman. Corbett made it clear that there was no such thing and the yeti was stemmed from the folklore in Nepal. Later Sir Edmund Hillary investigated this matter thoroughly, obtaining a ’yeti scalp’ from a temple of Nepal, examined by experts and found that it was made from the skin of a serow.
While the princess was watching the game, her father King George VI had passed away in his sleep in Sandringham.
This made the princess next heir to the throne. In the journal kept at the Tree Tops, Corbett wrote: ’’For the first time in the history of the world, a young girl climbed into a tree one day a princess, and after having what she described as her most thrilling experience she climbed down next day a Queen’’
Corbett finished writing the final manuscript of this book on 6 April 1955. 13 days later he was dead. The book was published in October that year with an excellent foreword by Lord Hailey, Corbett’s dear friend who helped him immensely in the creation of India’s first National park while he was the governor of U.P. Then called the Hailey Park, and now it is named after the great hunter, naturalist and humanitarian. The Corbett Park is India’s permanent tribute to the man who truly loved, respected and helped the poor of India.
Tree Tops is available in paperback in India, published by Oxford. This small book is profusely illustrated by Raymond Sheppard, and priced at Rs.95