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Ranked among Forbes Middle East’s “Top 100 Travel & Tourism Leaders” and a rising force in sustainable tourism, Chris Nader shares with This is Beirut the story of his remarkable journey. With ENVI Lodges, he is redefining luxury tourism by blending immersion in nature with visionary ambition, while staying deeply rooted in his family heritage.
Telling Chris Nader’s story is like stepping behind the scenes of a quiet revolution, where high-end tourism reconnects with nature and luxury is redefined, not by ostentation but by authenticity and meaning. Chris, a young father and Lebanese entrepreneur based in Dubai, constantly rethinks what vacations, well-being, and hospitality truly mean in a world longing for disconnection and roots.
While ENVI Lodges officially launched in 2021, its origins stretch further back, rooted in a personal quest to return to what truly matters. “It all started with me as a traveler, noticing everything we were establishing and developing. It came from a personal need, including mine, my wife’s, my family’s, my friends’, shaped by what I was seeing and reading.”
What stands out about Chris is his sincerity. There is no empty storytelling, only a genuine desire to offer what he himself seeks: authentic experiences, immersion in nature, comfort without excess, and the feeling of being “away” while truly at ease.
For him, nature is not simply a backdrop. It is a promise: to sleep in a lodge that is elegant, yet discreet, to wake up to a valley, a forest, or an oasis, and to be welcomed as a valued guest in an intimate setting. Chris explains, “I kept asking myself what I truly wanted from my travels. Where would I take my family? Where could I genuinely disconnect? What experiences did I want to have? Where did I want to sleep?”
This personal reflection became the blueprint for ENVI, a boutique brand that prioritizes intimacy and meaning over scale and grandeur.
Even before creating lodges, Chris Nader imagined himself as a traveler. His Instagram account, @hotel_trotter, invites followers to explore remote landscapes and rare hotels, offering a trail of inspiration, encounters, and wanderlust. This insatiable curiosity drives his vision and constantly pushes the boundaries of traditional hospitality.
ENVI Lodges in Al Ahsa- KSA. © Envilodges
At first, nothing was predetermined. Chris Nader and Noelle Homsy, co-founder and architect, assembled an eclectic team of former Aman and Six Senses professionals and experts in development, operations, and marketing, all motivated by a desire to do things differently. This diversity became ENVI’s true strength. “Building a brand that reflects who Noelle and I are, while bringing together an incredible team with diverse yet specialized expertise, was key.” It is no coincidence that ENVI chooses locations where others hesitate, often in territories uncharted for this type of hospitality.
ENVI’s approach defies industrial logic. There is no standardization, no copy and paste. Every site is selected for its uniqueness and ability to immerse the traveler. “Location and the site itself play a critical role in the success of these projects and the experience we can offer. When evaluating a site, we ask what guests can actually do during their stay. Does it truly immerse them? Do they feel cut off from the world? What surrounds the site? What views does it offer?”
Chris speaks of the pursuit of breathtaking landscapes, forests, mangroves, and pristine valleys, and the constant commitment to offering guests far more than a bed, a true inner journey.
From Tanzania to Arabia: A Journey of Vision and Passion
ENVI’s business model reflects the same principle of agility. The company does not own its lodges but develops and manages them with partners, embracing an asset-light approach to accelerate growth without compromising its vision. Today, eleven eco-lodges are operational or in development, spanning the Serengeti, Oman, Zanzibar, and Saudi Arabia, each with no more than forty keys to ensure exclusivity and intimacy. Investors have enthusiastically responded, raising nearly five million dollars over three years, entirely dedicated to ENVI’s expansion and the rapid rise of luxury glamping in the region.
ENVI Lodges in Serengeti, Tanzania. © Envilodges
Behind the success story are the experiences of a true pioneer. Opening the first two camps in Tanzania, within the legendary Serengeti National Park, was both exhilarating and paradoxical. Chris recalls, “Our first two openings were in Tanzania, in the Serengeti. They are safari camps within the national park. These were somewhat atypical openings for us. When we launched ENVI, we were not necessarily aiming for safari environments or operating safari lodges.”
However, fate placed the young brand at the birthplace of adventure hospitality. Chris had to navigate logistical challenges, remote locations, and the impossibility of being surrounded by loved ones during the inaugural moments. The dream was realized from a distance, with the promise of doing even better soon in Zanzibar or Saudi Arabia, on sites that are more accessible.
Saudi Arabia marks a milestone for ENVI. Securing support from the Tourism Development Fund to open the kingdom’s first eco-lodge in the UNESCO-listed Al Ahsa oasis proves that sustainability can thrive even in places where change once seemed impossible. Chris does not flaunt the achievement but takes quiet pride in it. “Convincing the Tourism Development Fund in Saudi Arabia to finance the first eco-lodge project on a farm in the kingdom, perhaps even in the GCC region, with a brand as new as ENVI is truly exciting. Given our size and the few years we’ve been operating, this achievement is remarkable.”
In this pursuit of excellence, Chris and his team are redefining luxury, not as something displayed, but as something experienced, in harmony with nature and a regained sense of time. “ENVI Lodges seeks to redefine luxury tourism. There is no marble or ostentation here, only immersive experiences, a rigorous ecological approach, and genuine attention to comfort and well-being.” The eco-lodge becomes a bridge, connecting intimacy with community, innovation with heritage, and the dream of nature with the joy of shared experiences.
Recognition has followed. In 2025, Nader and Homsy were named among Forbes Middle East’s “Top 100 Travel and Tourism Leaders,” a well-deserved honor for a brand that stands apart. Yet, what gives the journey its deepest meaning is not the spotlight, but the profoundly human, almost familial nature of Chris’s commitment.
ENVI Lodges in Arusha. © Envilodges
When asked during our interview, “If you could invite anyone, past or present, to stay in an ENVI lodge, who would it be and why?” Chris’s response, quiet and heartfelt, said it all. “I would invite one person from the past and one from the present, my parents. My father, who has passed, and my mother, who is thankfully still with us. I would love for both of them to be there at our openings to see our lodges. It is a source of pride to show them this, especially since our family had its own business. I grew up in that environment in Lebanon. It is a way of passing the torch to the next generation.”
Through ENVI, this is a story of legacy, quiet pride, and devotion to an entrepreneurial spirit nurtured in childhood. His mother will soon experience Zanzibar and Saudi Arabia, and his father would undoubtedly have celebrated this journey.
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