The Hindu Business Line : Wildly luxurious

On a beautiful mild March evening, under a star-studded sky you can only dream of in pollution-inflicted metros, around a crackling fire, dozen-odd tribals dressed in vibrant colours sang and danced. A host of lanterns lit up the place and, along with the light of the fire, cast interesting dancing shadows all over the place.

It was my second and final dinner at the Mahua Kothi, run by Taj Safaris & Beyond, adjacent to the 1,160 sq km Bandhavgarh National Park, where tiger sighting is almost assured thanks to the high density of the feline. My companions were an American and Canadian couple and two men from Paris. The finest of Indian wines and other liquor were on offer; but it was better to get intoxicated on the beauty of the place.

Aided by Taj Safaris & Beyond (formerly CC Africa), which offers luxurious accommodation bang in the middle of African forests for a host of safaris, the Taj group of Hotels offers the high-end tourist a new definition in luxury here. Ten minutes earlier, my personal butler, Manikanthan from Kerala, had fetched me from my Kothi; being geographically challenged in finding the right directions, I didn’t want to get lost inside a 40-acre property of thick forest. Add to this Mani’s disclosure that tigers, jackals, sloth bears, wild boar and so on prowled around the Mahua Kothi territory, and he had sighted a tiger more than once, one was grateful for an escort.

To add to the rustic charm of the dinner, a woman from the nearby village served us two different varieties of piping hot rotis and naan. At each meal the chef explained to the guests what he was serving. The highlight of that dinner — apart from the magic ambience — was the dessert: malfua (pancakes made with refined flour) with rabri!

The conversation at the table was animated… most of us had sighted two tigers during the afternoon safari; one a huge male who, unimpressed by the occupants of 25-odd jeeps ogling at him, had done the “catwalk” a few metres from our jeep at a leisurely pace.

Luxury redefined

The packages offered at Mahua Kothi include two safaris a day, all meals, alcohol, a full-fledged breakfast laid out on the front of the Tata Jeep that had chased a tiger barely minutes ago (all eating is allowed only at the elephant camp) and an overall experience you cannot forget for a long time. Take your cottage, for example. It is exquisite, exotic, rugged and simply beautiful. You enter it through your personal courtyard with shaded and comfortable seating, where you can curl up with a book; who knows, looking up you might find a spotted deer or wild boar staring at you!

There are 12 cottages in this property, and mine had the trunk of a tree going through the roof; a charming touch impossible in a hotel room. But then the kothis here are much more than ‘hotel rooms’. Spacious with two washbasins, a washroom, a lovely shower area and a bathtub for those who want to soak in water scented with flower petals, with fragrant candles completing the romantic setting, the cottages have wooden shutters, tapered mud-coloured walls (finished by hand) in lime and earth washes, open rafters with roughly-hewn wooden beams, handmade pottery roof tiles, and floors dressed in katni stone strips set in lime mortar.

High maintenance

This rustic charm takes your breath away, but it must be hell maintaining such cottages, one asked Harpreet Singh Gill, General Manager, Mahua Kothi and Banjara Tola (Kanha Tiger Reserve). “Oh yes, it’s all very beautiful to look at but maintenance is tough. But we have 50 people, all local, for 12 cottages. Here they do mud plastering, cowdung rendering (lepai) on the outside, something they do in their homes. If done regularly it is hygienic and keeps the fungus and insects off.”

Situated in a forest, the priority is to have minimum impact on the environment; the twin theme is comfort and environment or ecotourism, and a little organic vegetable garden completes the picture. The stiff rates — Rs 25,000 per person a day in peak season for an all-included package (I was hosted, of course) — means that 90 per cent of his guests are well-heeled foreigners. John and Beverly from the US, wanted to skip the five-hour drive from Khajuraho and took a chartered four-seater plane from Khajuraho to Umaria and drove 30 km to Mahua Kothi, paying around Rs 25,000 for the sector.

Adds Gill, “Most of the guests have stayed in wildlife lodges, so expectations are limited but they are pleasantly surprised to get such luxury. From the moment they come here we don’t leave them rudderless; we guide them without intruding too much, and the focus is wildlife.”

Surprises come through charming and innovative venues for meals; lunch at the swimming pool, a bullock cart breakfast in the garden, picnic lunches under the Mahua (butter) tree and moonlit dancing at the lake.

“All this keeps the guests excited and enchanted; India has so much to offer in food, culture, wildlife, etc; we are trying to create brand ambassadors from our guests because in this segment of tourism word-of-mouth is so important.

Special package

Well, more Indians will be able to savour this experience at Rs 10,000 per person per night on a sharing basis. Ram Maheshwari, GM Sales, Taj Gateway Hotels and Taj Safaris, says not all travellers are looking for unlimited fine wines, and so on. “This offer is valid for two nights’ stay from April 16-June 30, 2009, and includes accommodation, taxes, all meals, non alcoholic beverages, and one safari a day. (For more information write to tajsafaris@tajhotels.com). We want more people to know that a luxury experience can be had in the middle of a forest.”

But then, however enchanting your cottage or exotic your food, or perfect the service, the USP of any forest lodge is the forest experience. And it is here that Taj Safaris scores high marks, and each morning guests wake up around 5 to grab their cup of tea or coffee, delivered to their cottage along with delicious freshly-baked cookies, have a quick wash and head for the forest safari. As Kartikeya Singh Chauhan, head naturalist at Mahua Kothi, points out, the focus at all the four forest lodges in Madhya Pradesh has been well-trained naturalists with help from Taj Safaris & Beyond. “Till now in India, the safari part of the forest had been ignored and people taken around in cramped Gypsies which I call black-and-white TVs. But the industry is changing and people want safaris in comfort so we can’t have six people cramped in a small vehicle. Our jeep is a Tata vehicle modified for passengers’ comfort and safety.” Also, the naturalists undergo 14 weeks’ rigorous training and can drive in the forest only after successful completion.

More than tigers

Also, as one could clearly see, the attempt is to move away from a tiger-centric approach; “no doubt everybody would love to see the tiger but the forest has a wealth of other species… we try to give you an interpretive wildlife experience than just an interpretive tiger experience,” adds Chauhan.

And Allwyn D’souza, our highly skilled naturalist, tried all the time to do that at the Bandhavgarh National Park. He pointed out spotted deer, sambhar, foxes, peacocks, wild boar, changeable hawk eagles, kingfishers, green tree pies, hawks, Rufus tree pies and an army of langurs, some with babies barely a few days old.

Happy and delighted though we were, the eye and heart kept searching for the tiger… till we sighted two in our afternoon safari ( http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/cgi-bin/bl.pl?mainclass=18&subclass=521 ). But we lusted for more and, as though he knew it, the two-year-old male tiger cub that was sighted the next morning continued to tease the occupants of the 40-odd jeeps on its hot pursuit. He made his way to a watering hole at a point inaccessible to vehicles and with tall grass at its shore, found a cosy spot inside the grass and sat there, watching the entire human circus unfolding some distance away. As cameras furiously clicked, some could get a few stripes, others the head and so on... until he suddenly stood up, allowed the most powerful lenses to get a decent long shot, before sitting down again.

But we drove away, happy to have sighted three tigers in the wild in three safaris. Could one ask for more?

Response may be sent to rasheeda@thehindu.co.in

Fast facts

Getting there: Bandhavgarh is a 190 km drive from Jabalpur and 230 km from Khajuraho; both cities have airports and railway stations.

Best time: The National Park, as well as Mahua Kothi, are open round the year except for three months during the monsoon season (July to September). In winter it can get very cold – sometimes 0 degrees Celsius – so carry adequate woollens.

Related Stories:
On tiger trail with little luck
Taj Hotels Resorts opens luxury wilderness lodge

More Stories on : Hotels | Tourism | Rasheeda Bhagat

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