TOFT Wildlife Tourism Awards 2010 - Joint Runner Up - Kanha Jungle Lodge
The John Wakefield Memorial Award for - Most Inspirational Eco Lodge of the Year 2010
TOFTigers - PUG ECO RATING
Naturalist , wildlifer and conservationist Tarun and Dimple Bhati have run Kanha Jungle lodge for over twenty years, as part of Tiger Resorts Group. Its eleven acres of thick sal forest have engulfed the open sided low structure complex and rooms under its arching canopies, ensuring a natural forest environment, to spend and enjoy your wildlife holiday. You know you are with nature when every evening you can watch our punctual flying squirrels glide amongst the sal trees. The lodge?s experienced naturalists or our young teenager Jai (son of Tarun and Dimple ) take our guests on walks down to the river, birding ,pointing out the variety of species found and regaling them with anecdotes, interesting tid-bits ! And in the right season even seeing a large number of colourful , painted butterflies.
Our Jungle Lodge is in the midst of a rich Sal forest and thus designed as a Jungle lodge, well camouflaged in the forest . It is tastefully developed with low impact on the land and the environment , with 18 well appointed rooms and 2 deluxe cottages, to give a physical and emotional jungle experience. The jungle lodge is planned to provide a friendly, informal relaxed environment with lots to observe, understand and learn, to make good friends and support conservation. Since it is located close to Kanha National Park and is the closest to the Mukki entrance gate, it has been sensitive to the environment. .Guests can listen to Jungle sounds during day or night, which makes it an exciting and chilling experience for some, listening to the alarm calls of the deer or an occasional roar of the Tiger. Its Sal forest and open meadows have become a favourite place for Deer (chital) to stay fearlessly in the compound. It is set on strong principles of being environmentally friendly and every aspect of its development and operation is sensitively synthesized towards nature conservation. We have not cut any trees to construct the Lodge. We hope you will enjoy your stay and make it a learning experience!!
Kanha is one of India's largest national parks, covering 1 945 km², and is located in the Maikal Hills of the Satpura Hills range in the south eastern part of the state of Madhya Pradesh. The Park has beautiful areas of sal forests, large bamboo stretches and lush green meadows.
The Park's landmark achievement is the preservation of the rare hardground Swamp Deer (Barasingha), saving it from near extinction. Stringent conservation programs for the overall protection of the Park's fauna and flora, makes Kanha one of the most well maintained National Parks in Asia.
Temperature:
Summer: Minimum 25°C, Maximum 40°C
Winter: Minimum 1°C, Maximum 23°C
The best time to visit Kanha National Park is the period from mid October to June end. The park remains closed for the visitors in the monsoon season, from July to October as the roads are not navigable during this period.
We offer 18 spacious rooms and two new independent deluxe cottages with private patios , overlooking a lush green forest. The rooms are all with modern facilities including attached bath with running hot and cold showers and comfortable furniture. All our rooms are equipped with single, twin or double beds, with reading lights, a writing table and lounge chairs, large luggage rack etc. and even a hot water bottle at night !
Dining and Public Areas - A large round thatched dining cum drawing room serves as a dining area which serves Continental and Indian cuisine - home cooked food ! There is also a friendly open area to dine under the stars or to have a sumptous breakfast, under the rustling sal forest leaves and the twittering of birds. One can browse through some books in the library or just study the information panels on the boards or pick up an interesting book or Tiger T shirt from the gift shop !
The Courtyard - Is an open area in center of the Jungle Lodge surrounded by the Sal forest with chirping birds and fluttering butterflies. Participate in a discussion on tiger sightings and conservation issues with a blazing campfire . It also provides an ideal set up for star gazing in the evening. .There is also a hammock if one just wants to relax or read a book. And a great place to catch up for "chai" and daily campfire evenings ! The Maidan - our grounds Most of the land is left wild with lush overgrown grass to attract and make our Jungle inhabitants comfortable. Our 11 acre estate , is however, interspersed with Sal trees and bamboo that do attract our Jungle neighbours like our well known flying squirrel ! and a variety of chirping birds. You will occasionally get to see the flying squirrel, colourful butterflies and insects, a Langur monkey and even a few strolling spotted deer !
Recreational Activities - We organise Nature walks in and around our Jungle Lodge, thru the forest , where you get to experience and see a variety of birdlife and insects as well as the occasional ant hill... If you are lucky , down by the river, you may even get to see the elephants bathing in the afternoon and can participate in helping them take a bath. Bird Watching - Large Number of Butterflies can be found in Kanha Jungle LodgeWe organize Bird watching excursions around the Jungle Lodge, during the day, for those energetic clients who are interested in learning more about our birdlife.. Butterflies - Kanha is specially rich with its butterflies and a large number of them are found at Kanha Jungle Lodge. See the collection of Butterflies at the Lodge.
Astronomy - As the sun sets and a galaxy of stars covers the canopy, we take a short after dinner walk to begin our Star Gazing session. After a short introduction of Stars and constellations, you have an opportunity to see through our telescope the planets, so close , never seen before by most guests. You will all enjoy this exhilarating experience ! . Cookery Classes and Sari demonstrations are some of the other surprises in store for you at our lodge.
Resident Naturalist - Our resident Naturalist oversees most of our environment sensitive programs and conducts the jungle safaris to Kanha National Park , Birding excursion around our wild lands, village excursions, Astronomical session and discusses with you the days wrap up of the activities, observations and answer your questions. He is actively involved with the conservation activities sponsored by the Jungle Lodge through Tiger Trust.
Jeep Safaris - Jungle Safaris are organized by 4 x 4 jeep vehicles, open from all sides to give you a panoramic unobstructed view of the landscape, to catch every bird or animal that may just sneak into the grass and to listen to the sounds of nature whether it be mating calls, alarm calls, distress call or just a casual roar. The Vehicles are extremely quiet and do not disturb the peaceful jungle environment and allows us to listen to Jungle sounds and photographs with great amount of ease. There are two jungle excursions at Dawn and Dusk which are conducted. The jungle safari are accompanied by a forest guide and last for 3-4 hours each. During the jungle excursion there is always a good chance to see many animals including rare animals such as Royal Bengal Tiger, leopard, Indian bison (Gaur) , barasingha (swamp deer) and wild dogs to name a few ! The jungle sounds "alarm calls" of the Deer and Monkeys and occasionally the red jungle fowl , make the forest come alive as if we are sitting in a theater with the worlds best stereophonic sound equipment !!.
Village Safari - for those who are interested in exploring India's rural area, we organize a Village safari to visit some villages and schools to understand their way of life, which is very unique and different to our city life. Their simple attractive red tiled roof - neat and clean homes, colourful attire in saris, traditional ways of cooking on firewood as well as cultivation by traditional methods, are an eye opener. You can also visit the weekly local village market which offers a variety of goods from fresh produce to colourful saris and household utensils, spices - all you need for your home and family !
Solar Energy To increase our dependence on the direct energy sources we have tried to use the power of sun god to provide us the energy and help save the worlds natural environment. Solar cooking - Some part of the cooking for our Guests is done in two different types of Solar cookers. This helps minimize energy use and also food cooked is health and tasty. Our guests can ask for cooking lessons for solar cooking.
Wormy Composting - To make efficient and hygienic disposal of organic waste, we are using a process of decomposition by worms which is efficient, odorless and provides us with rich organic fertilizers for our organic farming on site. Organic Farming Much of our fresh vegetables come from the organic farming at the Lodge. One can see a Varity of vegetables and fruits being cultivated . Guest are welcome to take a tour. Medicinal Plant Garden -We have also on site a nursery of indigenous Medicinal/ Herbal Plant which is an astonishing insight on what secrets seemingly unimportant plants hold for our good health. There is a large variety of Plants and a tour with our naturalist makes it an interesting experience.
Day 01 : Delhi / Nagpur
Early morning flight ( IC 7469 0555 / 0720) to Nagpur. On arrival meeting and assistance at airport, then drive (7 Hrs.) to Kanha. Afternoon Jungle excursion by Jeep (if time permits). Meals and overnight at Lodge.
Day 02 : Kanha
Morning & afternoon Jungle excursion by Jeep and elephant (subject to availability). Meals and overnight at lodge.
Day 03: Kanha / Nagpur
Morning Jungle excursion by Jeep and elephant (subject to availability). After breakfast drive for Nagpur
(7 Hrs.). On arrival transfer to hotel Pride. Meals and overnight at Hotel.
Day 04 : Nagpur / Delhi
Morning transfer to airport for flight to Delhi.
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