Tiger watching vacation in India

Planet and people

This trip aims to help and support a more responsible and sustainable approach to wildlife tourism in Central India by catering to small groups of not more than 10-12 people, thus leaving behind the least impact on a particular destination. Our connection with the central Indian National parks & jungles date backs to 1932 when one of our family members Late Lakhpat Rai was the first chief conservator of Forest of Central India during British rule. The trained naturalists who will accompany you for game drives are from the local community who have developed the skills of communicating with clients over the years with our regular in house training.

Recently we installed the first ground water recharge unit in one of the lodges in Kanha which we will use. A part of the income (£5 per person) generated from this tour goes straight to the local tribal village school in Kanha. We will be visiting one such school during your trip.

The lodge in Bhandavgarh NP: 80% of the staff come from the local area and the lodge is committed to purchasing from local suppliers as far as possible. The lodge has a water soak pit, uses recycled water to water their plants (we discourage gardens that have high water demands), and there is a sign in all bathrooms explaining how to save water. The lodge only uses CFL lamps and solar lanterns to save electricity.

The lodge in Kanha NP: The lodge you will stay in was constructed using locally available material and each cottage was built in the local style without chemical paints. They use waste wood boilers for heating and try to minimise electricity use by using energy saving lamps and solar, hurricane and earthen lamps in the night. There is no air-conditioning. In addition the lodge use recycled stationary, harvests rain water, uses soak pits to collect water and reuses waste water in the garden. All cleaning is done manually (no machines), organic waste is composted, food is cooked on LPG stoves and they do not allow music or televisions to keep noise pollution to a minimum.

The lodge is dedicated to the local upliftment of the area. They were the first in the history of Kanha National Park to train the locals in catering, house keeping, steward ship, guiding etc., all of whom had very basic schooling if any at all. The staff is trained at the parent hotel in Jabalpur, and the majority (all drivers) come from the local community. They have financed one vehicle for a member of our staff who is from the community and use this for game drives. In addition, they do not have washing machines so they can provide work for the local community and have taught the local people cane weaving and pottery, the results of which are all used in the lodge. Raw materials are purchased locally where possible.