Group Tour: India’s Tiger-Rich Conservation Corridors

Overview

Firm in their commitments to ecotourism and conservation, The Bamboo Forest prioritises its collaboration with the local community, aiding in both lodge operations and sustainable tourism ventures. The lodge staunchly supports the forest department’s conservation efforts, not only financially but also through hands-on projects aimed at expanding the park’s reach.

Pioneers in eco-friendly practices, they have introduced electric safari vehicles and boast a stellar team of naturalists, hospitality staff and safari drivers. The lodges and villas have all been constructed in keeping with the surrounding environment around them.

The restaurant, Macchan, serves exquisite Indian dishes prepared by chefs that are genuinely keen to hear of your exact tastes and requirements. Dining at Macchan, out on the open-air, lakeside deck, listening to the sounds across the water and from the untamed jungle beyond, is an exemplary culinary experience.

Overview

Bamboo Forest Nature Conservancy is a new luxury lodge and small conservancy adjacent to Umred Karhandla Wildlife Sanctuary. It has ten luxury ‘nests’ which are raised up off the forest floor, to allow wildlife to pass through as unobstructed as possible. The conservancy aims to rewild 250 acres, and tigers have even been filmed walking through the property at night. For this reason, a guide escorts you between buildings if you leave your accommodation to walk to another location. Jeeps even collect you from beneath your room, before taking you out on safaris into Umred Karhandla.

The lodge has permission to conduct full day safaris into the sanctuary, one of only three vehicles per day allowed to do so. Between the safari jeeps entering the park during designated morning and evening periods, you would find yourself as practically the only vehicle in the park (bar two others)! A great team of naturalists lead safaris and other excursions, whilst there is a wellness centre with an expert yoga teacher on hand to take classes, during your downtime back at the lodge.

The Bamboo Forest Nature Conservancy is one of a new ‘Community Owned Community Operated Nature Conservancies’ (COCOONs) that are critical rewilding initiatives undertaken outside India’s Protected Area Network. The project is based on an innate belief that communities living closest to the most biodiverse spaces, deserve to be the primary beneficiaries and custodians of this biodiversity.

The aim of this initiative is to both expand the size and improve the quality of habitat available to wildlife, by encouraging local communities to convert their own marginal and failed farms back to its natural wild state. The land-holding will continue to be in the hands of the community but would serve as a biodiverse nature refuge, capable of offering communities assured livelihoods and economic security in an era of climate change. Additionally, COCOON Conservancies serve to act as effective buffers, absorbing wildlife communities that spill over from protected core areas, thus reducing human-animal conflict. By locating such conservancies in corridors, the objectives of widening and refreshing the gene pool is also met.