Bori Safari Lodge

The Jehan Numa group, which runs Bhopal's Jehan Numa Palace and the Reni Pani lodge in Satpura, describes Bori Safari Lodge as the only lodge in Bori Wildlife Sanctuary. That is the whole pitch in one line: a 12-room lodge on a 7.5-acre farm estate beside one of India's oldest sanctuaries, in a corner of the Satpura Tiger Reserve that most safari itineraries have not caught up with yet.

An empty forest, in the good sense

Bori's story is unusual. Close to 40 villages were voluntarily relocated out of the sanctuary, and the old village sites have grown back into meadows where wildlife is repopulating. Churna, the main safari zone, is billed by the lodge as the best place in Satpura to see tigers; the newer Jhalai zone adds something rarer, night drives with good odds of civets, porcupine and sloth bear, plus walking safaris. The forest department is also reintroducing the endangered hard-ground barasingha here.

Twelve rooms beside a sanctuary that most safari itineraries have not caught up with yet.

The rooms split into eight Luxury Rooms and four Superior Luxury Rooms. The Luxury Rooms run to 525 sq ft with private viewing decks over the farmland, and take three adults and a child, which makes the arithmetic work for families.

Farm table, courtyard restaurant

Meals are a set menu served in a courtyard restaurant with indoor and open-air seating, mixing Indian, Oriental and Continental cooking with Madhya Pradesh village dishes, ingredients bought from local farmers. There is a pool overlooking a pond, a spa staffed by locally trained therapists, and a library. Our favourite detail: you can transfer between Bori and its sister lodge Reni Pani as a full-day safari through the reserve, or by a boat-and-road combination.

Bhopal airport is about 145 km away and Itarsi Junction about 70 km, with lodge pick-ups offered. Go before the rest of the market works out what Bori is.