Jim's Jungle Retreat

In 2002 the owners of Jim's Jungle Retreat planted a single tree on land at Dhela village, deliberately chosen because it sat outside any animal corridor. Two decades on, 13.5 acres have been rewilded into a home-grown jungle on Corbett's doorstep, planted with saplings from nurseries and forests around the reserve and shaped to mimic Corbett's own grasslands and riverine belts. You sleep inside the result.

A family with skin in the game

The Akoi family's Corbett connection runs back to 1951, and they took part in the 1973 launch of Project Tiger at Dhikala; at one point they gifted an elephant to the Forest Department. That heritage now expresses itself as the Corridor Conservation Initiative: a year-round Biodiversity Monitoring Project, root-zone treatment that recycles wastewater for irrigation, no single-use plastic, composted kitchen waste and hiring from neighbouring villages.

Two decades on, 13.5 acres have been rewilded into a home-grown jungle on Corbett's doorstep.

Rooms come in three characters. Jungle Cottages sit at ground level in the thick of it; Jungle Lodges stand on stilts fifteen feet up, verandahs facing Champion's Pool; the Bungalows pair a ground-floor Conservatory Suite with a Machan Suite above. Kitchens draw on European, African, Mediterranean, Indian and Kumaoni recipes, with produce grown in the backyard, and there is a wellness programme of seasonal natural therapies.

Beyond the standard game drive

Four-hour naturalist-led safaris into Corbett run all year, but the cleverer bookings go further: a five-night package with three nights in a historic Forest Rest House deep inside the reserve and six safaris, or the 12-day Terai and Bhabhar expedition across Corbett, Kishanpur, Dudhwa and Katarniaghat. Closer to camp there are Dhela village walks, birding and cycling trails, and the resident wildlife of the Python Trail and Pathaar Taal. This is Corbett for people who want the jungle, not just the tiger tick.