Khem Villas

The land was bought in 1989 as open grassland, planted with indigenous trees and dug with small water bodies, and worked for 25 years before any of it was let to guests. The camp opened in October 2006. It is run by a family whose Ranthambhore conservation work goes back to the late Fateh Singh Rathore, credited on the property's own site with putting the park on the tiger map, and it still supports two local NGOs, Prakratik Society and Tiger Watch. Jackals, jungle cats, hyena, desert fox and crocodile now turn up around the camp.

Rooms come in four kinds. Two elevated private villas look over the Ranthambhore escarpment and have sun decks with open-to-sky hot tubs. Luxury cottages sit in 1,600 sq ft private compounds with an outdoor shower, an old-fashioned tub, a courtyard and a veranda running down to the lake. There are superior tents with private verandas, and two deluxe rooms with balconies plus two standard rooms in the main building. A plunge pool sits next to the Age Veda Spa, and about 12 acres of forest with a 3 km track surround the camp. All the food is vegetarian, grown mostly in the camp's own garden.