Samode Safari Lodge

Not a single tree was cut to build Samode Safari Lodge. Samode Hotels, the group behind Samode Palace, Samode Haveli and Samode Bagh, put its Bandhavgarh lodge in the quiet Mardari village area, deliberately away from what the hotel calls the tourist hospitality zone, and had Pradeep Sachdeva Design Associates shape it around the trees that were already standing, with reclaimed timber floors, solar-heated water and Gond tribal art on the walls.

Twelve villas in a village's image

The 12 villas borrow their forms from neighbouring Mardari, and each one is a small estate: a private courtyard, a living room, a sunlit bedroom and a broad private deck with shaded day-beds that convert for sunset yoga and sundowners. Wooden four-poster beds carry scalloped canopies and feather duvets; the bathrooms come with brass fittings, a fireside tub the hotel calls Elizabethan, twin vanities, a walk-in dresser, a forest mural and a splendid outdoor shower. The main lodge adds a bar lounge, library, interpretation centre and recreation room, with an infinity pool and a standalone spa, with individual and couple's treatment rooms, looking over the Bandhavgarh foliage.

"No two meals are served in the same venue."

That is the kitchen's promise: an open-plan fireplace restaurant one night, the poolside or the forest-facing wooden deck the next, plus pop-up spots around the grounds. Menus run Continental by day and Indian by evening, fed by the lodge's own kitchen garden.

Safaris on your doorstep

The lodge sits against Bandhavgarh's buffer zone, about 25 minutes' drive through wilderness from the Khitauli, Magadhi and Tala gates. Private jeeps come with naturalists who double as your hosts, and Bandhavgarh permits full-day safaris, a rarity among Indian parks that lets you follow the 450 square kilometre reserve at your own rhythm. Night drives typically run from 19:00 to 22:00. Over 80 per cent of the team is recruited from nearby villages, and it shows in how personal the place feels. For a first serious tiger trip done properly, this is the benchmark.