Friends,
Now we surge on to complete our trip, in a blog longer than normal - for good reason.
At each destination we experience true hospitality in raw, remarkable natural surroundings. The owners' flair, knowledge and exceptional caring skills combine to give nurturing hospitality at its best. On the drives, admittedly quite long, we see rural life and stop at notable roadside dabbas (cafes) - who can resist fresh roti and steaming chai?
You could perhaps call this 'stimulating relaxation in nature'. No air, noise or light pollution. It may be your kind of wellness.
Enjoy!
Louise
UNPACKING WELLNESS IN INDIA
Episode 43
Road Trip Jodhpur-Panna Part II
Our stops:
Ramathra Fort, near Kalisil Dam, Sapotara, Rajasthan 322218
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Mela Kothi-Chambal Safari Lodge, Mela Kothi, Tehsil, Bah, Uttar Pradesh 283104
Serai at Toria, Mela Wali Galli, Village Toria, Khajuraho, Madhya Pradesh 471101
Setting off from Shahpura Bagh (final stop in Episode 42), it's a fairly long but easy rural drive eastwards to Ramathra Fort (260km, about 6hrs). (The gloriously named Krishna Palace is a great roadside dabba stop.) Phenomenal road improvements across India mean the whole route is smooth right up to the narrow lane through village to what seems to be a dead end in dense forest at the foot of a temple. Where did we go wrong? But, barely visible, a steep lane leads up through the trees to a total surprise: soaring, isolated, majestic, pristine Ramathra Fort. It's been in this well-chosen spot since 1645.
Today, its ramparts still command the 360-degree view of agricultural land, rivers and forested hills of the Kalisil River Valley over which fiefdom's founder, Thakur Bhoj Pal, kept watch. Descendant Brijendra Bhoj Pol and his wife Gitangeli call it 'seriously remote' with a brave laugh. Lived in until the 1960s, they arrived about 30 years ago to a tumbledown fort where the biggest challenge was not restoration - local teams worked with local materials and methods - but electricity and plumbing. Guests relax in uncluttered, luxurious spaces (with excellent plumbing!). Food is from the home farm and dairy (the guava jam is a delicate treat). Outings might be to meet local village housewives and schoolchildren, walk through a great gorge, or go boating on the lake. Sipping a cocktail sat in the jacuzzi on the ramparts, watching the sun ripen, is probably one of the world's great sunset experiences.
It takes a morning to reach Mela Kothi-Chambal Safari Lodge (235km, about 5.5hrs), the new highway slicing through farmland where crops are being sown, ripening, harvested. Anu and Ram arrived here in 1999 with a three-month-old baby. The 35-acre plot with just 70 trees was part of a bigger area of woodland, pasture and farms that had been in the family since 1472. Anu and Ram have rewilded their plot - 'though we don't need to do much, the abundant birds did seed dispersal' - and created an atmosphere of 'peace with nature' for their guests. 'There are things we are not willing to do', says Anu. 'No parties, no music, no TV, no pool'. Indeed, most of my road trip hotels have a similar policy, unless the whole property is taken as one booking.
The 14 crafted, spacious rooms and cottages are set in the main building and in clearings reached by paths through the woods; on-site naturalists will happily introduce guests to surrounding trees, birds, insects - all nature - at any time. Food is home-cooking, simple, nutritious (notable home-made pickles and soda bread). Anu calls the lodge 'shabby chic'; I'd elaborate that to 'homely chic with nature'. My top outing was a long morning boating on the Chambal River near Natgaon, part of the National Chambal Sanctuary, accompanied by a lodge naturalist who pointed out sunbathing gharial crocodiles, several of the eight species of turtle, and a huge variety of birds. He said that a keen, focused birder might spot more than 100 species in a morning. I also visited Holipura, delving about the 42 dilapidated havelis which are are now a designated 'heritage village' awaiting copious care.
Our road trip finale, Serai at Toria (375km, about 6hrs) requires a drive southwards down the Bundelkhand Expressway into Madhya Pradesh state, to a spot just beyond Khajuraho's famed temples. (The temple super-keen should deviate to roam through 200 quality, carved, abandoned, 8-11C temples near Morena.) If you arrive in time for tea, take a Jeep ride straight away to embed yourself in Panna National Park. It is here that Dr Raghu Chundawat, a conservation biologist, and his wife, wildlife photographer and conservationist Joanna van Gruisen, have lived their passion for wildlife and conservation for more than two decades and now share it through their creation, Serai at Toria.
Staying here is one of the finest nature park conservation experiences in India. The Serai (camp) is a calm combination of traditional cottages made of mud, tall grasses shimmering in the sun, a cacophony of birdsong, water heated by burnable waste, scrumptious organic food, and listening to your hosts' conservation stories over dinner. Thoughtful caring includes a hot water bottle to warm your bed at night. Nearby, enjoy boating on the River Ken, visit Toria school (which the Serai supports, and you can too) and shop for pottery. But above all else, take every Jeep ride you can into the park with the Serai's naturalists, where you benefit from not only from their knowledge of the flora and fauna but from Raghu and Joanna's globally respected pioneering research work on tigers. You are very likely to spot one, two, three...
Must-do wellness experience on the road: breakfast at a good dabba
Road trip hotel buzzwords: ‘Wow! How on earth did they achieve this?’
At hilltop Ramathra Fort, its about the view: room terraces, outdoor showers and the big spa on the battlements (see photo above) overlook the hills, plains, rivers, lake. The fort's traditional village has farmsteads, school, and rhythmic daily life to see. A Jeep outing to a huge gorge where you walk past ancient trees with tangled roots and forgotten clay gifts to the gods, down to a great river bed, is straight out of Kipling's Jungle Book
Mela Kotchi-Chambal Safari Lodge is ridiculously modest about its food - local ingredients, many grown themselves, and a table of 20 or more pickle jars with names like 'clammy berry lasora'. Spend an afternoon nosing around Holipura and then going to experience the razzmatazz of nearby Batheshwar's sunset puja at 51 little riverside temples to with tribal deity images, and riotous bell-ringing by pilgrims.
The Chambal River is essential habitat for the critically endangered gharial crocodile, and the Chambal River Sanctuary was established specifically to protect them - their population has recovered from less than 200 in the '70s to more than one thousand today. Study them during a morning boatride along the serene, broad river, with additional very good birding - Indian skimmer, Pallas's tish eagle, black bellied tern, sarus crane, and many more.
To stay with Joanna and Raghu at Serai at Toria feels like coming home. Your crafted cottage has everything you could need. Easy not to leave. But paths through the gardens beckon to congenial common spaces for meals and chats, or a boat ride at the bottom of the garden. Take a guided walk to Toria village or visit to two potters - one traditional, one gloriously whacky - living alone the main road. But the real reason you are there is....... of course .....
Panna National Park is one fo the best places in India to observe the success of focused, quality nature conservation. Especially of the tiger. This is a remarkable story: on the brink of losing its tiger population in 2009, tigers were introduced from other areas and today there is a healthy population of about 90, and still growing - substantially thanks to Joanna and Raghu.
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