All Your Forest Essentials

Life pauses early in Pench. The gates to this Tiger Reserve in Madhya Pradesh close at sundown, once the last of the safari vehicles have returned.

- Satarupa Paul

The little villages scattered in the buffer zone turn in for the night soon after. Even the jolly labrador at the Kohka Wilderness Camp, simply called D, who happily runs around and plays with guests the whole day, retires to his crib by 8 pm. By the time you have your dinner and walk back to your cottage, your only company is a star-spangled inky sky, the many trees of the property dancing in the breeze and the calls of the jungle creatures impregnating the sound of silence all around. The excitement is really quite something!