Wild Wild Country

Haldu Tola, a private five-key villa in Pench National Park's buffer zone, offers safaris without the crowds.

- Shradha Shahani

I return from a rain-soaked safari in Pench National Park to cold towels pressed into my palms and a glass of nimbu pani.

There's no loud chatter of guests swapping stories of deer kills and near-misses with tigers—just birdsong. Thank god for that because the tiger eluded me that morning. We are at Haldu Tola, a standalone five-room villa in the buffer zone of Pench. Here, a private jeep and dedicated naturalist are yours alone. Plus, a personal chef, surprise dining spots overlooking the forest, and a sense of intimacy that's rare to come by in Central India's safari lodges.

Haldu Tola sits on a verdant parcel that wraps around a courtyard with flowering bushes and butterflies. So, when owners Shumeet and Della Banerji tell me this was once a barren wasteland with nothing but a haldu tree, it’s hard to believe. The husband-wife duo first set out to plant fruit trees to supplement the incomes of local villagers, alongside building a two-bedroom cottage for themselves. But one monsoon later, when the once neglected plot burst into green, they felt it would be a shame to keep this beauty to themselves.