Where The Wild Is Welcome

Instead of escaping the heat of the plains and heading to the hills, sumeet keswani trudges through the jungles of central india to discover two sustainable lodges melting into the woods that surround them.

- Sumeet Keswani

THE THREE-HOUR DRIVE from the Nagpur airport isn't the most scenic road trip I've taken, and when I arrive at Waghoba Eco Lodge, I'm still not in lush green woodland as I had imagined. This is shadeless scrubland, crisscrossed by beaten paths and fringed by trees in the distance. But this raw setting is very much by design.

Waghoba Eco Lodge is the newest property of Pugdundee Safaris. The eco-tourism company now runs seven lodges across six national parks in Central India. It was a conscious decision not to re-wild the land around the property too much, to maintain the natural bushland ecosystem, says Swanand Deshpande, head naturalist at Waghoba Eco Lodge. The litmus test of responsible tourism is to do the right thing, not the more saleable one.

This is not to say that no changes have been made. An artificial reservoir at the lodge provides birds respite from the heat-the mercury touches 50° Celsius in peak summer-a reliable food and water source, and a safe nesting site. Nearby, a smaller, shallower pool looks conspicuously redundant until you notice a low, flat structure overlooking the two water bodies. The Bird Hide allows guests to photograph birds at eye level, without disturbing them. The plan seems to be working. The reservoir is visited by sparrows, Indian silverbills, pond herons, white-breasted kingfishers, spotted doves, and red wattled lapwings. In the afternoons, flights of wire-tailed and streak-throated swallows circle the airspace above the lake, taking turns to swoop down for their freshwater grub.