Riding the Elephant

For a four-week writing retreat out of the chaos – and smog – of Delhi, it’s hard to beat Kipling Camp, a wildlife resort situated right in the middle of India adjacent to the Kanha national park.

That’s where I stayed from the end of October till four days ago, not writing my blog (which I am turning into a book), and not missing much in terms of real news in Delhi where the future leadership of both Congress and the BJP is still unannounced, and where endless controversies such as telecoms licences and the futile political crisis over retail FDI, trundle on.

Kipling was the first private wildlife camp in India when it was opened in 1982 by Bob and Anne Wright, best known for running Calcutta’s Tollygunge Club. Its name is appropriate – Rudyard Kipling featured the area in The Jungle Books, although he never actually went there.

Now completing 30 years, the camp caters for Indian and foreign tourists, who mostly head out at dawn to see tigers and other wildlife in Kanha, which is five minutes jeep drive away. Guests usually stay only for two or three days and then rush back to work, or continue their holidays elsewhere, but Kipling is worth much longer.

There is far more to be seen than the national park, which now can be difficult to enter because of a rigid booking system that limits the number of jeeps.

There are marvellous nature walks with birds to watch and photograph in adjacent forests and across the nearby Banjar River, plus day trips to forts and gorges, and Baiga tribal dancing some evenings (below). Cheetal wander through the camp and occasional alarm calls warn that a tiger or a leopard might be approaching.

On two nights while I was there, both appearedve  – the story is on Kipling’s new and very active blog:  “Around 11 pm, a large male tiger sauntered through the village fields and the forests around the camp. He stopped by our gate and we watched him by torchlight – he seemed very unperturbed ! The next morning we saw his pugmarks going in the reverse direction, as he walked by the camp and beside the village (right).

“During the day there had been a noisy and very busy marai (tribal fair) in the village – which goes to show how tolerant these big cats can be of human habitation, at least at night when they move about largely unseen and unnoticed.

“The following evening we were doubly surprised to find a leopard sitting on the road by the camp gate, its eyes shining like car headlights. Unlike the tiger, the poor leopard was pestered by cheetal alarm calls throughout the night.”

In the camp there’s Tara (left with me, and below), a 55-year old elephant made famous as Mark Shand’s companion in Travels on My Elephant, that takes visitors to afternoon swims in the river. Also Kim, a yellow Labrador that was a gift from Mark Tully and comes from a distinguished Tollygunge pedigree.

Just down the road is Mocha village with a few small bazaar-type shops, and a bustling rural market every Wednesday that has grown enormously in recent years as a few of the benefits of Kanha-related tourism have trickled down into the local economy.

The camp is now run by Anne and her daughter Belinda, who founded the Wildlife Protection Society of India (WPSI) – a link that gives Kipling a strong conservation theme.

They do not do much publicity or pr, so this blog post is aimed at helping to fill the gap, and to tell you all what you are missing if you haven’t been there.

As I said, don’t rush in and out, desperate to spot a tiger, but take a leisurely holiday in this idyllic forest haven in central India – and maybe even negotiate a long stay to write a book or some other task worthy of retreat.