Let me start at the beginning. We are always on the lookout for wildlife sanctuaries and this place was warmly recommended to us. We now know why. It is quite special and came about because two boys whose parents gave them a love of nature and the freedom to choose, decided to pursue their dreams and created Reni Pani.It is named after a berry and a village nearby. It is a jungle lodge nestled in the forest of Madhya Pradesh which opened a mere 9 months ago but which is going to be popular for a lot of reasons.
We flew to Bhopal and drove to the lodge but actually it would have probably been more sensible to have taken a train to Piparia or Hoshangabad as the road is quite bad. They can then send a car out to collect you.
The place is hidden in teak and butter tree forest and after a briefing by Faiz we were shown to our lodge which was perched on a hilltop. Along the way we came across this beautiful spider which stood out against the sunlight. Once we had spotted her we saw a lot more on our way.
There are twelve lodges with three distinct styles, Nallah facing units, forest units and hilltop units. We were in a hilltop unit and this is the view from our balcony.
It is spread over 30 acres with a nallah running through the middle.
The pool
A slightly fuzzy picture of our room.
We particularly enjoyed the bathrooms with indoor but also outdoor rain showers which were fabulous. The lovely big windows looking out onto the forest from where you could sit and take it all in. Meals were carefully planned and locally sourced.We were woken up with bed tea at 530 am with flute music which could not have made our awakening sweeter. There is a very well stocked library with books about wildlife and the area but also novels that you can borrow and a small but select shop for gifts. Massages are available and of course the swimming pool after game viewing was a relaxing part of our day.
Website: http://www.renipanijunglelodge.com/
More about the Satpura National Park where we spent our time while at Reni Pani in my next blog.
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