Loyalty program: Oberoi One
Rates: From $850
The Afar take
One of India’s top luxury hotel brands has opened a lodge that puts guests within roaring distance of Royal Bengal tigers. Set on 21 acres near Bandhavgarh National Park, Oberoi Vindhyavilas blends sleek architecture with local artistry, offering tiger safaris by day and high-end creature comforts by night.
The massive front door is decorated with carved wood tiles inspired by the tattoos of the local Gond people, whose artwork also adorns the guest rooms and public areas. The library is stocked with books on wildlife, including a copy of Rudyard Kipling’s classic, The Jungle Book. Meanwhile, the grounds are planted with native grasses and trees, like the Kachnar, which blooms with purple flowers for part of the year. A small lake near the pool fills the evenings with the sound of croaking frogs.
Who’s it for?
Wildlife lovers who want to spot Bengal tigers in the wild but don’t want to sacrifice world-class hospitality, or travelers planning an epic trip to India who want to add tiger encounters to their tour of the Golden Triangle or a sojourn at a yoga retreat. Families with kids who love animals and want to learn more about India’s largest cat species (and the country’s national animal). Note that the area is remoter than other parks in India with tigers like Ranthambore. Unless you charter a flight to the nearest airstrip, it’s an arduous journey to get here from the nearest commercial airport on sometimes bumpy roads.
The location
Oberoi Vindhyavilas is in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh, about 20 minutes by car from the entrance to Bandhavgarh National Park, which has one of the world’s highest tiger densities. Formerly the maharaja’s private hunting grounds, Bandhavgarh became a national park in 1968 and joined Project Tiger, a conservation program launched by the Indian government, in 1993. The closest commercial airport is located in Jabalpur, a 3.5-hour drive away, but charter flights from New Delhi aboard Oberoi’s private eight-seat jet can land at an airstrip about 40 minutes from the resort.
The park limits entry to 28 vehicles per zone, which means that booking a room at the hotel doesn’t guarantee entry into the park. The hotel, which facilitates safari bookings for guests through the forest department, recommends travelers aiming to see tigers book at least four months in advance.
Set on 21 acres near Bandhavgarh National Park, Oberoi Vindhyavilas offers tiger safaris by day and high-end creature comforts by night.
A guest room at Oberoi Vindhyavilas
Photo by Amit Mehra/Courtesy of Oberoi Vindhyavilas
The rooms
Nineteen tented suites and two one-bedroom villas are spread around the property. Interiors all have polished wood floors, patterned canvas ceilings, and private verandas and are stocked with espresso machines, smart TVs, USB ports, and Oberoi’s own line of bath products scented with lime, tulsi, and narang come standard. I loved the block-printed bathrobes (one in blue and one in pink) and prints by the local Gond people hanging in the rooms.
Oberoi Vindhyavilas offers a range of cuisines, from regional dishes to pizza.
Courtesy of Oberoi Vindhyavilas
The food and drink
Given that the resort only has one kitchen, the range of food on offer is impressive. The main Dining Room in the lodge serves Indian and European cuisine for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, with options ranging from Neapolitan-style pizza to Delhi butter chicken and masala dosas. Pizza was a welcome option, but the kitchen’s regional Indian dishes were the stars.
In the evenings, dinner service rotates among the Dining Room, the Deck, and the Bush Kitchen; each has its own dedicated menu. One evening, my husband and I ordered Indian dishes à la carte on the Deck, while on another, we had a thali tasting menu at the Bush Kitchen. We tried tropical mocktails in the Lounge and ordered sandwiches by the pool so we could take a dip before our afternoon safari. On days when we went on an early morning safari, the team sent us off with a packed breakfast to eat in the tiger reserve.
It was too warm for us to enjoy the property’s bonfire when we visited, but in the winter, when temperatures are cooler, guests gather there, post-safari, to sip drinks and discuss the day’s sightings.
Staff and service
Oberoi is known for its high standards of service, with staff trained to anticipate guests’ needs, and we found that to be the case here, despite how new the property is. The servers in the restaurant were attentive to even small details like our water preference, and they helped with recommendations of local specialties on the menu we may not otherwise have thought to order.
The enthusiasm of our naturalist guide Bhuwan Gopal for the area’s flora and fauna was infectious. In addition to accompanying us on two game drives, he led me on a nature walk and a village walk, patiently answering the hundreds of questions I peppered him with. I also attended an evening lecture he gave in the library about the tigers of Bandhavgarh and learned all kinds of fascinating facts about them. (For example, tigers share about 95 percent of their DNA with domestic cats; they even scratch trees in the jungle the way cats scratch furniture.)
Accessibility
The entire property is laid out on one level, although there are a couple of steps to get to the deck of the main lodge that might be challenging to those with limited mobility. Golf carts are available to bring guests from the lodge to their tents.
Oberoi Vindhyavilas puts guests within easy reach of Bandhavgarh National Park.
Photo by Amit Mehra/Courtesy of Oberoi Vindhyavilas
Nature experiences
The main attraction is the jungle safari experience, which takes place in Oberoi’s comfortable open-top 4x4 SUVs with a driver and naturalist guide from the resort and an official park guide. In addition to Bengal tigers, you might spot monkeys, deer, sloth bears, Indian gaur, leopards, and some of 250 bird species.
For our first game drive, we left the lodge before 5 a.m. and spent nearly five hours driving around the park’s buffer zones without spotting any tigers, though we saw plenty of deer, monkeys, and elephants. The second day, our afternoon game drive in the park’s core zone rewarded us with three sightings, including a tiger face-off with a large Indian gaur. Our last—and best—sighting was a family of four tigers that crossed the unpaved road a few yards from our vehicle.
Just like on an African safari, guides communicate with each other about tiger sightings. The chances of seeing tigers are better in the core zones, but as a guest you have no control over whether your vehicle will be assigned to a core zone or buffer zone—you simply have to hope for the best. To increase your chances of seeing them, plan to stay at least three nights.
Oberoi Vindhyavilas offers yoga classes every morning.
Photo by Amit Mehra/Courtesy of Oberoi Vindhyavilas
Spa and wellness
The Oberoi Spa offers a selection of ancient Indian and contemporary massage treatments in its two treatment rooms. Complimentary yoga lessons are available every morning.
