Kabini River Lodge

I gripped the railing of the safari jeep a little tighter, as it whizzed past the villages and fields of Kabini on a crisp February morning. Sadly, it was almost the end of my trip, but I was filled with a tingling expectation. On the previous safari, an enormous tusker had made his way to ‘Tiger Tank’ for a cool respite from the summer heat.

Even the smallest jaunt to a forest could be a spiritual experience for a true nature lover. This has been precisely how I’ve felt from the first moment I was taken to Nagarhole National Park; many summers of my childhood were spent waking up to the forest’s misty mornings, with Spotted Deer grazing in the backyard of our quaint little room.

It is often said that it is the people who define the place. And this doesn’t ring truer than at the Kabini River Lodge. A slice of jungle heaven set in the midst of the lush green Nagarhole Tiger Reserve, the lodge soaks you in; its personalities draw you to their stories with grins of familiarity; and its nooks and corners comfort you as haunts of yore.

‘We do not just want our guests to just come here, hop onto a safari, shoot a few photographs and go back,’ says Shivanand. He goes on to proudly assert – ‘The experience here is much more than this. We have been taught to engage our guests; to help them appreciate the finer nuances of the way animals in the wild behave; to let them experience the joys of discovering things that they would otherwise not notice; and most importantly, try learning from them as much as they learn from us.’ Shivanand has worked as a naturalist at the Kabini River Lodge for about eight years now.

River Kabini winds through the wooded treasure of peninsular India, a dividing line between the two most important national parks in that area: Nagarahole Tiger Reserve and Bandipur National Park. The banks of this river are home to an unparalleled richness of fauna.

Kabini, the place about which I had heard so many stories – the pristine forest of the Nagarahole National Park, majestic tigers, elusive leopards and the rich avifauna. I got to experience all these on my recent trip to the forest.

In line with the legacy of Jungle Lodges & Resorts (JLR), the staff of Kabini River Lodge gave us a warm welcome with their large smiles and helped us settle in. After a sumptuous lunch we were just about to doze off while we were called for the evening safari, our first! The safari started at 3PM along with four other guests and a naturalist from JLR.

My first sight of the Nagarahole forest is from behind a fine curtain of rain. The rain is out of turn today. That it has come in the wrong season is clear. But of course, for us, it has also come on the wrong day, at the wrong time. It could have made a brief visit while we were working our way through a multi-course, multi-cuisine lunch, or when we were having tea or when we were changing our lenses. But no, it is here, in the hours devoted to the jeep safari, and it arrives in full regalia.