Cycling
through the Villages and Forests AROUND Kanha Tiger Reserve
Cycling holidays are a wonderful opportunity to explore the countryside around Kanha Tiger Reserve. The landscape is incredibly pretty; small fields and villages (tolas) make a patchwork that stretches out from the hills of the forested national park, many people still living in beautiful mud and wattle homes with terracotta roofs and immaculate gobar courtyards. Traditional farming methods continue, some unchanged for thousands of years.
Kanha attracts lots of wildlife tourism, but there is much to see outside the reserve and these carefully curated trips give guests the chance to see wildlife both inside and out of the reserve; and to get an insight into village life around the edges of the national park.
These trips help make a less travel-heavy itinerary than is often the norm and to make it possible to spend a slow and immersive time in one area rather than being constantly on the move in planes and cars, or with a jam-packed jeep-based safari schedule.
Our multi day cycling itineraries start and end in the comfortable loveliness that is Shergarh Tented Camp. Shergarh’s six canvas walled tents with their terracotta tiled roofs and beautiful attached bathrooms are situated around a lake and in the natural forest that has sprung up over the sixteen years that Jehan and Kate Bhujwala have been there, gradually cutting the non-native eucalyptus that covered the land and allowing the birds and monkeys to re-seed the now almost purely native forest. Shergarh has been home for Katie and Jehan and their two children since 2004, and although fairly peripatetic these days they are there as often as they can be, and camp still has a very homely friendly (not resort-y) feel to it. The staff are all local apart from Raj the naturalist who has been there from day one, and who holds the fort with love and pride. More than forty percent of the staff are women.
The cycle rides are on high quality hybrid bikes hired from a local supplier who is on hand for tweaks and servicing. We also now have two excellent Indian made e-bikes will also be available for those who would like the adventure but find the distances daunting. All cycle rides will be accompanied by a back up vehicle and luggage will be taken to each night halt by car.
The rides range from a simple 30 km ride from Shergarh to the other end of Kanha National Park to spend a night or two at charming Kipling Camp where you can meet Tara the rescue elephant and do a park drive from the northern Khatiya Gate; to a multi day challenge which will include a day spent with Samerth Charitable Trust who are Frank Water Charity’s partners in India. They will take you to see some of the life changing projects they have been involved in enabling access to safe water for villagers in inaccessible areas of Chhattisgarh.
Our most popular trip last season has been a three day ride that circuits Kanha Tiger Reserve and includes safaris from Kanha’s quiet northern gate, Sarhi, as well as the more frequented Mukki.
The next dates for the bi-annual Cycle for Safe Water, a fundraising group ride for Frank Water Charity are 15th to 24th November 2024, please get in touch for more details.
All trips include a craft workshop at Pashoo Pakshee a woman run social enterprise providing crafts based livelihoods supporting human-wildlife co-existence for people living close to India’s national parks.
Accommodation ranges from simple government guest houses to the luxury of Shergarh, Kipling Camp and Bagh Vilas
With an optional night or two in Mumbai at each end of your trip this can make for a truly immersive fortnight long Indian adventure with a light footprint.
Sample Day by Day Itinerary
with approximate distances
(lots of flexibility for independent travellers)
Day 1: Take the overnight train from Mumbai to Gondia Junction where you will be met and transferred (2.5 hrs) to Shergarh OR fly into Raipur or Jabalpur airport (4.5 hrs). Holidays in Rural India makes a £20 donation to Frank Water for all who choose the train.
Day 2: An acclimatisation day with a gentle cycle to the Pashoo Pakshee workshop where you will make a beaded bag charm with some of the women who work there; hear something of their lives; and visit the small onsite museum about the Gond and Baiga communities of central India.
Day 3: After early morning coffee/tea and biscuits we’ll set off east from Shergarh for a night in a government tourist lodge just over the border into the neighbouring state of Chhattisgarh. It will be about 75km of cycling with a fairly easy start but ending with some poor and bumpy roads and a fair bit of uphill, including a final steep 3 km. We’ll have breakfast and lunch en route, this will be a long day and we’ll expect to be at our destination at sundown. (75km)
Day 4: Spend a morning with the team from Samerth (Frank Water’s partners in Chhattisgarh). We will do all of this on foot. You will get the opportunity to see the multiple and varied solutions they provide for access to safe water. We will then continue to Bagh Villas an eco friendly tented camp with a swimming pool and a spa (massages can be booked in advance and may make a glorious treat for the penultimate day of the ride) all located around a large lake which is host to many migratory birds. (60 km).
Day 5: Return to Shergarh (12 km) after a leisurely breakfast.
Day 6: Visit a school and aanganvadi supported by the brilliant local NGO Earth Focus Kanha
Day 7: An easy day today through village and forest to reach Kipling Camp in time to walk down to the river with Tara the rescue elephant for her afternoon bath. (30km)
Day 8: Today starts on beautiful forest tracks where we’ll have a picnic breakfast. After a 12 km stretch of highway we turn off onto some of the bumpy tracks, reaching the MP tourism lodge in time for lunch and an afternoon safari. Sarhi is the quietest of Kanha’s three gates and although tiger sightings are less frequent it’s without doubt one of the prettiest and most peaceful safaris you will experience in India. Truly special. (55km)
Day 9: Today we head off early through villages, and up and down some of the rolling hills that border the high plateau at the north east end of the park. There are some bumpy stretches, and then a glorious reward of ten kms of down hill swoop through a patch of core zone of the tiger reserve. A heroes’ welcome lunch back at Shergarh and a well deserved afternoon off. (53 km)
Day 10: A morning safari in wonderful Kanha Tiger Reserve glowing in the knowledge that you’ve already cycled its circumference.
Day 11: Depart.
Costs for this trip will vary according to numbers but range from £2395 per person (based on twin sharing) to £3395 including transfers from Raipur/Gondia and all food and lodging.
