(scroll down to see all our small group tours)
Small Group Cycling Tours
through the villages and forests around Kanha Tiger Reserve
with naturalist and expert guide Catherene Christian
Our unique cycling holidays are a wonderful opportunity to explore the countryside around Kanha Tiger Reserve.
If we were to pick the holidays we loved best - it would be these.
We have spent hundreds of hours cycling thousands of kilometres in this quiet forested landscape. Small fields and villages (tolas) make a patchwork that stretches out from the hills of the 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.
If you can cycle comfortably and confident for three hours or more (e-bikes available) do consider booking. These holidays are truly the most uplifting way of immersing yourself in rural central India. We get exceptional feedback and a lot of repeat bookings.
The dates for our 2026/27 small group trips are 28th November to 6th December 2026; 16th to 24th January 2027; and 30th Jan to 7th February 2027.
We can arrange tours for couples, families or groups of friends any time between 1st November and 28th February.
Kanha Tiger Reserve attracts lots of wildlife tourism, but there is so much to see outside the reserve. These carefully curated trips give you the chance to see wildlife both inside and out of the park; and to get an insight into life lived by the many people who were evicted in order to creat he national park.
These trips make a less travel-heavy itinerary than is often the norm and 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.
They are more a means of seeing and being part of the environment than feats of endurance or athletic challlenges.
I was able to be my best self in this completely new, wonderful but alien environment … it left me feeling safe, comfortable, crazily stimulated and happier than I’ve been for a long time.’ Abi
Our multi day cycling itineraries have the comfortable loveliness that is Shergarh Tented Camp as their base, with two or three nights away in one or two lodges at the north west side of Kanha Tiger Reserve to turn the adventure into a proper journey.
The cycle rides are on regularly serviced high quality hybrid bikes. We also now have excellent Indian made e-bikes available for those who would like the adventure but find the distances daunting. All cycle rides can be accompanied by a back up vehicle.
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.
We are delighted to add, this season, a couple of nights at the newly opened Outpost 12.
I had a happy few days in January 2026 cycling up to Outpost 12 to map some varied routes, and found a way (seasonally subject to the river being low enough) of reaching the lodge from the opposite bank of the Banjar river to where it is situated. It’s a high end lodge with a fun young team of naturalists who have huge respect for the local knowledge of their staff (all from the village). Lots of regenerated forest, a magical riverside location, a carbon neutral set up, and, despite its smartness, a relaxed atmosphere. Outpost 12 adds a bit of lux to our cycle trips and a stunningly beautiful cycle ride that is well off any tourist trail.
Itinerary
Day 1 Arrive Raipur or Jabalpur (4 hr drive to Shergarh) or, for a very swift entry to central India, fly into Nagpur via Doha (o/n near the airport and then drive 6 hrs to Shergarh). Settle in to Shergarh Tented Camp
Day 2 Relaxed morning, then an afternoon cycle ride (12 km each way) to a women run craft workshop. (total 24 km cycling)
Day 3 Early morning buffer zone walk and afternoon safari in Kanha Tiger Reserve
Day 4 Bags loaded into the jeep for three nights away from camp. Set off late morning to reach the Banjar river in time for a picnic lunch. Continue through the village of Kumadehi for its weekly market and on to Courtyard House, a simple hotel on the edge of a pretty village close to the forest (35km or 48 km cycling depending on river height).
Day 5 Cycle through small villages with beautiful old mud houses, and lovely forest roads. Reach Outpost 12 from the opposite banks of the river. The cycles will be loaded onto the jeep and taken to the hotel, while you cover the final 500 metres on foot, across a paddy field, wading through the sandy river and arriving via the pool and dining area (the only guests to do so this way!). (31 km cycling)
Day 6 A safari from the northern Khatiya gate of Kanha Tiger Reserve. An afternoon walk or cycle ( 5km walk or 15 km cycle - optional)
Day 7 Cycle back to Shergarh through various forest tracks, only meeting the road you came out on 9 km from camp. (45 km cycling)
Day 8 Morning safari from Shergarh.
Day 9 Head home, add a few nights at Shergarh, or continue to another special part of rural India.
The dates for our 2026/27 small group trips are 28th November to 6th December 2026; 16th to 24th January 2027; and 30th Jan to 7th February 2027.
We can arrange tours for couples, families or groups of friends any time between 1st November and 28th February.
Costs from: £3250 per person (Raipur to Raipur or Nagpur to Nagpur)
Textile Tours In Kutch
with expert guide Niyati Kukadia
A happy collaboration with Niyati Kukadia, who has already guided many of our guests in her home state of Gujarat.
We have put together a 15 day small group tour that focuses on the textiles, communities and monumental heritage of Kutch. Niyati’s long standing connection with the area, and her extensive community work, has enabled the inclusion of multiple workshops through the course of the tour. This means you not only come away with some hand made pieces of your own (batik, ajrakh, beadwork, embroidery) but also have a properly engaging time with the artisans and gain a deeper insight into the skill and effort that goes into their work.
You will visit the well preserved ruins of the 4500 year old Harappan city of Dholavira; the famous step well Rani ki Vav at Patan, and the beautiful sun temple at Modhera.
You’ll stay in many of our favourite guest houses including The Bhuj House, Devpur Homestay and Rann Riders, Dasada.
Feedback was sweetly effusive from our January tour; we know we are offering something pretty special here. Please get in touch if you would like to join the 29th October to 13th November 2025 group (maximum group size six).
Costs from: £3950 per person (Ahmedabad to Ahmedabad)
No one could fail to enjoy the trip to Gujarat, Niyati was such a kind and informative host. We felt the reciprocated love she had with so many people … I can’t begin to tell you how absolutely wonderful every single minute was. Getting in touch with you was one my best decisions ever.
Jill: Small Group Gujarat Tour
The Craft of Cooking
Growing, storing, selling, preserving, cooking and eating;
from the eastern port of Cuttack in Odisha to the far west in Gujarat
Following a couple of food tours for which we recieved glowing reviews, we are expanding the scope of these tours to take some time to look at the crafts that go into catching, storing, preserving and cooking of food.
Another largely woman led tour, starting in Bhubaneswar where two different home stays and two different women hosts await you. Indrani, at Svanir, has Bengali and Assamese family roots, both reflected in her home cooking, but her cook from the local village informs the Odiya dishes that make up the bulk of the food here. A side of the temple town of Puri that few see is the huge pottery community who make the thousands of post used each day for the temple blessed food. Three nights here.
From here to Kila Dalijoda for another three nights and a former royal hunting lodge where Namrata Singh Deo will teach you both local and Central India cooking. Cycling and walking in beautiful countryside to burn off some of the calories. You will visit the wholesale markets in Cuttack, and bamboo basket making village where baskets are made from tiny
Up to Killa Aul, a riverside palace for regal Odia cooking and a morning on the mangrove forested backwaters of Bhitarkanika.
To Belgadia Palace for a bit of lux and the unusual and deeply moving experience of a morning at a sports academy for tribal kids. After watching, and joining in if you wish, their rugby and archery practice you have a traditional breakfast with the youngsters and hear something about their challenges and (huge) successes.
To Kolkata for two nights to soak up the food and colour of this wonderfil city. Accomodation either at the luxurious Glenburn Penthouse or the faded charm of Fairlawn.
A flight to Surat to meet Niyati and drive down to her and her husband Aditya’s Dang Forest Retreat. You will learn about farm and forest produce; the survival of many millet varieties; and how to cook in traditional equipment (from terracotta pots to banana leaves).
A drive south to the vineyards of Nashik and two nights on a farmstay with a halt enroute at a village where images of the forest deity Waghoba a tiger-leopard chimara are carved.
Take the train to Mumbai for two final nights at Abode Boutique Hotel, a morning tour of Mumbai’s markets (fish, fruit, flowers) and an evening walk around the Bohra muslim area Bhendi bazaar for a ten (tiny) course street food meal.
Costs from: £4450 (Bhubaneswar to Bombay)
