Bandhav Vilas

Living and working out here near Bandhavgarh National Park is quite a different experience than being in the city. Bandhav Vilas is located right in the Tala area, which is where most of the people come when they want to see the forest. It’s a quiet spot, except for when the safari jeeps start their engines early in the morning. We spend a lot of our time just keeping the place running. The dust from the jungle roads gets everywhere, so there is always cleaning to do. We have some rooms for guests who are here for the tigers and the trees. It’s not like staying in a big city hotel; things are a bit slower here. Sometimes the electricity goes out for a bit, or the internet is slow, but that’s just life in the park area. We have a few guys from the local village who help with the kitchen and the garden. We grow a few things ourselves when the monkeys don't get to them first. In the evenings, it gets really dark and you can hear all sorts of birds and animals from the woods. It’s a simple life for us. We just try to make sure people have a comfortable place to sleep after they’ve spent the whole day out in the sun looking for wildlife. It’s a lot of work, but we like being this close to nature. It feels like home.