Morning mist over a stream lined with trees
The Chief's Tent on its raised wooden deck among the trees
A tiger walking straight towards the camera along a forest track
The old bungalow glimpsed across the estate in late golden light

A Jungle Camp · Kanha, Madhya Pradesh

Into the wild

A private jungle estate on the boundary of Kanha National Park — far from the clamour of tourist vehicles, deep in the forest’s own quiet.

Welcome to Saja and Sal

Nestled in dense jungle on the edge of world-renowned Kanha, Saja and Sal is a place to step back in time and meet the Indian jungle as the pioneers once knew it.

Far from the clamour of tourist vehicles and human disturbance, the estate is given over to the forest. Gaur graze in its clearings, chital step down to the water and the night belongs to the jungle. Here you are free to immerse yourself in nature’s splendour — unspoiled, untamed and entirely unhurried.

There are just two tents, each set apart among towering trees. It is an experience like none other.

A day at Saja and Sal

The jungle keeps its own time

Days here follow the light, and the animals. These are the hours our guests remember.

A lone tree in a misty meadow before sunrise, the forest dark beyond
i

Dawn

Your first cup of tea in the crisp morning air, fragrant with the unspoiled jungle. Gaur herds graze in the clearing while chital approach the waterhole, warily.

Two guests pausing for tea beside a stream
ii

Morning

Out along the estate’s trails with a guide and a pair of binoculars, while the forest is still cool, clean and scented with Sal.

The Chief's Tent deck with tables and chairs looking out over the forest canopy
iii

Sundown

Sink into an antique planter’s chair with a sundowner as the light turns to gold — and, at dusk, the jungle comes alive.

The Milky Way arching across a dark, star-filled sky
iv

Night

Dinner beneath the towering Sal. Listen for the warning calls of deer, the piercing chant of the brainfever bird and, now and then, the roar of a tiger.

The Bungalow among the trees, rendered as an engraving
The Bungalow, in engraving

Heritage

From the pages of an old jungle memoir

Long before the tents, there was the Bungalow. With its tiled roof, columned veranda and Victorian fireplaces, it belongs to the world of the forest bungalows in India’s old shikar memoirs: a lamplit veranda at the end of a jungle road, a party setting out at first light, and the day’s notes written up by the fire.

It still stands among the Saja and the Sal, as though the years have simply passed it by.

The story of the Bungalow

Neighbours

Wildlife at the camp

A gaur bull with a cattle egret at its feet

Gaur

Herds graze the estate’s grassland almost daily from March to July — best admired from the veranda or your deck, at a respectful distance.

A tiger walking straight towards the camera along a forest track

Tiger

Tigers pass through the estate now and then. The tigress Choti Mada (T31) was a regular visitor, and in February 2024 a guest spotted one of her cubs on our trails.

Chital in long green grass, a myna riding on one's back

Chital

Spotted deer drift through the long grass and step down to the stream to drink.

Spotted owlets peering from a hollow in a tree trunk

Spotted owlets

Peering out of hollow trees — one of many reasons to keep your binoculars close.

A black-hooded oriole among red blossoms against a blue sky

Birdlife

Kanha counts more than 300 species of birds, from black-hooded orioles and paradise flycatchers to the brainfever bird calling after dark.

A male purple sunbird on a cluster of red ixora flowers

Sunbirds

Purple sunbirds work the flowers around the tents, hanging upside down for nectar.

A tiger passing close to the trail camera

After dark

Trail cameras in front of the old Bungalow record tigers passing in the night.

A spotted deer among fallen leaves
A tiger walking straight towards the camera along a forest track

Kanha National Park

Ten minutes from Mukki Gate

Kanha Tiger Reserve spreads across the Maikal Hills of the Satpura range — Sal forest, open meadow and bamboo-clad slopes that shelter tiger, leopard, gaur and the hard-ground barasingha, found nowhere else on earth.

Mukki Gate is just 7 km from camp along a dust-free tarred road.

Discover Kanha
940km²
Core zone
2,117km²
Kanha Tiger Reserve
300+
Species of birds
1,000+
Species of plants
The family behind Saja and Sal

Our Story

A family estate in the forest

Saja and Sal is the private jungle estate of a family with deep roots in the forests of Central India: a sportsman, hunter and ardent conservationist, and his wife, an educationist of repute. Today its gates open to a small number of guests.

Read our story

Gallery

Glimpses of the estate

View the gallery
The King's Tent's private plunge pool on its deck above the forest
Chital in long green grass, a myna riding on one's back
A male purple sunbird perched on red ixora blossoms
Dining pavilions set beneath tall Sal trees
A freestanding bathtub on a bamboo-screened deck open to the sky
Spotted owlets peering from a hollow in a tree trunk
The Bungalow's long veranda: cushioned benches, a planter's chair, lanterns and hats on an old hall stand, with the forest beyond

Plan your stay

Your tent in the trees is waiting

Tell us when you would like to come. We’ll check availability and get back to you.