#BLAHONTHEROAD: Tipai Wildlife Luxuries… this is as good as luxury wildlife resorts get anywhere in the world!

It is often said that while India offers great wildlife, it doesn’t have the kind of luxury wildlife experiences that you get in Tanzania and Kenya. And while that maybe true in the whole, there are a few notable exceptions… the likes of The Oberoi, Sujan Sher Bagh, Jawai and some of the Taj Jungle Safaris. 

For some reason, Tipai doesn’t get the kind of hype that these places do. That needs to change because it is as spectacular as anything I have ever experienced anywhere in the world. It takes the idea of luxury to another level, and it engages local communities and issues of sustainability at a level very, very few resorts do. And when we talk about a wild experience, this is a level of wild that I don’t think any other resort in India can provide.

A fifteen villa property (including four larger villas with private plunge pools), Tipai is located in the heart of Tipeshwar Wildlife Sanctuary. It was founded in November 2022 by Keyur Joshi, an entrepreneur and co-founder of MakeMyTrip, a man with a deep passion for sustainable travel and wildlife experiences. 

From the very beginning, Tipai wasn’t designed as a conventional resort. It was built with sustainability, localisation and community empowerment at its core. All the buildings, from the dining areas to the villas, are constructed using sustainable, low-impact design principles. The philosophy is based on respecting the local ecology and empowering the local community… prioritizing training and hiring people from neighbouring villages and honouring traditional local crafts and knowledge.

Most of the construction uses locally sourced materials and techniques. Rammed-earth walls, high terracotta roofs and natural materials keep the interiors cool and blend visually with the forest. The roofs and handcrafted elements are all made by local artisans. The property uses hyper-local textile and furnishings extensively, from organic local cotton to handwoven dhurries from wardha. 

While the resort (designed by Ariane Thakore Ginwala) has been built in close consultation with traditional knowledge and local experts, the idea is to take that knowledge to the next generation. Tipai invests in training locals in stone masonry, earth building, and sustainability practices so that the architecture grows from the land and its people but also returns to it, creating a self sustaining and nourishing ecosystem, rather than the extractive approach of most construction. 

The philosophy extends itself to Chef Amninder Sandhu’s culinary programme, exploring place through food. Hyper-local produce, seasonal ingredients, and food traditions reinterpreted with respect.⁠ But the food at Tipai deserves its own piece, and I’ve written about it separately.. because the food is a reason to go there in itself, and you can see why Chef Amninder is a partner and not just a business head. 

And finally, the wildlife. Because Tipeshwar is a wildlife sanctuary and not a national Park, it is smaller and isn’t divided into core and buffer areas. And while Tipeshwar itself has great tiger sightings, the really magic at Tipai comes from living in a resort that feels like it’s a part of the actual forest and not outside a buffer zone. They have been numerous tiger and leopard sightings in and around the resort. There is a thrill to swimming in a natural swimming pool, knowing that there was a tiger kill a month ago, just forty metres away. Or having dinner and observing a family of wild boar making their way along the path to the restaurant. Or just listening to stories from the team… about leopard near the lake or the tiger at the lotus pond, or the dry summer afternoon when a parched tiger decided to drink from a plunge pool. Of course, the resort is still perfectly safe. This is a well trained team that understands how to work in the jungle and has the right safety protocols in place.

Which brings me to the team, the final element in making a place special. The team at Tipai is extraordinary. It’s not just the warmth and hospitality, but the attention to detail that impressed me. Whether it was the type of coffee for your morning safari, the choice of pillow when you sleep, the way your butler was able to understand and anticipate every need whether a warm blanket or a chilled beer, without your having to ever ask for it, the service was perfection.

For many global travelers, a trip to the jungle,whether to Africa or India, is a once in a lifetime experience. Unfortunately, whether the trip is memorable or not comes down, more often than not, to the sightings. If you see a tiger, it’s an amazing trip. If you don’t, then it’s not. The magic of the great game lodges in Africa is that you guaranteed an extraordinary and memorable experience completely independently of the sightings. That is what makes Tipai special. While I did see a tiger on my first safari, it honestly didn’t matter how much wildlife I saw. What I’ll remember isn’t another tiger sighting (I must’ve seen a tiger in the wild almost a dozen times) but what was very simply the best forest resort that I have ever stayed in anywhere in the world. Words don’t do Tipai justice. You need to go there to experience its magic for yourself.