Pench Tree Lodge: A Quaint Den for Nature Lovers

It took me almost a day of traveling—including a long layover in Kuala Lumpur—before I landed at Nagpur Airport from Mumbai. Upon arrival, I immediately rendezvoused with my friend Karla at her hotel. Wasting no time, me met our driver from Pench who was already waiting in the lobby to drive us on a three-hour ride to Pench in Seoni, Madhya Pradesh.

Karla and myself were invited to attend and cover the Madhya Pradesh Tourism Summit happening a week later. Fortunately, the good people from Pench Tree Lodge and Pugdundee Safaris invited us for a complimentary stay and to experience a safari tour inside Pench National Park.

While I expect the safari—my first ever—to be an experience to remember, I never thought the place where we will be staying would add another layer of awesomeness to this trip.

As our car passed through small villages spread far and in between over a long stretch of highway flanked by the interchanging landscapes of lush farms and dry soils, I resisted mightily from dozing off. After a couple of hours, our vehicle rolled into the off-road part of the countryside. "This is already part of the buffer zone of Pench National Park" our driver told us. Jolted to full awareness, I immediately felt the great nature vibe of the place we're nearing into.

Karla of Karla Around the World in front of our Tree House

“Look, that’s a Kingfisher bird” said our driver as he point out India’s national bird. “There, another kind of bird, there are a lot of different birds seen here” he adds.

I felt my excitement shoot up as we pulled over the driveway before being greeted by the amiable staff of Pench Tree Lodge. After a brief exchange of pleasantries, we were led to our tree-house. A 5-minute walk from the reception hall and the common area, we finally saw our tree-house standing in the middle of a long pathway surrounded by tall grasses and blending in with the other trees.

Straight Out of my Childhood’s Fantasy

Almost every child growing up dreamed about living on a tree-house. I remember when I was eight or nine, together with a few of friends, we tried building a wooden platform on body of a mango tree. We used woods salvaged from a nearby construction site and took turns hammering until we were able to build a small podium where all four of us sat and played jack stones every afternoon after school.

Since then, I’ve had actual experiences sleeping inside a tree house. The one in Antique comes to mind first. But the one at Pench Tree Lodge where me and Karla stayed for three nights is every bit the kind of a tree-house from my childhood fantasy.

Ours is a spacious abode of creaking wooden floors and walls framed with appealing artworks and fancy corners. Every inch of our room blended beautifully against the Mahua Tree it was built on. The Mahua Tree is an Indian tropical tree found in the Northern and Central plains and forests of India. It grows at an average of 20 meters tall and possesses a lush evergreen foliage.

It was one of the six tree-houses built inside the property of Pench Tree Lodge. Supported by stilts and made of local Sal wood, our tree-house spreads into a veranda where you can enjoy a view of the multitudes of birds and butterflies. A lounger that doubles as a day bed sits beside the large French windows while two single beds, a working desk, two side tables and a walk-in closet leads to the bathroom.

Activities | Wildlife Safari, Birdwatching, Village Cycling

Aside from the Wildlife Safari activities, the staff of Pench Tree Lodge also took us on a bird-watching session near a small lake inside the resort. On our first sunset at Pench, we were served with chewy cookies and tea as the beautiful sun starts its slow descent from the sky. We saw an assembly of a variety of bird species while Chinmay—the in-house naturalist of Pench Tree Lodge—briefed us on what to expect on our Safari tour.

Still part of Pench Tree Lodge, this is the designated birdwatching slash afternoon tea spot

(Read more about our Safari experience HERE)

In between our Safari tour, Chinmay also took us on a cycling exploration of the nearby villages giving us an opportunity to mingle with the town people. All of whom welcomed us with a smile and indulged us to some interesting small talks.

(Read more about our Village Cycling tour experience HERE)

Candlelit Dinner, Organic Farm and more...

Other than starting our day with a hearty breakfast by the pool, the Chef and the kitchen crew of Pench Tree Lodge treated us to a list of romantic dining settings. Bush Dinner-check, Organic Farm Dinner-check. Each meal we've had at Pench further enamored me with Indian cuisine.