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Mela Kothi
Uttar Pradesh, India
- Rural
- Waterside
- Wildlife
- Culture
- Nature
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An award-winning safari lodge one hour away from the Taj Mahal
Mela Kothi is a family-run eco-lodge on ancestral land in India's Chambal Valley, built in the 1890s by Rai Saheb Suraj Pal Singh as a base camp for the family's twice-yearly cattle fair. His great-grandson and his wife restored the house and opened it as a lodge in 2007. Thirteen rooms across five styles are spread through the main house and outbuildings, from heritage rooms to twin-bed cottages, each with a verandah looking over woodland or open fields.
Take a river safari on the Chambal to spot gharials, marsh crocodiles and Gangetic river dolphins, or a jeep safari for blackbuck and Sarus cranes. Walk through the family's ancestral village, or cycle out to the medieval temple complex at Bateshwar. Dinner is a home-cooked buffet of organic vegetables grown on the family's own farms.
Sustainability
Climate & conservation
- Runs the self-funded Chambal Conservation Foundation
- Provides protective covers for gharial and mugger crocodile nesting sites yearly
- Ran a reforestation nursery for the sanctuary from 2006-2015
- Lodge grounds host over 198 recorded species of birds, reptiles and mammals
- Solar power and rainwater harvesting on site
Community & culture
- Visits arranged to community conservation and school environmental education projects
- Food sourced from local farmers, recipes drawn from family history
- Founded by conservationist Ram Pratap Singh and Anu Dhillon Singh on family farm
Commercial
- Works with WWF and the Forest Department on Chambal river basin conservation
- Now part of the Rare India portfolio
In brief
- Price bracket
- ££
- Type of property
- Lodge
- No. of rooms
- 12 suites
- Max guests per room
- Rooms/cottages typically sleep up to 3 (2 adults + 2 children under 12, or 3 adults)
- Facilities
- Restaurant, Bar, Wifi, Garden, Tours desk, Laundry, Airport transfer
- Activities
- Safari, Cultural visits, Birdwatching, Wildlife viewing, Village walks
- Setting
- Rural · River
Kids
Children of all ages are welcome; extra beds may incur additional fees, and cots are not available for any room type
Accessibility
A rural heritage property with erratic electricity supported by generator backup; not designed with step-free access
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Uttar Pradesh, India
Guide price · £ <£100 · ££ £100–300 · £££ £300–800 · ££££ £800+ pp / night