Mela Kothi - Chambal Safari Lodge, Jarar

There's a particular kind of intelligence in restoring something to what it once was, rather than replacing it with something new. Ram Pratap Singh could have built anything on his family's ancestral land. What he and his environmental scientist wife Anu chose to do instead was slower, harder, and infinitely more interesting.

The Mela Kothi built in the late 1860s by Rai Saheb Ch. Suraj Pal Singh as a camp office for the family's legendary biannual cattle fair had fallen into disrepair by the 1990s. In 1999, Ram Pratap began the work of bringing it back - not as a period piece or a nostalgic reconstruction, but as a living, breathing lodge rooted in the land it stands on. Over two decades, he has cultivated 33 acres of woodland from what was largely degraded farmland, planted with an eye toward restoring the native ecological fabric of the Chambal hinterland.

Mela Kothi’s comforts are thoughtful rather than excessive. There is a library and sitting room, resident naturalists for guided rambles, complimentary though sometimes erratic Wi-Fi in the lounge and garden areas, independent air-conditioning in rooms and cottages, oil-fin radiators and hot-water bottles in colder months, and safe drinking water purified through RO and UV systems and served in glass and steel bottles.

Mela Kothi’s experiences are shaped by three defining landscapes of Chambal: the river, the ravines, and the rural world that lies between them.

The river safari is the essential Chambal experience. The National Chambal Sanctuary protects a 400 km stretch of the river, with ravines running along both banks. Declared a protected area in 1979 to revive the gharial population, it is now one of the last habitats of the Gangetic River Dolphin. Its waters and sandbanks shelter gharials, marsh crocodiles, eight species of turtles, smooth-coated otters and more than 330 species of resident and migratory birds, including the Indian Skimmer. With Mela Kothi’s naturalists on board, the safari is  a way to understand the fragile river ecosystem and the conservation story that has helped protect it.  

The Blackbuck Jeep Safari heads southwest from the lodge towards the Chambal ravines, passing through fields and remote hamlets in search of blackbuck and dryland birds such as the Indian Courser. It takes around three to four hours. The Sarus Crane Jeep Safari is more specialised and is a 4 to 5 hour outing into wetland and cultivated areas north of the Yamuna, recommended especially for serious birders. 

The lodge grounds themselves are quietly alive, with over 198 species of birds and small mammals recorded in and around Mela Kothi. Early morning and late afternoon walks with the naturalists are a soft introduction to the countryside, but the night walk is where the mood changes - palm civets, jungle cats, jackals, foxes, hares, fruit bats, hedgehogs and, if fortune allows, the Indian striped hyena.

The cultural experiences at Mela Kothi are rooted in the villages, farms, temples and craft traditions around the lodge. Village walks introduce you to everyday rural life, while visits to Bijkouli’s potters, Holipura’s old havelis and nearby farming settlements show the continuity of local skills and community life. Bateshwar brings in the spiritual and architectural side of the region, with its Shiva temples, ghats, evening aarti and annual fair. Shouripur’s Jain temples, Rapri’s old Islamic monuments, Etawah’s colonial history and cycling routes through the countryside add further depth to Chambal’s layered story.