The Oberoi Vanyavilas

At dawn the safari vehicles leave for the forest, and an hour later a tiger may be walking the track beside one of the lakes of Ranthambore. The Oberoi Vanyavilas lies at the edge of that forest, outside the town of Sawai Madhopur in eastern Rajasthan. It opened in 2002 as a camp of 25 tents in landscaped grounds, built for travellers who come for the tigers and want to return to comfort between safaris.

History

Ranthambore was once the hunting reserve of the maharajas of Jaipur. It became a sanctuary in 1955, joined Project Tiger, India's national tiger conservation programme, in 1973, and was declared a national park in 1980. Its tigers became famous in the 1980s and 1990s because they could often be seen by day, which is unusual in India, and the park drew photographers and film crews from around the world. The ruined pavilions and stepwells scattered through the forest gave those images a backdrop no other reserve could match.

The Oberoi group opened Vanyavilas in 2002, the year it also opened Udaivilas in Udaipur. The name joins vanya, a Sanskrit word for the forest and the wild, to the Vilas label the company first used at Rajvilas in Jaipur in 1997. The idea was to bring the standards of its palace resorts to a luxury resort at Ranthambore: tented rooms in the Rajput tradition, gardens, a spa and a pool, close to the park's gates.

Rooms and suites

There are 25 tents, each on a raised platform with its own enclosed garden. Inside, teak floors, a large bed under a canopy, embroidered fabrics and a bathroom with a freestanding tub give the canvas the finish of a hotel room. The tents are air-conditioned in the hot months and heated in winter, when nights in Ranthambore turn cold. The style recalls the royal hunting camps of Rajasthan, where rulers travelled with whole cities of tents.

Dining

Meals are served in the main building, on terraces and in the gardens, often around a fire on winter evenings. The kitchen cooks Indian and international dishes, with Rajasthani cooking well represented, and picnic breakfasts can be packed for early safaris.

Wellness

The Oberoi Spa offers treatments in the grounds, and there is a swimming pool, welcome after a dusty midday return from the park. Yoga sessions are arranged in the mornings for guests who skip the first drive.

Location

The park lies a short drive away, and the hotel arranges morning and afternoon safaris into its zones in open vehicles. Inside, the lakes of Padam Talao, Rajbagh Talao and Malik Talao draw sambar, spotted deer and mugger crocodiles, as well as the tigers that hunt them, and leopards and sloth bears live in the rockier ground. Ranthambore Fort, a stronghold dating to the tenth century on a ridge inside the park and part of the UNESCO-listed Hill Forts of Rajasthan since 2013, can be visited from its gate, along with the Ganesh temple within its walls. The core zones close during the monsoon, usually between July and September. Sawai Madhopur Junction, on the main line between Delhi and Mumbai, has fast trains to both cities, and Jaipur's airport is about three hours or more by road.

The town itself was founded in the eighteenth century by Maharaja Sawai Madho Singh I of Jaipur, who gave it his name. Its railway station is painted with murals of the park's tigers, birds and deer, the first sight of Ranthambore for many visitors who arrive by train.