Satpura National Park and Forsyth Lodge: Three Days on Foot, by Jeep and by Canoe

Satpura ke ghane jungle, Bhawani Prasad Mishra's poem about the dense Satpura forests, set the tone for my wildlife trip to Satpura National Park, in the Satpura range of central India: three days of learning about a jungle.

The quick answer

You are asking	The answer
Where is it?	Satpura National Park is the heart of the Satpura Tiger Reserve in Narmadapuram district (formerly Hoshangabad), Madhya Pradesh. Most visitors enter at Madhai, across the Denwa river. Forsyth Lodge is just outside, near Madhai and Sohagpur.
How far is Forsyth Lodge from Bhopal?	About 150 to 180 km by road, 3½ to 4 hours via Narmadapuram and Sohagpur. By train, Sohagpur station is about 20 km away; Pipariya and Itarsi are larger stations further off.
When is it open?	The core zones open on 1 October and close on 30 June; July to September is the monsoon closure. December to February is cold and lovely; March to June is hot, and animals gather at water.
What makes Satpura different?	You can see it on foot and from the water, not only from a jeep: it is one of the few tiger reserves in India with walking safaris in the core, and canoes on the Denwa. Night drives run in the buffer zone.
Will I see a tiger?	Tigers live here but are shy and rarely seen. Come for sloth bears, gaur, sambar, spotted deer, crocodiles and birds, and count a tiger as luck.
What does a safari cost?	Permits are booked on the MP Forest website. The reserve lists a core-zone vehicle permit at ₹2,400 to ₹3,000 for up to six people, a walk at ₹240 a person and a three-hour canoe at ₹400 a person, with the guide extra; jeep hire comes on top (about ₹3,500 a round since October 2025). Lodges near the park, Forsyth among them, arrange safaris for their guests.

Before you go (October 2026)

• The season now opens on 1 October; when I went it opened on 16 October. The core is closed from 1 July to 30 September.
• Permits. Book on the Madhya Pradesh Forest Department's site (forest.mponline.gov.in), well ahead for winter weekends and holidays. Walking, canoe and night drives are booked separately from jeep safaris, and some only through lodges or at the gate: ask when you book your stay.
• Charges (Satpura Tiger Reserve, "Excursion and Charges"): walking or cycling in the core ₹240 a person, buffer ₹120; canoe or paddle boat ₹400 a person for three hours; motor boat ₹400 a round; guide ₹480 to ₹600 for a vehicle trip, more for a day's trek. Madhya Pradesh raised jeep hire and guide fees across its reserves from 1 October 2025, so check the current figures when you book.
• Names have changed. Hoshangabad is now Narmadapuram (2022), and the reserve is officially 2,133 km²: Satpura National Park with the Bori and Pachmarhi sanctuaries as its core, and a buffer around them.
• Mornings are cold from December to February in an open jeep or a canoe. Carry a warm layer, a cap and gloves.

Getting to Forsyth Lodge and Satpura

When I went, the lodge was about 180 km from Bhopal, four hours by taxi from Raja Bhoj Airport or Bhopal Junction. Itarsi, on the Mumbai–Howrah line, was the faster rail option, about 65 km away. Forsyth Lodge sits at the edge of the reserve: drive to the Denwa river at Madhai, cross it, and you are in the park.

(2026: the lodge's address is Bija Kheri village, near Sohagpur. Sohagpur station, about 20 km from Madhai, is the nearest; from Bhopal by road allow 3½ to 4 hours.)

Forsyth Lodge: the stay

Forsyth Lodge stands on 44 acres of forest at the edge of the Satpura Tiger Reserve. Its idea, as the lodge put it to me, is a wildlife holiday that sits lightly on the land and gives back to the villages around it, working with the park administration and the local community.

Twelve cottages stand in an arc around a two-storey lodge building that looks out onto the Satpura hills. They are built of cob, an earth-and-straw mix that keeps rooms cooler in summer and warmer in winter. Mine was large, with a spotless bathroom and a sit-out where I took my morning tea. A few have machan terraces. There is a swimming pool a few steps from the cottages, a library of wildlife books and National Geographic back issues, a small shop, a spa and a garden.

Rishi, the manager, told me that barking deer often wander into the lodge's backyard. Meals moved around: in the open, in the dining hall or under the stars. Once a week, women from the nearby villages came in to cook for the guests, and all the support staff were from the villages around Satpura, trained at the lodge. I would call it community living more than a resort.

(2026: the lodge's website now names its rooms as Machan and Gondia cottages.)

What the "Forsyth experience" included

The lodge plans every outing with its own naturalists and the forest guards: open jeep safaris through the park, bird watching, walks inside the reserve, canoeing on the Denwa backwaters, and evenings of stargazing by a bonfire. Over three days I did the jeep safari, a walk and a canoe, and a night drive besides.

A night drive on the edge of the park

The first outing was a night drive along the jungle's edge, to look for the animals and birds that come out only after dark. A powerful flashlight swept the forest as we drove along the boundary. If you stay a night near Satpura, do this.

The morning jeep safari across the Denwa

The next day began at 5 am with a wake-up call from the staff and fresh coffee. A short drive took us to the banks of the Denwa's backwaters, which separate the reserve from the villages and farms around it, and also keep poachers out.

The safari started well: a sloth bear with her cubs, spotted deer and gaur. Then the deer began alarm-calling, which means a big cat is close. We waited, but as they say, only the lucky see the tiger. We moved on to sambar grazing in the morning light, and past ghost trees and frankincense trees deeper in the forest. The route crossed the Madhai meadow to breakfast on a pile of volcanic rock above a stream. Give it about four hours, and do it the slow way: stop, whisper, look, whisper, move on.

Walking in tiger country

In the evening we left the vehicle tracks and walked into the forest, with a forest guard and the lodge's naturalists. Walking anywhere wild is a thrill; walking where tigers live is twice that. Deer stopped to stare at us, and a group of wild boar went on eating. Satpura is one of the few reserves in India where you may walk inside a designated part of the park, and the walk is best at dawn.

A canoe on the Denwa backwaters

On the last morning we took canoes onto the Denwa backwater: three to a canoe, two guests and a boatman, gliding into the river's small bays and inlets. From the water you can watch, without disturbing them, animals coming down to drink and shy mugger crocodiles sunning themselves. Drifting slowly on the Denwa is the memory I kept.

What stayed with me

Three days at Forsyth Lodge were the best lesson I have had about a jungle: its birds, the deer's alarm calls, and how a lodge can live alongside its villages.

Best time to visit Satpura

When I went, the park was open from 16 October to 30 June and closed from 1 July to 15 October for the monsoon. (2026: it now opens on 1 October.) December to February brings cold mornings and clear days; March to June is hot, but animals gather at the water. Satpura National Park covers about 524 km², and with the Pachmarhi and Bori sanctuaries about 1,427 km². It is less crowded and less commercial than the better-known tiger reserves of Madhya Pradesh, which is the point of coming.

More

• Forsyth Lodge: forsythlodge.com (they hosted my stay in 2015).
• The reserve's own site, with charges and how to reach: satpuratigerreserve.org.
• Questions about Satpura? Write to me at nilabh@travelescape.in.