The forest that came back.
Panna lost every one of its tigers by 2009. What followed is the greatest recovery in Indian conservation, a forest now brimming with cats born on its own plateaus. To photograph a tiger here is to photograph hope itself.
The stage is unlike any other: the emerald Ken carving through pale sandstone gorges, vultures wheeling off the escarpments, and the temples of Khajuraho forty minutes beyond the trees.
"On the Ken at first light, the gorge holds its breath. A gharial slides off the sand, and somewhere above you a tiger is watching the river."
The plateau at dawn.
The river by boat.
Five nights, typically. Two drives a day in your own open 4×4 across gorge rims and plateau grasslands, one dawn on the Ken by boat, and, should you wish, a golden hour among Khajuraho's temples. Varun beside you throughout, reading the forest aloud.
The particulars of each stay are arranged in conversation.
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