The Mountbatten Lodge

Located an hour’s drive away from The Mountbatten Lodge, the Jawai region in Rajasthan is renowned for its thriving population of leopards, making it one of the prime destinations for wildlife safaris in India. The rugged terrain, dotted with rocky outcrops and scrub forests, provides an ideal habitat for these elusive predators, offering a unique opportunity to observe them in their natural habitat.

The thrill of a leopard sighting is unparalleled, as these solitary hunters gracefully traverse the rocky terrain or lounge languidly atop the granite hills, blending seamlessly with their surroundings. With each sighting, you are treated to mesmerising encounters that offer a glimpse into the intricate dynamics of predator and prey in the wilderness.

The sprawling hills of Jawai offer a sanctuary for nature enthusiasts eager to delve into the mysteries of the wild. Apart from leopards, you can indulge in the tranquil pursuit of birdwatching. From the elusive Indian courser to the majestic eagle owl and the vibrant Indian pitta, diverse birdlife awaits exploration.

And, the adventure doesn’t end there! Jawai Dam teems with crocodiles, providing a rare opportunity to observe these reptiles in their natural habitat. Witnessing them bask in the sun, glide through the waters or engage in territorial disputes is an experience in itself. And if time permits, you could also explore the nearby Rabari village.

Every moment spent immersed in this untamed landscape is an opportunity to connect with nature in its purest form, leaving an indelible imprint on the soul. The allure of Jawai's wilderness beckons adventurers to explore further, promising unforgettable encounters at every turn.

During your stay at The Mountbatten Lodge, a visit to Kumbalgarh Fort is a must-do experience. Located just a scenic drive away from the lodge, Kumbalgarh Fort sits majestically at the base of the Aravalli ranges, offering breathtaking views of the surrounding locale.

The journey to Kumbalgarh Fort is as enchanting as the destination itself. You will encounter quaint villages, vibrant markets and sprawling fields as you wind your way through the countryside. The scenic drive offers glimpses of rural life, where time seems to stand still amidst the rural beauty.

Upon reaching Kumbalgarh Fort, you'll be greeted by its imposing walls, which stretch over 38 kilometres, making it one of the largest fortifications in the world. Step through the massive gateways adorned with intricate carvings, and let the stories of centuries past unfold before your eyes.

Built during the 15th century and subsequently expanded in the 19th century, the Kumbhalgarh Fort was founded by Rana Kumbha, the then ruler of Mewar in western India. It was one of the 32 forts erected during his reign, aimed at safeguarding the kingdom from external threats.

The fort boasts seven grand gates, step-wells, approximately 360 Jain and Hindu ancient temples from different periods of history, about 700 cannon bunkers and imposing watch towers, making it a remarkable testament to the architectural prowess and strategic foresight of its builders.

As you wander through the fort, don't forget to climb to the top of the ramparts for panoramic views of the surrounding countryside. The sweeping vistas offer a glimpse into Rajasthan's eternal beauty, with undulating hills, verdant forests and azure skies stretching as far as the eye can see.

A banyan doesn’t grow up so much as outward. It drops roots from its branches, and where they reach the ground they thicken into new trunks, until a single tree becomes something closer to a small wood — one organism wearing many stems. The one you lunch beneath has been doing this for about three hundred years, which makes it older than the Lodge, the road in, and most of what stands around it.

Shade like this has always been where the day slows in rural Rajasthan: where people eat, wait out the heat, and settle things. You arrive, and they set lunch where the whole area has gathered for generations — under the tree that keeps making more of itself.

The hills you climb in the jeep this evening are the oldest still standing on Earth. The Aravallis rose more than two billion years ago, when the only life on the planet was single-celled, and they once stood as high as the Himalayas — which came up a billion years after them.

What you drive over now are the worn-down roots of that range, ground to low ridges by an unimaginable stretch of time. The four-wheel-drive takes you up as the light drops and the ridges go from grey to gold to blue. You stop where the view opens. Nothing in the Himalayas is near this old; you are watching sunset on the end of something ancient.

The evening closes with dinner back at The Mountbatten Lodge, a relaxed, unhurried meal that rounds out a full first day. After lunch beneath the banyan, an afternoon by the pool, and sundowners over the Aravalli Hills, this dinner offers a natural moment to settle in fully, no more driving, no more schedule, just good food and quiet conversation before turning in.

It's designed as a gentle wind-down rather than an event in itself, a chance to rest properly ahead of the horse safari beginning the following morning. There's a deliberate calm to this final hour of the day, the Lodge at its most restful, lights low, the evening air cooling after the heat of the afternoon. Guests leave the table ready for an early start, the first day's adventures behind them and several more, on horseback, waiting just ahead.

You’ll pass a Persian wheel still turning in a field — an ox walking a slow circle, a chain of clay pots rising full and tipping their water into a channel. The name misleads: its Sanskrit one is araghatta, pot-wheel, and it was likely an Indian invention long before it reached Persia. Farmers here have watered ground this way for centuries.

The three-hour ride also takes you past Garasia hamlets, a hill people who, by their own telling, are part Bhil and part Rajput — descended from warriors who fled into these same Aravallis after defeat and stayed. Your guide rides alongside and reads the country as you go. The horses carry you on, toward leopard ground.

This corner of the Aravallis holds one of the densest leopard populations anywhere — cats that live in the granite hills, dozing in caves and crevices by day and moving at dusk. What makes it unusual is who they share it with. The Rabari, the herders in white and red, treat the leopard as sacred, tied to Shiva, and when one takes a goat they don’t hunt it down; there are no fences here, and barely a poaching case in decades.

You transfer to a four-wheel-drive at last light and go out with a tracker who knows the ground and the individual cats. You are here to find one and watch it, nothing more — then on to camp.

The musicians who play at the camp tonight come from a tradition Marwar has kept for centuries: hereditary performer communities — the Manganiyar and Langa among them — born into music, taught by their fathers, who for generations sang at the courts and camps of this desert for whoever kept them. The songs are memory as much as melody, carried down without ever being written.

You sit out under a sky with almost no light to compete with, the fire going, a barbecue coming off the coals, and the voices lifting into it. Depending on the season, the night might move indoors to a family castle nearby. Either way, you’re hearing songs older than the arrangement that brought them to you.

Rana Kumbha’s masons built this wall between 1443 and 1458, and it runs thirty-six kilometres over thirteen Aravalli peaks — the second-longest unbroken wall on Earth after the Great Wall of China, wide enough along the top for eight horses to ride abreast. You reach it the fitting way, on horseback, after a four-hour ride through the Kumbhalgarh sanctuary that guards its lower slopes.

Inside the walls, more than three hundred temples; below, the country the fort was built to hold. This is where Maharana Pratap, who spent his life resisting the Mughals, was born. You ride up to a fort raised to keep a kingdom in — arriving, as its garrison once did, by horse.

The afternoon is yours before it's anyone else's, stretched out by your private pool as the Rajasthan sun softens toward evening. When you're ready, step beyond the Lodge's boundary and into a tribal village close by, where daily life carries on exactly as it has for generations, unconcerned with your visiting.

Walk without an agenda, taking in courtyards, colours, and the rhythm of a place that isn't performing for guests. It's a short journey in distance but a proper crossing in feeling, from the calm of your pool to the pulse of a village that owes you nothing.

Breakfast done, head just nine kilometres from the Lodge to the Ranakpur Jain Temple, one of India's most remarkable architectural treasures. It rises out of the Aravalli range in white marble, every surface carved with a patience that's hard to comprehend, pillars, ceilings and doorways, each one different from the last.

Morning light moves through the stone and softens it, and walking slowly feels right here, rushing does not. This is one of Rajasthan's most significant cultural and spiritual landmarks, and standing inside it, surrounded by centuries of careful hands, the reason becomes clear at once. Peaceful, precise, and entirely its own.