Salban means sal forest. The name is accurate. Seven kilometres from Kanha’s Mukki Gate, on 11 acres surrounded by mahua and sal trees, Sheema and Jhampan Mookerjee have built the most hospitable, most knowledgeable, most thoroughly delicious base in the Central Indian tiger reserves. TripAdvisor’s number one property at Kanha. A verandah that becomes the heart of everything. Scamp the rescue dog, who is fourteen and has seen it all.
The first thing guests notice at Salban is the verandah.
It is wide and deep — a large, shaded living space that functions as the gathering point for every activity and every conversation at the homestay. Breakfast happens here. Evenings happen here. Stories are exchanged here, and debriefs of the day’s safari, and the kind of leisurely, unhurried conversation about wildlife and travel and the forest that only happens when you are in the right company in the right place. At night, a thousand stars light the sky above it. The lake, a short walk away, passes at twilight from the hands of humans into the keeping of the animals.
This verandah, in the consistent testimony of everyone who has spent time at Salban, is the reason guests extend their stays.
The Hosts
Sheema and Jhampan Mookerjee are not people who arrived at Kanha from elsewhere and opened a homestay. They are people of the forest — professionals with careers entirely shaped by wildlife and travel, who chose Baherakhar village as their home and built Salban as an expression of who they are.
Jhampan is a wildlife conservationist of considerable reputation. He has helped pioneer the Save the Whale Shark Campaign and conducted research on Shahtoosh workers in Jammu and Kashmir. His career has taken him on wildlife tours across India, Bhutan, Nepal, and China — and the knowledge he brings to Salban’s safaris is the accumulated intelligence of someone who has spent decades reading wildlife landscapes at the highest level. He often accompanies guests into Kanha personally, sharing his understanding of the park’s ecology with the generosity of someone for whom this is pleasure rather than work.
Sheema is a food and travel writer who now focuses entirely on running the homestay. Her presence is in every meal the kitchen produces — the gourmet ambition that guests describe as Salban quickly becoming a destination in its own right, entirely apart from its proximity to Kanha. She also helps train local villagers, many of whom are employed at Salban, building the community dimension of the property’s existence into its daily operations.
Both Mookerjees live on the property throughout the year. They love interacting with guests, particularly about wildlife and travel — which is not a hospitable performance but a genuine expression of who they are and what they find interesting. Guests describe this quality — the specific, infectious enthusiasm of knowledgeable people sharing knowledge they love — as one of the most valuable things Salban offers.
Scamp, the fourteen-year-old rescue dog, is the third host.
The Property
Salban’s 11-acre compound surrounds the main house and its two cottages with the forest’s own logic: fruit trees, mahua trees, sal trees, the open space between them that animals use when humans are not present, and the lake nearby that becomes, at twilight, the most important address in the area for the wildlife that depends on it.
The main bungalow is built in the local style with a red-tiled Mangalore roof split into two levels — the lower level shading the ground floor bedrooms and the wide verandah, the upper covering the central living space and an additional bedroom. Two bedrooms sit inside the main house. Two more are in independent cottages positioned at the edge of the property, facing into the forest — the most sought-after accommodation for guests who come specifically for the immersive quality of sleeping where the jungle is the nearest neighbour.
The cottages were designed by Jhampan with the thoughtful positioning of someone who understands what a good view of the forest is worth, and appointed by Sheema with the aesthetic intelligence of a writer who understands that the spaces people inhabit should be honest representations of where they are. For guests with mobility issues, the rooms inside the main house are recommended. For jungle lovers, the cottages are the only choice.
The Food
Sheema’s kitchen has earned Salban the description of a gourmet destination in the midst of the Kanha forest — and the guest reviews confirm this assessment with the enthusiasm of people who were not expecting it and found it anyway. The food is described as a highlight equal to the safaris: hearty, varied, made with genuine care and considerable skill, drawing on Sheema’s years of food writing and her deep understanding of what people need after a cold morning safari into the Central Indian forest.
All meals are included in the package — breakfast, lunch, and dinner with beverages. Packed picnic breakfasts for early morning safaris are available. The meals are served on the verandah, at the table where stories are exchanged, by people who prepared them with the knowledge of what good food does to the mood of a guest who has been up since five in the morning.
Salban’s food is not the generic multi-cuisine buffet of the larger Kanha properties. It is the cooking of a household that takes food seriously, shaped by a professional food writer’s standards, prepared for small numbers of guests who are guests rather than customers.
The Safaris and the Forest
Kanha National Park — one of India’s most celebrated tiger reserves, the inspiration for Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book, set in the Maikal Hills of Madhya Pradesh with its extraordinary diversity of wildlife including Bengal tigers, leopards, wild dogs, barasingha deer, sloth bears, and over 300 bird species — is the primary wildlife destination for guests at Salban.
Jhampan’s knowledge of the park, combined with Salban’s proximity to the Mukki Gate, gives guests access to the forest with a depth of expertise that commercial camps cannot replicate. Safari bookings require advance notice of two to three months due to high demand — Salban’s small capacity and Jhampan’s reputation means the spots fill quickly. Full-day safaris can be organised on request. The park’s Mukki zone is known for exceptional wildlife sightings, particularly tigers, and its relative quietness compared to the more heavily visited Khatia zone makes it a preferred entry for serious observers.
Guided birdwatching walks along the river bank and around the lake are available for those who want a quieter encounter with the forest. At twilight, the lake is the centre of activity: animals come to drink, birds roost, and the sounds of the forest at dusk carry everything that makes this landscape extraordinary.
Why It Stays With You
One guest described Salban as like stepping into The Jungle Book in the company of warm-hearted, phenomenally knowledgeable, and hospitable friends. Another described the wide verandah as a place where all the dust, pollution, and demands of Delhi life fell away in a matter of minutes. Another said the combination of the forest cottage, the food, and the Mookerjees’ company made it impossible to leave on the planned departure date.
TripAdvisor has rated Salban the number one property at Kanha. That ranking is the number. The verandah at dusk, with the stars above it and the lake beyond and Scamp somewhere nearby, is the experience.
Plan Your Visit
Address: Baherakhar Village, Post Nikkum, District Balaghat, Madhya Pradesh — 481116 (7 km from Mukki Gate, Kanha National Park) Phone: +91 62688 43290 / +91 85108 39333 / +91 76928 35206 Email: salbankanha@gmail.com Website: salbankanha.com Facebook: Salban — the Kanha Homestay Booking: Direct via email or website · Limited capacity — book well in advance
Hosts: Sheema Mookerjee (food and travel writer) and Jhampan Mookerjee (wildlife conservationist) Recognition: TripAdvisor #1 Kanha National Park B&B · 5/5 across 93 reviews · Award-winning Resident: Scamp (rescue dog, 14 years old)
Property: 11-acre compound · Mahua and sal trees · Fruit trees · Lake nearby (wildlife watering hole at twilight) · Forest edge
Accommodation: 4 bedrooms — 2 rooms in main bungalow (red Mangalore-tiled roof, wide verandah) — 2 independent forest-edge cottages (designed by Jhampan, appointed by Sheema — for jungle lovers)
Package: Full board (breakfast, lunch, dinner, beverages) · Safari bookings managed by Salban — 2–3 months advance notice required due to demand · Airport/station transfers arranged
Getting There — Raipur Airport: approximately 4.5 hours by road — Jabalpur Airport: approximately 4.5 hours by road — Nagpur Airport: approximately 5.5 hours by road — Gondia Railway Station: approximately 2.5 hours by road — the closest and most convenient rail junction — All transfers to and from arrival points arranged by Salban — coordinate on booking — Kanha National Park is closed for the monsoon from 30 June to 30 September
Nearby — Mukki Gate (Kanha NP): 7 km · Kanha National Park (Mukki zone): adjacent · Lake (twilight wildlife watering hole): walking distance · Baherakhar village: adjacent · Gondia: 2.5 hours
Best Time to Visit: October to June (park open) · October to November for post-monsoon freshness and active wildlife · February to May for peak tiger activity — vegetation thins, animals use waterholes, sightings most reliable · December to January for cool, clear forest days
