Boutique Luxury

Evolve Back Kuruba Safari Lodge

Evolve Back Kabini, formerly Orange County Kabini blends subtle luxury with ecological and environmental sensibilities. Explore both the Nagarhole National Park and the surrounding villages, offering a wonderful insight into rural India.

Nagarhole National Park, Kerala and Karnataka, India
Evolve Back Kuruba Safari Lodge
  • Enjoy sweeping panoramic vistas at Evolve Back Kabini

  • The resort's design was inspired by local tribal villages

  • Situated on the edge of the River Kabini, close to both Bandipur and Nagarhole National Parks

  • Choose a Pool Hut for more space and your own plunge pool


The main public areas are expansive and relaxing, offering a restaurant, bar and infinity swimming pool overlooking the lake. The food, although buffet based, meets local, Indian and western tastes and is on the whole very tasty. At the far end of the resort there is a delightful reading room overlooking the lake and an excellent spot to watch the sunset.

The hotel offers villas with either private Jacuzzis or Pools; each shielded within your own private courtyard. The villas are all very sizable offering a seating area, bedroom and a private sit out. They are tastefully decorated, blending modern tastes with local touches and design.

The game drives are either conducted by boat or by jeep. Even for the jeep safaris, you must cross the lake by boat and then join a communal vehicle to enter the park. Unlike the parks in Madhya Pradesh, the park is home to herds of wild elephants as well as tigers (seen about once a week), leopards, wild dogs, boar, sambar, chittal and munkjack deer, crocodile, macaque and langur monkeys, and fantastic birdlife including numerous water birds. Please note, charges apply for camera lenses, please talk to your consultant if you are brining a camera.

The real highlight of Evolve Back Kabini is the wonderful local tribal villages that surround the resort. When you drive into the resort, you get a sense of heading back a few hundred years and seeing bullock carts and dhoti clad farmers with ploughs in hand. Try and take a journey into the old tribal villages and see what lies beyond the resort as a way of complementing your wildlife experience. It is one of the few places in India that such a comfortable resort is located so close to being in the heart of rural India that hasn’t been tarnished by unrealistic modernisation.

To us as Scott Dunn, we think this is more than simply a wildlife resort; it is a complete adventure into one of the most remarkable parts of rural India.

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Top tip:

Even if you don't get a chance to spot a Tiger there are so many other amazing creatures to see.

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Location

Nagarhole National Park, Kerala and Karnataka, India

Evolve Back Kabini is situated in the heart land of the Kadukuruba tribe of Nagarhole forest and surrounded on three sides by the Kabini river, near Bheeramballi Village at a distance of 245 Kms from Bangalore by road, via Mysore.

10-hour direct flight to Bangalore International Airport. Orange County is 280km from Bangalore, a journey of approximately 5-hours.