Aramness Gir National Park

Aramness Gir National Park

Dawn at Aramness begins with a sunrise game drive and a picnic breakfast, guides listening for the chital deer's call and watching for Asiatic lions along the edge of Sasan Gir National Park, the only boundary this eighteen-room lodge shares with any boutique property in the region. Game drives run twice daily, capped at four adults and one child per vehicle, a structure closer to a private outing than a shared safari bus. The single-story, village-style building, built from hand-cut sandstone, sun-baked clay roof tiles and reclaimed wood, has no elevators because it has no floors to climb, and the accessible layout extends wheelchair access as far as the restaurant. Evenings slow down around a steam room and spa (book ahead, treatments fill fast), a library, a pool open from seven in the morning to seven at night, and a restaurant that leans into Gujarati cooking rather than a generic hotel menu. Further out, the lodge arranges visits to the semi-nomadic Maldhari herders, whose long coexistence with the Asiatic lion is part of why the species has survived here at all. This suits travellers who want a single park explained in depth by naturalists rather than several parks covered thinly, and who accept the required deposit of INR 75,000 per accommodation, per day, as the price of that focus. It suits less well anyone who wants a city base, since the center is six kilometers off, or anyone travelling with a pet, since none are allowed. Conde Nast added it to its Hot List in 2022, a nod that matches what's obvious on arrival: a lodge that was built around the forest, not dropped into it. Aramness is the only boutique lodge bordering Sasan Gir National Park, running twice-daily game drives capped at four adults and one child. Eighteen rooms, a spa, a library and Gujarati cooking fill the hours between drives. Not for pet owners or anyone wanting a city base.