Introducing Pachmarhi

Madhya Pradesh’s hill station feels a long way from steamy central India. The mountain town is surrounded by waterfalls, cave temples, the forested ranges of the Satpura National Park and rock paintings dating back 10, 000 years. Visitors flock here to attend mass religious meetings held by big-name gurus and to scale Chauragarh, or simply to go trekking in a cool climate.

Explorer Captain J Forsyth ‘discovered’ Pachmarhi as late as 1857 and set up the first Forestry Department at Bison Lodge in 1862. Always keen to move to a cool hill station, the British army set up regional headquarters here, starting an association with the military that remains today.