Desia Eco Tourism Camp

We stayed for three nights to discover nature and see what life is like in the Koraput hills. The rooms are beautifully crafted, and the bathroom looked like it was designed by the late artist Friedensreich Hundertwasser. All the staff worked hard to make us enjoy our stay with lots of smiles, tasty food and a never-ending stream of tea or coffee. We learned a lot about village life, in particular from Pano, and Meela, and our local guide Gusso. All of them had fun in teaching us their local language, which really helps when approaching people in their village or on the market.

We stayed 2 nights at Desia Social Resort at Bantalbiri (about 30 Kms from Koraput in Odisha). It was very different and nice. The facility is managed entirely by local people. Though there will be linguistic hurdles to explain and understand, the staff made adequate efforts to communicate. The premium huts have been very tastefully built and every part of the place is a reflection of the skill and art of the local tribal people there. This is not a activity resort. Other than stay in an exquisite hut and excellent food made by the staff, there is nothing to do, other than step up and explore the areas around. 12 KMS ahead was the Duduma Falls. The visit is meaningful only if you take the trouble to trek 300m from the view point to actually reach the river. That trek makes the visit to Duduma worthwhile. Behind Desia resort, in 100m is an excellent riverside rock point where you can sit and enjoy the nature. Visit some of the nearby villages to get a closer look at the lives of the local people. The roads to this places are excellent and we were pleasantly surprised to see good roads throughout of Odisha tour. 2 days at Desia Koraput, and it was worth it for the sheer beauty and simplicity that is in the place. Recommended for people seeking immersive experiential tourism.

We had a great stay at the camp for 5 days. The camp is located in a peaceful place, close to the Desia village, surrounded by greenery. Staff are people from the tribes and they are doing a very good job. Rooms were perfectly clean, the ambiance was calm and relaxing, a local guide from the village nearby was with us everyday to walk around the region and villages and explain us a lot of valuable things. We enjoyed our stay very much and learned a lot about the tribe peoples in an authentic, social, sustainable way. Highly recommended!

We are traveling for one year, 5 months India. We are backpakkers and 4e time traveling here. DESIA was the almost perfect experience in our whole travel, because of there way to come in contact with the tribes in a responsable way. Actually ... I learned at DESIA how this can be done the best way ! There staff are all from different tribe groups and introduced us at there family by having thee or, dinner our even singing for them. This felt very personal and relaxed... And most important of all very respect full. The tribes truly have a different kind of culture...so you need good guidens to make no unknown mistakes. First, we where used to do every thing at ower own, so we want to do this here too. But than we would never hat this intense real contact learning experience we where looking for.!! It takes patience, onesty, respect, witch they coll Responsable Tourisme.I agree 100%. We toke many splendid pictures of tribal persons, after real contact, so we did not treat them as a object to impress people at home.... So, I feel very grateful to DESIA staff that we where there guest one month ago now.THANKS. Again ! Paul Wilke Het was echt een geweldig mooie ervaring als je de stammen van India wil zien. Ga echt niet mee met die reisorganisaties, want die gaan vaak niet respectvol om met de stammen. Ik heb heel bot gezien hoe reizigers werden gedropt in een dorp, en de gidsen total niemand daar kennen. De touristen maakte zomaar ongevraagd fotos als of het een dierentuin was...of kochten onvervangbare erfstukken... Uit onwetendheid. Als je zelf dit ook niet respectvol vindt, dan ga paar dagen naar DESIA, minimaal 4 dagen en daar zal je dan ervaren hoe het EERLIJK Kan. Paul Wilke