India Tiger Safari

We had a truly wonderful trip. The national parks were lovely with beautiful views. We were really lucky and had some wonderful tiger sightings as well as sloth bears & leopards & wild elephants. A large array of birds from different species of Eagles, Kingfishers, Owls and many more. We didn't see tigers on every safari & sometimes would have different sightings to our other travel companions. In the last park we didn't see a tiger until our last safari then we had 3 amazing close displays from them. The accomodation at the last lodge was by far the nicest. The drivers & guides on the safaris could really vary in English ability & knowledge. Obviously it was alot better when you had a good guide. The overnight train was interesting & we enjoyed it. The facilities were better than expected with western toilets. We took a dinner pack up from our hotel & bought drinks & snacks before getting on. Although there was some long travel days they didn't feel ling. There was plenty of stops and things to see. Travel between was in comfortable Aircon suvs. If you want to see some amazing wildlife but also want abit of culture this trip is for you.

Comprehensive game drives in 3 tiger reserves, Pench, Kanha and Bandhavgarh

Would recommend this to anyone

We went on the 15 prearranged game drives plus two extra ones at end January/start of February. We saw leopard at Pench on two drives, but not elsewhere. Saw tiger(s) at each of the three NPs on 7 of our 17 game drives, which is maybe fewer sightings than some other reports in April. What made this trip special for me was the overall variety of stunning wildlife & scenery. 18 different mammals seen & 81 different bird species. The variety of habitats with open grassland & wetland/freshwater greatly added to the interest. The standard of accommodation was very good (except for the first night at the Bloom Hotel) even at the NP lodges, despite the terrible air pollution (see below).

Exceptionally well organised trip with a good standard of accomodation throughout. The focus on maximising the chance of seeing tigers in three different parks meant there was a good balance between spending time wildlife viewing, seeing a variety of habitats and having a cultural experience of India. There was a much higher density/abundance of other wildlife than I had expected which was also a real pleasure to see.