Country: India

We are undoubtedly in a golden period for wild tigers in India. We can say that with more than 20 years of experience visiting India’s tiger parks and having seen our first wild tiger in Ranthambhore national park way back in February 1997. Every wildlife photographers Facebook page seems to be adorned with yet more photographs of tigers with their cubs and tiger sanctuaries like Ranthambhore, Tadoba and Bandhavgarh have ‘too many tigers’ to sustain within the core and buffer areas of the main national park – so what does this mean for you, if you are currently planning your tiger safari in India?

Every year we receive numerous emails from clients who have already booked flights and maybe part of an India tiger safari holiday; but did not prioritise booking the jeeps. They then realise when they try to book the game drives online that all of the main zones are sold out and they basically don’t have a viable option to enter the park.

It was way back in 2004 that I first heard about the wild leopards of Bera, Rajasthan. I had been visiting many of India’s best wildlife sanctuaries since 1997 and I had enjoyed plenty of luck when it came to seeing tigers in the wild, but a sighting of the elusive Asian Leopard had eluded me. This in part can be explained by the obvious fact that leopards are very cautious around tigers, so a sighting inside the best tiger parks, such as Ranthambhore or Bandhavgarh would be very lucky indeed. In addition, leopards are much more nocturnal in their behaviour – when compared to tigers – so the reality is you are leaving the national parks, just when leopards are starting to be more active

There are probably fewer iconic parks in India than Corbett; named after the legendary English hunter – turned photographer and conservationist – Jim Corbett. One of the first national parks in India to be given Project Tiger status and a place with so much wildlife and human history wrapped up in its origins, that a visit here just to hear about Jim Corbett; let alone see the wildlife tigers he helped conserve, is both enriching and fascinating at the same time.