India Tiger Safari Trip Mini Report

I have been back from India for more than a month and I have had some time to reflect on the amazing trip. My 2016 trip has already been planned and is now being actively marketed, and now it’s time to do a quick write up with photographs to talk about what we saw, photographed and felt.

In May 2015 I made my first trip to India. It was a trip that was long in the making, and the purpose of the trip was to combine some cultural sites with wildlife and nature. At the top of the cultural sites was of course the Taj Mahal, and on the nature list was the majestic tiger. These two goals of the trip helped us piece together an itinerary that looked like this:

• Delhi (1 night)
• Agra (1 night)
• Ranthambhore National Park (4 nights)
• Delhi (1 night)
• Bandavgarh National Park (4 nights)
• Delhi

I don’t want to go through a blow-by-blow detail of each day, but describing the trip in broad terms is more of how I want this report to be talked about. First off, India is a HUGE country, with many different cultures, climates and cuisines. This trip was limited to the central part of India, and in future years I will be branching out to see even more. India is a place that will challenge you in many ways and excite all of your senses: your sense of smell, sight, touch and hearing. The colors are often bright and colorful, the large cities are loud and energetic, walking the streets can mean bumping around between people and the spices of the food overwhelming (in a good way). I loved it. I loved everything about it.

We split our time between two different wildlife areas: Ranthambhore National Park and Bandhavgarh National park. We spent 4 days at each park, and because they aren’t close to each other we flew commercially back to Delhi and stayed for a night in between. On my 2016 trip we are connecting to parks that are closer together, in order to minimize fatigue.

Our group had some great sightings of tigers in total, of which a few of them were off the carts in a good way. In between tiger sightings there were so many mammal and bird species to photograph to keep us busy. Those other species really made the trip special for me, as it helps me understand and area and how an ecosystem works. Seeing tigers in the wild really was a sight to behold, and they really are as majestic and regal as I had hoped they would be. Many of our sightings included younger tiger cubs that were quite playful, which made great sightings into excellent sightings.

Photographing tigers is very different than that of other big cats, in that much of the process involves tracking and waiting. In some of the places work in Africa we track and track and track until we find our subject, however in India we track until we get a good understanding of where the tiger(s) may be and then find the nearest water hole and hunker down for a while. Eventually the forest will make some noise and we will a better understanding of what is going on. It may be the sound of a chital, a bird or some other noise. It’s a fascinating process and one that paid off for us.

So here are some images that I captured along the way to help illustrate what the trip was all about, with short captions underneath each photograph. I am looking forward to going back in April 2016!!

-Andy

Luxury India Tiger Safari, April 2016

Tigress and Cub, Bandhavgarh National Park

Finishing Up Our Game Drive, Ranthambhore

Tigress, Bandavgarh National Park

Chital Deer (also known as spotted or axis deer), Bandhavgarh National Park

Beggar Girl’s Hands, Agra

The Tea Room at the Oberoi Amarvilas, Agra, with the Taj Mahal in the background

My private deck and view of the Taj Mahal from the Oberoi Amarvilas, Agra

Tiger, Ranthambhore National Park

Samode Safari Lodge, Bandhavgarh National Park

Tigress and Cub, Bandhavgarh National Park

Tiger, Ranthambhore National Park

Peek-A-Boo

Floating Flowers, Oberoi Amarvilas, Ranthambhore

Samode Safari Lodge Lanterns

Samode Safari Lodge