About Wildlife Photographic Trips

Now natural wealth of the Indian sub-continent has been increasingly recognised and begun to offer tourists, naturalists and researchers a fascinating alternative to African Wildlife . Housing one of the richest diversities of life forms on earth the Indian peninsula is a veritable Eden. One of the most memorable and beautiful pieces of the intricate Indian jigsaw and yet also one of its most threatened is the Royal Bengal Tiger. Once you have been fortunate enough to witness the power of a tiger in the wild silently padding through its natural territory of forests and tall grasses, you can really begin to appreciate the need to preserve its domain for future generations.

Under the expertise of Raj Singh, who has lived in the wildernesses of Madyha Pradesh for numerous years, you start the safari in Pench National Park, before moving to Kanha National Park, famous for its Tigers, which today number over 70. Here we spend the next four nights enjoying this wilderness and searching for tigers and other wildlife and birdlife from the less crowded Mukti gate entrance. Next we make the long journey north to Bandavgarh, the third of the Project Tiger reserves, dominated by a striking hilltop plateau and home of the derelict fort owned by the Maharaja of Rewa. Here tigers and other wildlife, used to vehicles, abound and are regularly spotted from vehicles or on elephant back. Walks around the fort or in buffer zones and visits to sites of interest are taken between park visits.

1st Day : Delhi
Arrive in Delhi in the early morning. Met and transferred to Airport Hotel for rest of night. After a late wake up call and lunch a short tour of both Old Delhi with its narrow winding streets and New Delhi with its Imperial streets and grand buildings is undertaken

2nd Day : Nagpur by Air
On arrival in Nagpur, you will be met and driven driving about one and a half hours to Pench National Park. In the afternoon enjoy a game drive. Overnight at Pench Jungle camp, a comfortable en suite camp.

PENCH NATIONAL PARK

This Park is known for its rich flora and fauna and is named after the river that flows nearby. The park nestles in a picturesque setting of hills and dales and is the 19th Tiger Reserve in the country and takes pride in its tigers and other wildlife. The total area under the Pench Tiger Reserve comes to about 758 km and it is blessed with tropical dry deciduous teak and southern tropical mixed deciduous forest with other species of shrubs, trees, and climbers. The park is rich in fauna and a number of endangered species have made it their habitat including the Indian wild dog. The Pench River, water streams, and nallahs provide the best playground for the water birds of this region. They are also the habitat for crocodiles and fresh water turtles. There is high density of the Wild pig, Nilgai, Chital, Muntjac, Gaur and Four Horned antelope and of course tigers, though sighting are more difficult here. The park is also rich in bird life with 125 species like barbets, bulbuls, minivets, orioles, wagtails, munias, mynas, waterfowls, and blue kingfishers. There are many rare varieties of herbs and grasses in this region that are known to be of medicinal use.

3rd day : Kanha National park.
Early morning game drive before brunch and setting off to Kanha National park,a 5 hour drive through very interesting country. You stop at regular intervals to survey the landscape and to take on food and drink before climbing up into the hills surrounding Kanha National Park and to your comfortable chalet based lodge with ensuite facilities. Late afternoon will be an opportunity to explore the area around the lodge and get an impression of the immense variety of life that inhabits this continent. There are no fences between parks and the lodge itself so you may be lucky to spot some of the rich variety of game here.

4th, 5th& 6th Day : Kanha.

Early morning and late afternoon forays into the park by jeeps or 'gypsies' with a driver/guide looking for tigers under the expert guidance of Naturalist, who is based in Kanha.

7th Day : Kanha National Park.

Kanha, often referred to as the Ngorongoro of India, is home to over 125 tigers in its famous landscapes of sal forests, meadows and surrounding hills not to mention leopard. Within its boundaries can be seen the Gaur, the huge wild ancestor of today's cow, Nilgai or Bluebull,, Barasingha a relative of the Swamp deer, Sambar, India's largest antelope and the rarely seen Sloth bear. Peahens, Langurmonkeys and Barking deer will often provide those tantalising jungle noises associated with the presence of tiger. Birdlife is prolific with over 300 recorded species with common sightings of Indian rollers, Racket-tailed Drongos, Yellow-wattled lapwing and the magnificent Golden Oriole. Ifyou are sharp eyed you can spot the Brown Fish Owl, the Lesser Adjutant Stork and the Paradise flycatcher. There are elephants in the park especially for visitors and what they call a 'Tiger show'. We prefer instead to try and hire the elephants for a 2 to 3 hour period for viewing in which we attempt to find tiger but without the continuous and disruptive stream of tourists in the 'tiger shows'. Also one morning or afternoon it is an enjoyable experience to go for a walk along the main river that is the boundary to the southern section of the Park. We pass through villages and fields before picnicking on the riverbanks. A host of wildlife and birdlife can be seen along these banks. Alternatively for those interested a visit can be arranged to see the eco-development projects, like small dams being built to take the pressure off the park's habitat and woodlands and meet some of the villagers who live close to the park. Overnights at lodge.

8th Day : Bandhavgarh National Park.

This morning pack up and move north to Bandavgarh National Park, which is a 7 hour journey, with regular stops for pictures, food and water, stopping at a site of an ancient Petrified Forest. Arrive at the new Bandavgarh Jungle Camp, a comfortable and friendly lodge on the buffers of the park and near the entrance to the park in the early evening and overnight here after supper.

9th & 10th Day : Bandhavgarh National Park.

Early morning and afternoon game drives in the Park, and possible elephant back trips accompanied by Naturalist. On one of the two days we will gain permission to spend the day in the park climbing up to the fabulous remains of the Maharajah of Rewa's fort.
BANDHAVGARH NATIONAL PARK

Bandavgarh, now famous for its tigers is a comparatively new National Park, with a lovely fort in the middle of it, making it a nice contrast in habitat to Kanha. With its hills, sal forests, and open grasslands the park harbours a multitude of game, from Rhesus macaques, jungle cats, hyenas to nilgai, blackbuck. Within the fort complex with its magnificent views across the park, is the romance of faded palace grandeur and temples untouched since it started falling into disrepair in the early part of the century. Tigers are often seen up here, guarding the fort or drinking form the vast man made tanks within the fort perimeters. Lunch can be taken up here, watching vultures in the cliffs and pied hornbills. The birdlife is terrific and under expert skills you will be able to walk in the jungle and can expect to see Blue bearded Bee-eaters and Blossom headed Parakeets.

11th Day : Delhi

After a morning in the Park and after lunch we drive from Bandavgarh to a station, which is about an hour's journey, and catch an air-conditioned comfortable sleeper berth to Delhi. Overnight on the train. (Extensions can start from the trains arrival in Agra here including the Taj Mahal, the bird sanctuary of Bharatpur, Ranthambhore Tiger Reserve, the pink city of Jaipur and Jodhpur.

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