Welcome to India! Upon arrival in New Delhi a travel-to-nature Asia guide/representative will be at the airport to greet and take us to our hotel. Please look out for your name-card once you exit out of arrival area.

This afternoon, explore the new sectors of India's vibrant capital as we drive through Lutyen’s Delhi, passing Rashtrapati Bhavan, India Gate and the Old Secretariat. Next we head to Humayun’s Tomb, a complex commissioned by Humayun's wife, Hamida Banu Begum, in 1562 as the place of her husband’s burial. This UNESCO World Heritage Site was the first garden-tomb on the Indian subcontinent and the first structure to use red sandstone on such a grand scale. We also visit the Qutub Minar, which at nearly 240 feet is the world's tallest brick minaret. Construction began in 1193 under the orders of India's first Muslim ruler, Qutub-ud-din Aibak. It is notable for being one of the earliest and most prominent examples of Indo-Islamic architecture and is also listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. After this exhilarating introduction to the country, enjoy a welcome dinner this evening and an orientation to our India wildlife safari by our Tour Leader.

Accommodation

Surya Hotel

Meals

N/a

Maximum Altitude

Transfer to the airport early this morning for our flight south to Jabalpur. Upon arrival local representative will meet as come out of the airport and we continue by road through the countryside of Madhya Pradesh to Bandhavgarh National Park. An essential stop on any serious India safari, Bandhavgarh is renowned for one of the country's highest concentrations of Bengal tigers. Originally established as a national park in 1968, Bandhavgarh was declared a protected tiger reserve under Project Tiger in 1993. At 444 square miles, it is a relatively small park with a thriving tiger population, offering guests a good chance of encountering them, as well as other distinctive Indian wildlife. Check in to Kings Lodge, surrounded by wild natural forest just outside the park boundary, then, time permitting, we set out on our first wildlife drive in open 4x4 safari vehicles.

Accommodation

Hotel/Resort

Meals

Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Maximum Altitude

Over the next two days, we explore Bandhavgarh’s varied habitats on morning and afternoon wildlife drives. Predominantly covered with Sal and mixed deciduous forest, thickets of bamboo and expansive grasslands that line the stream valleys, the park’s hilly terrain harbours one of the highest densities of tigers in the world. Bandhavgarh was once a prime hunting reserve for the Maharajahs of Rewa, where Maharaja Raman Singh himself shot an astounding 111 tigers by 1914. Maharaja of Rewa, who caught a white tiger cub here, brought to his court and later tried his hand at breeding white tigers. Mohan, the name of the Maharaja Martand Singh’s tiger, was initially mated with a normal coloured Bengal tigress. However, the litter did not produce the desired white coat colour. This was only achieved by inbreeding with the mating of Mohan and one of his daughters.Today, all captive white tigers can be traced back to Mohan and his daughter.

Bandhavgarh National Park today is a pacesetter in tiger protection. With tigers at the apex of the food chain, Bandhavgarh’s rich biodiversity includes a multitude of other wildlife. We'll hope to see a sampler of its 37 mammal species, among which are leopard, jungle cat, civet, wild boar, sambar, spotted deer, muntjac (barking deer), sloth bear and Asiatic jackal. Some 250 bird species, 70 different butterflies and various reptiles round out the diverse wildlife population.

Accommodation

Hotel/Resort

Meals

Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Maximum Altitude

Embark on a morning drive to Kanha National Park, situated in central India in the Satpura Hills, the park covers 750 square miles of rich and varied wildlife habitat. Its lush Sal and Bamboo forests, grassy meadows and ravines provided inspiration to Rudyard Kipling for his famous collection of stories in The Jungle Book. Kanha was established as a national park in 1955 and forms the core of the Kanha Tiger Reserve, created in 1974 under India's Project Tiger. The park's landmark achievement is the preservation of the rare barasingha, an endangered swamp deer with 12-point antlers, saving it from near-extinction. Strict conservation programs for the overall protection of the park's fauna and flora make Kanha one of the most exemplary national parks in Asia. From our ecolodge base in the tiger heartland of the world, learn in depth about the Bengal tiger and its habitat and observe how conservation travel directly benefits local communities and the tiger reserve.

Accommodation

Hotel/Resort

Meals

Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Maximum Altitude

Spend two full days in search of Bengal tigers and other wildlife on excursions in open 4x4 vehicles. Scenic Kanha, once a hunting ground for imperial rulers and viceroys, is now one of India’s most important conservation reserves. With ideal habitat for tigers and their prey, it offers some of India’s best tiger viewing, though it can take effort to locate them in the sun-dappled scrub forest that provides superb camouflage for many species. Greet the dawn each day with an early wildlife drive, entering the park just as the sun’s rays break over the jungle. The open meadows where herbivores graze attract tiger, leopard and dhole (wild dog) to the edges of the clearings, and we'll hope to see some of these predators on the hunt. The Banjaar River bordering the park provides a steady water source for wildlife. Dense jungle interspersed with vast grassy meadows called maidans support a range of species similar to those in Bandhavgarh. Other mammals we might see include chowsingha (four-horned antelope), common langur, gaur (the world's largest wild ox), rhesus monkeys and occasionally leopard.

Accommodation

Hotel/Resort

Meals

Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Maximum Altitude

We set off to Pench National Park. After about two and hours we reach our destination. Upon arrival we check in at luxury jungle lodge situated directly in the park. After lunch we start our jeep safari. Together with our Tour Leader, we keep an eye out for tigers and other inhabitants of the national park.

Accommodation

Hotel/Resort

Meals

Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Maximum Altitude

Embark on a morning drive to Tadoba-Andhari National Park. We should reach our hotel for lunch. After lunch we start our jeep safari.

Tadoba Protected area in the Indian state of Maharashtra currently offers the best chance of getting tigers and other shy wildlife in the best light in front of the camera. At the last count, 120 tigers were recorded in the reserve.

The Tadoba-Andhari National Park in the Indian state of Maharashtra currently covers an area of 1727 square kilometres. Further expansion is planned. The Tadoba-Andhari National Park is one of 43 Indian protected areas that are making special efforts to protect the striped big cats under the term Project Tiger. These are obviously particularly successful here. The national park is currently considered the best address for tiger observations.

Leopards can also often be seen when "setting out with tigers", as well as the extremely rare sloth bears, hyenas, jackals, mongooses and various smaller wild cat species. They all find a sumptuously laid table here, because their prey animals find plenty of food here: the mighty gaur, the largest wild cattle on earth, lives here, as do wild boars, various deer species and antelopes.

The 120-hectare Lake Tadoba is home to marsh crocodiles and various species of turtles. In addition, there are 260 species of birds and 74 species of butterflies in the park.

Accommodation

Hotel/Resort

Meals

Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Maximum Altitude

We Spend two full days in quest of Bengal tigers and other wildlife on daily wildlife safaris, either by off-road vehicle or by bicycle, boat, raft or on foot. During the safaris, guests learn to recognise the signs of the jungle: They identify tracks, interpret sounds and learn what tasks animals and plants perform in the natural habitat.

Checking the camera traps clearly shows that all living creatures are "creatures of habit". Encounters with local villagers reveal how the people of this area have lived in and with the wilderness since time immemorial and what measures are necessary to reconcile their needs and the necessities of nature conservation.

There are several well-camouflaged hiding places in the park where you can lie in wait with your camera. During visits to indigenous villages in the national park, one meets inhabitants who are preparing with heavy hearts to relocate to the fringe areas.

They have to change their way of life and reorganize their livelihoods - only very few will be able to collect honey or plants and cut wood. Farming and animal husbandry have to be rebuilt in new settlements outside the national park.

Encounters with former poachers show that today they make an important contribution to the protection of the forest as experienced trackers, excellent observers and caretakers of the camera traps. They know the routes of the big cats, see the birds and hear the sounds of the park long before excited city people, and so they are also excellent tourist guides.

In the evening there is a campfire and multimedia presentations from Tadoba and other national parks.

Accommodation

Hotel/Resort

Meals

Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Maximum Altitude

In the morning, enjoy a hearty breakfast or a last lap around the pool. After leisurely breakfast, we return to Nagpur. 148 km. Here we have booked rooms for you in a hotel near the airport, which you can use to freshen up and relax until your departure for the airport.

Accommodation

Meals

Maximum Altitude