Big Cat Tours

Of all the world’s animals, big cats have the strongest hold over human hearts and minds. In part it is their startling beauty which bewitches us: their powerful gaze, their soft gait, their astonishing patterns of rosettes or stripes which melt them into the half-light. In part it is their menace too, for big cats are among the last animals left on earth which are our equals, which inhabit wild landscapes that we have not diminished or tamed.

Wherever in the world big cats occur – frequently alongside a wealth of other wildlife – we can take you to see them. Since our very beginnings as a company we have specialised in leopards and lions in Zambia’s fabulous South Luangwa, and we have since spread out across Africa, sharing cheetahs, leopards, lions, even servals and caracals, with hundreds of happy clients in South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Tanzania and Kenya. A little closer to home, in Spain, we enjoy tremendous success with the beautiful but highly endangered Iberian lynx and in the depths of winter Eurasian lynx in Estonia and Canadian lynx in North America.

For years we have also offered hugely successful tiger safaris to the great national parks of Central India, seeing countless tigers, but also leopards and jungle cats. We have since expanded into South India where our tours to Nagarhole enjoy outstanding success with tiger, leopard and even the park’s celebrated black leopard. In India’s far north, in remote Ladakh, we consistently see the near-fabled snow leopard. Further into South-east Asia, our tours to Deramakot in Borneo encounter a range of cats including the exquisite Sunda clouded leopard.

Latin America’s lowland forests and savannahs are ruled by the magnificent jaguar, one of the world’s most powerful and beautiful cats. While our tours to Peru and Ecuador sometimes meet jaguars, in the Brazilian Pantanal – greatest freshwater wetland in the world – our clients would be unlucky not to enjoy close encounters with several of these stunning cats from river safaris. Far to the south, in Chile’s Torres del Paine, we give you the chance to watch the elegant puma against the dramatic landscape of Patagonia.

Lion

Second largest of the world’s cats, and by far the most social, the magnificent lion is synonymous with the great savannahs of Africa. We can show you every aspect of wild lions’ lives in South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, Zambia, Tanzania and Kenya. Our Best of Botswana group tour has had repeated success with seeing prides of up to 30 individuals! Less well known than African lions are the few hundred cats which inhabit Sasan Gir National Park in India. Descendants of a dozen survivors, they are the last representatives of a once widespread Asian subspecies.

Tiger

Surely the most iconic of all the world’s big cats, the bewitching tiger lost huge areas of its range in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries and, though it still occurs from sweaty Sumatra to the snow of the Amur Peninsula, three of its subspecies became extinct. Most numerous and by far the easiest to see of the surviving tiger subspecies is the magnificent Bengal tiger, which we regularly find on our Ultimate Tiger Safari in India, and sometimes also see in Nepal. Find out more about all our tiger watching safaris.

Leopard

Like the puma, the exquisite leopard is a superb generalist, found from the savannahs of southern Africa, to the jungles of Java and even the snow-laden taiga of Russia. On all our safaris to the great parks of Africa we encounter leopards, though Zambia and Botswana are exceptional for sightings of this gorgeous cat, in particular our Leopards of Luangwa safari. In India, Pench, Satpura and Nagarhole National Parks are all excellent, as are several parks in Sri Lanka where, in the absence of tigers, leopards are the top cats.

Puma

Though not genetically a big cat, the puma is nonetheless an impressive and powerful animal and is the second-largest cat in the Americas. Found from the boreal forests of North America to the icy far south of South America, the lithe puma is a supreme generalist. Always wary, and only very rarely seen in forested habitats, the puma is most readily seen on our puma safari in Chile or Chile's Rare Mammals trips which visit the majestic landscape of Torres del Paine where it lives largely in the open and specialises in hunting guanacos. Find out more about all our puma tracking trips.

Jaguar

Most powerful cat in the Americas the dramatically beautiful jaguar has a huge range in lowland forests, savannahs, semi-deserts and wetlands of South and Central America. Everywhere it is found this magnificent cat is elusive – often in conflict with livestock herders – except one area of the Brazilian Pantanal where, from boats on a network of rivers, the jaguar can now be observed on our Wildlife of the Pantanal holiday. Here it takes a range of prey, but specialises in capybaras and caimans. Explore all our jaguar watching holidays.

Cheetah

Like the puma, the famously fast cheetah is not genetically a big cat. In our imaginations, however, it is just as much a great cat of the African plains as the much more muscular lion and leopard. The cheetah’s range and population have declined sharply in modern times, and its Asian populations have all but vanished. However this sleek and graceful animal is still reliably seen in parts of Kenya, Botswana, South Africa and Tanzania, in particular The Serengeti and our Festival of Wildlife Tanzania where it is always a highlight of our safaris.

Snow leopard

Once near-mythical, in recent years the breathtaking snow leopard has become a realistic target on our tours to Ladakh, in far north India, and Mongolia. This extraordinary cat, emblematic of Asia’s lofty mountains, occurs across 12 countries, hunting a wide range of wild sheep and goats. In Ladakh it favours blue sheep and, in summer, takes Himalayan marmots. From comfortable gers in Mongolia and a warm homestay in Ladakh we take you in search of Asia’s stunning mountain cat. Explore our snow leopard watching trips.

Sunda clouded leopard

Now recognised as a separate species from clouded leopards on mainland Asia, Sunda clouded leopards live only in Sumatra and Borneo, hunting monkeys, small deer and other prey. Whereas in Sumatra Sunda clouded leopards live in the shadow of tigers, in Borneo they are the top predator. Emboldened by this, in some Bornean forests, such as Deramakot Forest Reserve, Sunda clouded leopards walk tracks at night, seen on our Borneo's Rare Mammals trip. Here, with sustained effort and luck, these secretive cats may be seen.