Unveiling India's Wildlife Treasures: 2023 Highlights

“Wolves! They’ve seen wolves!” “Who’s seen wolves?” came the reply. “Our North-west India’s Rare Mammals group!” “But they’ve only been in the country a few days!” “I know!” This exchange spread around the office like wildfire. It was November 2022, and we were excited, this was our inaugural group departure of the season for India, which usually runs from November to April, outside the monsoon months. Ten days and two states later (Rajasthan and Gujarat), further updates revealed that sought-after species such as striped hyena, Indian and desert fox, jungle cat, leopard in the beautiful Jawai hills, demoiselle cranes and raptors galore had all been seen. What a start. We were off!

With the new year, our attention turned to an ambitious itinerary created pre-pandemic to target India’s four large, fabulous felines: snow leopard, Asiatic lion, leopard and tiger. Two intrepid groups set off for the Himalayas with high hopes (excuse the pun!) and even temperatures of -22°C couldn’t stop them! Golden eagles soaring in azure blue skies above snow-capped peaks provided the perfect backdrop for sightings of arguably our toughest target, the snow leopard. One group was even treated to a snow leopard interaction with a pack of Himalayan wolves.

Heading west to Sasan Gir, Asiatic lion took centre stage and both groups enjoyed outstanding views of this range-restricted species, with yet more drama when a protective female with cubs had to fight off an opportunistic young male. Bonus sightings of leopard at this location saw us travelling to Nagarhole with just tiger to see. Little did we know that sightings of both leopard and tiger awaited in this beautiful park, completing the ‘India’s Big Cats’ wish list. Wow. Just wow.

Nagarhole, has been a firm favourite of ours for some time now. We initially designed our ever-popular Tigers, Wild Dogs and Leopards itinerary with the intention of viewing perhaps the park’s most famous inhabitant, a melanistic leopard. He delighted a number of our groups with his presence between January and April, and our fingers are crossed that this will continue. The south of India is proving to be consistently reliable though, with tuskers, sloth bears, dhole, smooth-coated otters and goliath sparring gaur all throwing themselves into the mix.

Meanwhile, in Central India, our stalwart Ultimate Tiger Safari put its money where its mouth is, with multiple sightings of the trip’s namesake (and by multiple, I mean multiple)! This classic itinerary combination of Bandhavgarh, generally boasting the highest density of tiger across all Indian reserves, and the stunningly scenic Kanha, can also be extended to include Tadoba, for a truly tiger-tastic mission.

All in all, it has been a great year, and with India’s wildlife well and truly delivering, we couldn’t be happier! Whilst the enduring allure of tiger may take you there to start with, there's so much more besides. With big cats, small cats, sloth bear, red panda, gharials and Asian one-horned rhino waiting for you, indulge your inner Kipling and get exploring.{self 7}

Browse all our wildlife holidays to India, find out more about our tiger safaris or speak to a member of our team to start planning your dream trip.