India wildlife and tiger safari
Highlights
Delhi | Bandhavgarh National Park | Kanha National Park | morning and evening game drives conducted by qualified and experienced naturalists
Travel Team
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Responsible tourism
As the pioneers of responsible tourism, we screen every trip so you can travel knowing your vacation will help support conservation and local people.
Each safari provides a real wildlife viewing and conservation experience. By opting for a safari with us, safari guests are already helping to contribute towards our conservation work. Profits from your safari go to support local projects. Local teams of wildlife conservationists are actively involved in wildlife and environmental conservation projects within the reserves we visit.Profits from this safari supports Travel Operators For Tigers (TofTigers) a non-profit campaign set up in 2003 to protect tigers, wildlife and wilderness through sustainable tourism. In particular we are helping to fund a successful program to recruit and retrain ex-poachers to become wildlife guardians. We are supporting TOFTigers to continue its campaigning to have public and private investment in wilderness, much like other parts of the world, in the forms of private conservancies and community sanctuaries, ensuring forest patches, corridors and wastelands can be restored by passionate individuals, communities, NGO’s or wealthy philanthropists. In November 2015 the Maharashtra Government made it legal to set up nature conservancies on private land with farmers’ lands on leaseholds, ensuring a greater opportunity for village communities to be beneficiaries in conservation and tourism. Madhya Pradesh is considering leasing forest landscapes to private entrepreneurs to restore and rewild. These may well be the start of something special that will again value nature and wilderness and supply net benefit to both its wildlife inhabitants and its human stakeholders.
This is where TOFTigers aims to try and change how wildlife tourism is derived and operated across the subcontinent. Together we really can make a difference to both parks and local communities buffeted by wildlife conflict.
The Impacts of this Trip
While on safari we recommend that visitors buy locally produced goods and support local artisans. In this way, visitors are able to help sustain the local community, contribute towards conservation and enrich their own lives. During each safari there will be opportunities to purchase goods from local artists, market stalls and restaurants in keeping with the ideals of fair trade.
Our guides will advise on a ‘fair price’ if requested, however it is worth noting that a relatively small sum can make a huge difference to peoples lives and guests are asked to consider this when bargaining with market stallholders.
Our safari staff are all recruited locally and encouraged to develop within the organisation to achieve their goals and where applicable to produce conservation based items for sale (100% of the proceeds going to the originator). Local rangers and guides are employed at all levels. This safari also supports community education programs in South East Asia via our local partners.
Each safari provides a real wildlife viewing and conservation experience. By opting for a safari with us, safari guests are already helping to contribute towards our conservation work. Profits from your safari go to support local projects. Local teams of wildlife conservationists are actively involved in wildlife and environmental conservation projects within the reserves we visit.Profits from this safari supports Travel Operators For Tigers (TofTigers) a non-profit campaign set up in 2003 to protect tigers, wildlife and wilderness through sustainable tourism. In particular we are helping to fund a successful program to recruit and retrain ex-poachers to become wildlife guardians. We are supporting TOFTigers to continue its campaigning to have public and private investment in wilderness, much like other parts of the world, in the forms of private conservancies and community sanctuaries, ensuring forest patches, corridors and wastelands can be restored by passionate individuals, communities, NGO’s or wealthy philanthropists. In November 2015 the Maharashtra Government made it legal to set up nature conservancies on private land with farmers’ lands on leaseholds, ensuring a greater opportunity for village communities to be beneficiaries in conservation and tourism. Madhya Pradesh is considering leasing forest landscapes to private entrepreneurs to restore and rewild. These may well be the start of something special that will again value nature and wilderness and supply net benefit to both its wildlife inhabitants and its human stakeholders.
This is where TOFTigers aims to try and change how wildlife tourism is derived and operated across the subcontinent. Together we really can make a difference to both parks and local communities buffeted by wildlife conflict.
The Impacts of this Trip
While on safari we recommend that visitors buy locally produced goods and support local artisans. In this way, visitors are able to help sustain the local community, contribute towards conservation and enrich their own lives. During each safari there will be opportunities to purchase goods from local artists, market stalls and restaurants in keeping with the ideals of fair trade.
Our guides will advise on a ‘fair price’ if requested, however it is worth noting that a relatively small sum can make a huge difference to peoples lives and guests are asked to consider this when bargaining with market stallholders.
Our safari staff are all recruited locally and encouraged to develop within the organisation to achieve their goals and where applicable to produce conservation based items for sale (100% of the proceeds going to the originator). Local rangers and guides are employed at all levels. This safari also supports community education programs in South East Asia via our local partners.
2 Reviews of India wildlife and tiger safari
Reviewed on 19 May 2019 by Nanko Dubbelboer
1. What was the most memorable or exciting part of your vacation?
Seeing The tigers was definitely the highlight.
2. What tips would you give other travelers booking this vacation?
If you go at this time of year, be prepared for the heat (+40). The accommodation was excellent and air conditioned.
3. Did you feel that your vacation benefited local people, reduced environmental impacts or supported conservation?
I think the fact that so many people work in tourism was a benefit to the local economy. I think that tourism will promote the improvement of the the wildlife situation and the national park system is a great help in that.
4. Finally, how would you rate your vacation overall?
I enjoyed every minute.
Reviewed on 09 Mar 2019 by Mo Bulbrook
1. What was the most memorable or exciting part of your vacation?
The lodges in both Bandhavgarh and Kanha were lovely with very friendly service and great food. The safaris were well organised and we saw a lot of wildlife. In both the parks the guides were very knowledgable about the fauna and flora in the national parks. We saw tigers in both the parks too.
2. What tips would you give other travelers booking this vacation?
Great time to go weather-wise but the morning trips, especially the first couple of hours were freezing cold and felt much colder than the actual temprature due to the wind chill factor in the open jeep even with the blankets they provide. Worth taking a very warm scarf and gloves and wearing layers.
3. Did you feel that your vacation benefited local people, reduced environmental impacts or supported conservation?
Yes, the tourist money does help support the conservation efforts and provides work for some of the local people.
4. Finally, how would you rate your vacation overall?
Overall it was a good vacation but dissapointed that the original trip we booked was promoted as a small group tour (and why we booked in the first place) and in fact was not at all. Also in Bandhavgarh national park, Mahouts riding the elephants were encouraged by the guides to "flush" out resting tigers which really should not be allowed. Nice to see the tigers but they are meant to be wild and not part of a circus!
Read the operator's response here:
Within the National Parks in India, Forestry staff ride Elephants to be able to go off road (where vehicles are not allowed) and monitor the health of the Tiger population. This is not a tourism activity, but is Forestry Department policy. It seems that in this case an unscrupulous Mahout (employed by the Forestry Department) had been asked by tourist guides (who were not associated with our tour but were present in the same Tiger sighting), to move a Tiger into a better place to be photographed. This is not a policy that we knowingly participate in, or indeed encourage. While we obviously cannot manage the actions of local guides from other companies, we have reported this incident and we’re lobbying against such unscrupulous behaviour.
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