The ideal place for finding tigers is still India, with nearly half the world’s wild tigers, but there are 39 tiger sanctuaries here. To guide you make a choice where to get your big-cat kicks, here’s my choice of India’s safari parks:
Bandavgarh, Madhya Pradesh
This is your best opportunity in all of India of seeing a wild tiger. You’re almost guaranteed a sighting if you invest one or two days here. An added tourist attraction is that the village of Tala, right by the park’s main gate, has a great choice of accommodation to suit all budgets, suggesting that unlike some other tiger parks this one’s not only for the wealthy, all-inclusive package tourist. One- or two-hour safaris on elephant-back are also an alternative here.
Pench, Madhya Pradesh
The third of Madhya Pradesh’s trio of best-known tiger parks, Pench is comprised mostly of the teak-tree jungle rather than sal so has a different flavor than neighboring Kanha or Bandavgarh. It also sees fewer tourists so, as you’re driving across the park you’ll often feel like you have the whole jungle to yourself. Tigers are fewer too, though, but are normally seen every few days. When I was here, most of them who were out in jeeps that morning had witnessed a tiger during their stay. As with Kanha, mahouts ride their elephants into the jungle in the mornings and radio jeeps in if they find a tiger. Tourists are then transferred from jeep to elephant-back to get a close-up glimpse of the tiger.
Kanha, Madhya Pradesh
The central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh is the mogul of tiger territory in India. Five tiger parks here all give travelers an opportunity of seeing a tiger, but this one is the most popular of them all. The forests here are large, and whilst your chances of finding a tiger are probably slightly slimmer than at nearby Bandavgarh, they are still very good. Add to that the reality that you can actually go deep into the forest here thanks to the park’s huge core area bordered by a large buffer zone, and you have yourself a comprehensive safari experience, rather than the rush-and-grab outings some complaint of at Bandavgarh.
Corbett, Uttarakhand
Originally called Hailey National Park, Corbett opened in 1936 and is India’s oldest tiger park. Chances of viewing tigers here are in fact quite slim, but if you do you can feel self-satisfied in the fact that you’ve seen one that wasn’t baited or tracked. In other National parks, tiger spottings can sometimes feel stage-managed. Not here. And if you don’t see a tiger, there may well be a great big consolation prize: Corbett is also one of the few parks in north India with wild elephants, and chances of spotting them here are very good indeed.
Sunderbans, West Bengal
This popular park has a substantial number of Bengal tigers – more than two hundred by some calculations! The swampy terrain, though, means seeing one of them is very rare, but you’ll have good fun trying. Just getting here is an adventure (from Kolkatta: bus, boat, cycle-rickshaw, and boat again) and once you arrive, you’ll be joining safaris not in jeeps, but in canoes!
Sasan Gir Wildlife Sanctuary, Gujarat
The possibilities of seeing a tiger here are zero. There are no tigers. This is home instead of the last remaining wild Asian lions on Earth. Yes, wild lions in India! Panthera leo persica is a distinct subspecies to its African cousin, Panthera leo Leo, and at one time these lions wandered from south Asia right to the edge of Europe. Actually, it’s probable that these Asiatic lions were the ones that gladiators used to do fight against in stadiums in ancient Rome. If the thrill of tiger safaris gets your pulse racing, you’ll really love a visit to this park just as much as any of the ones mentioned above. And most tourists who invest a few days here see at least one lion.
