India, wild

Common questions

What are the best safari lodges in India?

There is no single answer, because the right lodge depends on the park and the park depends on what you want to see. What the good ones share is a location close enough to the gate that a dawn drive does not start with a forty-minute transfer, their own vehicles and naturalists rather than whatever is free at the gate, and permits held for their guests. We hold hand-picked lodges across the Indian reserves listed on this page, each written up from the property’s own material and visited or verified before it goes on the shelf.

Which is the best national park in India for a tiger safari?

For sheer density of sightings the central Indian reserves are the ones people return to: Kanha, Bandhavgarh, Pench, Tadoba and Satpura. Ranthambhore in Rajasthan is the most accessible from Delhi and Jaipur and the most photographed. Corbett is the oldest and the most varied. Each park page on this site sets out its zones, its gates, its season and what a drive there costs, so the comparison can be made on facts rather than on who is selling.

How much does a jungle safari in India cost?

The state forest department sets the entry charges and they are modest: in Madhya Pradesh a core-zone permit is Rs 2,400 and a compulsory guide is Rs 480 or Rs 600 depending on grade, and the jeep is priced by each reserve on top. A lodge-arranged drive costs several times that, and the difference is mostly the permit, which is capped and scarce. We publish the full breakdown park by park.

What is included in an Indiaesque wildlife trip?

The stay for a stated number of nights at a hand-picked lodge, the meals the property serves, and at least one drive with the permit, the vehicle and a naturalist inside the price. One figure, taxes in, nothing to settle at the gate. We do not sell a room on its own: if a trip has nothing you actually do in it, it does not go on the shelf.

When is the best time for a safari in India?

Most Indian reserves close their core zones for the monsoon and reopen around October, running to June. The cool months from November to February are the most comfortable. March to June is hot and is when sightings are usually best, because animals come to water. Seasons differ by state and some reopen later than others, so each park page carries its own dates and the source they came from.

Is a safari cheaper for a group than for a couple?

In most Indian parks, markedly. The permit and the jeep are bought for the vehicle, which takes up to six people, so two people pay what six would pay for the same drive. That makes a wildlife trip one of the few things in travel that is genuinely cheaper per head for a family or a group of friends. The exceptions are Kabini, Sariska, Bharatpur and the Chambal river sanctuary, which price per person.