Wildlife of India Photo Tour
Photograph the
Wildlife of India in April 2024
Join us on a sixteen day tour of India to photograph its wildlife. This trip has been designed so that we can see and photograph as many species of Indian wildlife that is possible in just over two weeks, and in Kaziranga, Pench and Bandhavgarh we can achieve just that. Our twelve days in the parks gives us a total of twenty-two drives.
You can combine this tour with Tigers of India
This tour immediately prepends Tigers of India. You can combine both for a 24 day wildlife and tiger experience with 20 days in the parks for 37 drives. Please see below for a special cost which incorporates both tours.
We will spend three to six nights in each of India’s best parks for wildlife, at Kaziranga where we will see and photograph Asian elephant and the endangered Indian one horned rhino, Pench is known for tiger, leopard and dhole (wild dog), and Bandhavgarh hosts one of the highest densities of tiger in India for virtually guaranteed encounters. We travel at the best time of the year for photography, in April and May when tigers and leopards are easier to find and photograph.
Other wildlife await us too, sloth bear, langur, macaque, dhole, gaur, water buffalo, as well as sambur and spotted deer and nilgai antelope. Of course there will also be birds; the great Indian hornbill, and it will be the courtship season of peacocks to see their mating ritual and tail feathers on full display.
I will lead this tour with the very reputable Karan Rana of Pugdundee Safaris. Karan is a guide with over twenty years experience of Indian parks and its wildlife. We employ some of the best driver guides that India can offer and our vehicles are especially adapted to accommodate photographers, with no more than two photographers per vehicle. We also stay in luxury accommodation throughout to ensure comfort, good food and excellent service.
To reserve your spot on this safari please email me at email@davidlloyd.net
Tour Highlights
Wildlife
We cover as much of India’s wildlife as possible in our two weeks. We have excellent chances of seeing Bengal Tiger, Asian Elephant, Indian One Horned Rhinoceros, Hoolock Gibbons, Wild Dog (dhole), Jackal, Sloth Bear, Gaur, Wild Water Buffalo, Wild Boar, Langur, Macaque, Mongoose as well as several kinds of deer, and many birds.
Photography
Photographers of all levels are welcome. We are professional photographers with great experience in the field as well as in guiding and photographic instruction. Each tour offers a small client-leader ratio that allows for personal attention and customized guidance on photography.
Guides and Drivers
Our guides and driver know the Indian parks well with over twenty years of guiding and driving experience. Our drivers have driven BBC documentary and National Geographic crews. They have experience driving photographers so that know just what to expect from us.
Zones
At Bandhavgarh, we prebook park zones months in advance to ensure we secure the best zones for tiger encounters.
Vehicles
We use gypsy cars, which are popular in the wildlife parks in India. Ours will be specially adapted for photographers and we will only carry two photographers per vehicle, with one seat row removed, to maximise opportunity and space.
Accommodation
We stay in luxury accommodation, from our initial stay in Delhi and for each of our stays in the parks. Good dining accompanies the accommodation and the cottages are large with separate bedroom, bathroom and private balcony.
Image Reviews and Tuition
After our morning drives we offer tuition on photographic technique and post-processing. We also host image review sessions in a more formal setting during the week. Our goal is for you to make the most out of your experience and to take home pictures you’ve long desired.
Where we go
Kaziranga National Park
A World Heritage Site, Kaziranga has been a reserve forest for more than a hundred years and lies in the flood plains of the Brahmaputra River, covering some 430 square kilometres. Harbouring the world’s largest population of Indian rhinoceros, Indian elephant and tiger, Kaziranga has a breathtakingly varied landscape with extensive grasslands, densely forested tropical areas, streams and numerous small lakes. The park also hosts 35 other major mammals and more than 400 species of birds.
Pench National Park
Pench National Park is a wild playground harboring country’s maximum density of prey animals, chased by an estimated 65 Tigers. The park is well administered and extensively mentioned in the Indian history for its vivid fauna and flora. The landscapes of scrublands, deciduous forest of Teaks and many lakes, streams and Pench River can be instantly associated with the incidents and wild mentions of the animal life in the jungle book of Sir Rudyard Kipling.
Bandhavgarh National Park
Bandhavgarh was established in 1968 as a National Park, and is spread over an area of 1150 sq. kms. It was declared as a tiger reserve under Project Tiger in 1993. It is predominantly covered with vegetation like sal, salt, dhobin and has vast stretches of grasslands spread over 32 hills, the region though smaller than other wildlife parks has one of the highest density of tigers in the world.
Tourist traffic in Bandhavgarh, Pench and Kaziranga
In recent years, the wildlife parks have been restructured significantly with the aim of protecting the parks and its wildlife. There are strict restrictions now on the number of vehicles allowed in the parks, and gone are the days where we see dozens at a time. Internet stories of traffic congestion there are likely to be before that time. On our reconnaissance tour in April and May 2016, we rarely encountered more than four or five vehicles on any sighting in any of the parks that we will be visiting on this tour.
Where we stay
Delhi
Radisson Blu With an ideal location less than five kilometers from Indira Gandhi International Airport, the Radisson Blu Plaza Delhi Airport provides upper upscale accommodations and convenient city access. The 261 rooms and suites offer free high-speed, wireless internet and peaceful garden views and our on-site spa provides the perfect retreat after a busy day. Sample something delicious at The Great Kabab Factory or at any of our other on-site restaurants.
Kaziranga
Infinity Resort is set in the midst of a thick bamboo grove and guests are drawn to the magic of nature, to the slow pace of life, closeness to the natural world and to the relief from the pressures of modern living. The ethos is founded on super luxury, afforded by an exceptionally great location which is harmoniously blended with its natural environment.
Pench
Pench Tree Lodge is the refuge of the adventurous and eco sensitive Mowgli. Our six well appointed tree houses are perched in the undisturbed 16 hectares of forested area in the small Sarrahiri village of Pench. This is the first lodge to be set up in this underdeveloped zone and supports the conservation policy of not overcrowding areas, making them unsustainable with over exposure to tourism. The famous Jungle Book character Mowgli was a wolf befriending boy from the tribal village of Pench. If Mowgli could enliven his escapades, Pench tree lodge would be his time warped home in 21st century.
Bandhavgarh
Kings Lodge is nestled between Sal forested hills of Bandhavgarh National Park in a large natural forested estate of 14 hectares in Rancha village. The lodge is in the heart of the wild country and only a ten minutes drive from the Tala gate of the national park. Our guests benefit from our incredible location, an outstanding hospitality and an experienced naturalist team, and our commitment towards conservation and local communities. The lodge has 10 cottage rooms and 8 stilt cottage rooms with en-suite modern bathrooms spread accross a natural forest offering great ambience and privacy.
Dates and Costs 2024
The cost of this all-inclusive safari is $8900 per person. Bookings are secured with a $800 deposit per person, with the balance being required 12 weeks before.
A optional single supplement is available at $1600 extra. Single supplements are for single travellers who want their own cottage. Otherwise single travellers are paired with another traveller of the same gender.
22nd April – 7th May – With David Lloyd and Karan Rana (open)
This safari can be linked to our 9 day Tigers of India Photo Safari. If you join us for both, then the cost of Tigers of India becomes $5200 with the single supplement at $1200.
Payments to be made in $US
Financial Protection
Payments for all safaris are made through Steppes Travel which means you have the financial protection of booking through a registered tour operator. Your money is 100% safe and if one of our suppliers goes bust, your money is fully protected. Steppes Travel can also book your flights for full financial protection. Please download our terms and conditions here.
How Do I Book?
Our tour group is small (a maximum of 7 participants) so space will be limited.
To reserve your spot in this tour please email me at email@davidlloyd.net
What’s Included
All accommodation in hotels and lodges
All internal flights
All airport transfers
All meals at lodges
All park fees
Exclusive vehicles and qualified driver guides
What’s not Included
International flights
India visa
Alcoholic and non-local alcoholic beverages
Tips and gratuities for camp staff and guides
Itinerary
Day 1: Delhi
Meet and transfer from the airport to the hotel, rest of the day at leisure, overnight stay at the hotel.
Day 2: Kaziranga
Transfer to airport, to board the connecting flights to Johrat, later drive to the Lodge (83 Kms, 2.5 hrs)
Day 3, 4, 5: Kaziranga
Morning and evening safaris in the National Park.
Day 6: Delhi
Early breakfast and transfer to Guwahati, flight to Nagpur, overnight at Nagpur (220 Kms, 4.5 hrs).
Day 7: Pench
After a leisurely breakfast, a drive to Pench (120 Kms, 3.5 hrs), afternoon safari at Pench.
Day 8, 9: Pench
Morning and evening Jeep safaris, breakfast overnight stay at the lodge
Day 10: Pench/Bandhavgarh
Morning safari, followed by Transfer to Bandhavgarh National Park (450 kms, 7-8 hrs)
Day 11, 12, 13, 14, 15: Bandhavgarh
Morning and evening Jeep safaris, overnight stay at the lodge.
Day 16: Delhi
Breakfast, transfer to Jabalpur to board the connecting flight to Delhi, transfer to the Hotel.
Guide Biographies
We are a small team of award winning wildlife photographers and experienced photography tutors in the field of natural history. We have won awards in Wildlife Photographer of the Year, Nature’s Best and GDT European Wildlife Photographer of the Year, and our work is published regularly. Our photographic experience extends back to the days of film, paper and manual focus cameras.
David Lloyd is an exhibiting wildlife photographer, having won awards for his work which favours a fine art style in both colour and black & white. David has been awarded four times in Wildlife Photographer of the Year. In 2011, his image A Flick of the Tail was chosen as the cover of that year’s Wildlife Photographer of the Year portfolio and in 2019 he was awarded as their peoples’ choice winner for his image Bond of Brothers. His images have been published widely in the press and several photographic monthlies, in both the UK and abroad. David also holds exhibitions of his work, most recently at there Royal Geographic Society in London in 2014. His long awaited debut book As Long As There Are Animals was published in late 2014.
Karan Rana heads the naturalist team at Pugdundee and keeps a keen eye on operations of its lodges. With an experience of more than 20 years with Tiger Tops as a manager, he joined Pugdundee in 2004 and has continuously trained and lead the naturalists at all our lodges. Karan also leads various specialist groups including mobile and walking safaris. He has contributed his pivotal jungle skills for the successful launch and progress of walking safaris in Central India. Coincidentally, the role of wearing many hats has seeped into his personality as he is never seen without a hat in real life too!