Want to track and see a Tiger in the wild?
The links below take you to a variety of TOFT members, all committed to operational ‘best practice’ tourism and the TOFT campaign objectives. Using one of these Tour operators, ground agents or wildlife lodges will help change the way tourism is derived in these areas.
Your purchasing decision is really important.
There are three ways to organize your adventure trip, vacation or safari holiday, whether you are backpacking or prefer the finest service and lodging.
- Getting an expert International Tour Operator to plan it for you, to suit your budget and wanderlust, and include everything that India has to offer. Click here for a list of TOFT Tour Operators
- Get an Indian ground agents to put it together for you. Click here for a list of TOFT Agents.
- Do it independently and contact accommodation providers directly. Click here for TOFT member lodges and resorts.
Looking for Tigers is one of the greatest and often most exciting wildlife experiences on the planet, because not only do they hold a particular mythical hold on us as apex predators, but also because they are both very elusive and surprisingly well camouflaged.
Historically they would have hidden during the day to avoid being seen but over the years, thanks to protection measures and tourism activities, some tigers, both male and females within the tourism zones of parks have grown up with vehicles and trained elephants and have become habituated to visitors each day, and therefore do not mind being viewed or watched going about their daily lives, with their cubs and even hunting!
There are two principle ways of seeing Tigers:
- From open vehicles (from 4 seater ‘gypsies’ to 20 person buses) on game drives.
- From the back of elephant in some parks (inappropriately called ‘Tiger Shows’)
- Increasingly parks have or are considering locating Machan’s (tree platforms) or wildlife hides to enhance viewing opportunities and experiences.
TOFT’s campaign is focused on 6 of the best known Tiger viewing Parks in India. Each park has numerous attractions, fabulous wildlife, unique flora and fauna and different experiences, so each is worth visiting in its own right and for a reasonable length of time.
Like any wildlife park, the best experiences are achieved if you are able to give a reasonable length of time to your visit to Tiger parks, with a recommended 3 night (or more) visit to get most out of your stay, and to enjoy all that these parks have to offer. Infact the longer the better if you are a keen wildlife traveller, as you will begin to get under the skin of these areas and get to know your guides and hosts better, helping to understand the myriad wonders, complex biodiversity and conservation efforts associated with these areas. Furthermore you increase greatly your chances of seeing a Tiger!
Madhya Pradesh, in the heart of Central India, has some of the last great Sal and Teak forests in India, the Satpura Maikal range includes the well known Tiger parks of Pench, Kanha and Bandavgarh and have high densities of Tigers (and often cubs) in their tourist zones, so the chances of seeing them are infact very good. Often two or more of these parks can be combined in a seven to ten day visit. Panna also in Madyha Pradesh is sadly now better known for seeing leopard, than tiger, because of recent poor protection, but it is a very beautiful park, with good chance of seeing other elusive animals including Sloth bear. It also has the benefit of far fewer tourists visiting it.
Corbett National Park, in Northern India, in the foothills of the Himalayas, is another beautiful lush park that harbours both tigers and wild elephants, which you have a good chance of seeing, besides a host of other species and some of the best birdlife in India. You want to try and get into the Dhikala range to ensure you get away from most ‘corporate tourism’ that is now booming here.
Ranthambhore National Park, the closest park to Delhi in the desert state of Rajasthan, situated in a belt of low hills is probably India’s most famous park and today has good tiger sightings and best known for tigers amongst the ruins of the ancient fort. Experiences can be spoilt by a poor tourism policy, large open plan buses and large visitor numbers, but can provide visitors with stunning sightings and photographs.
All the parks mentioned are open from October to April, the autumn and winter time in India. Throughout this period viewing Tigers and the host of other wildlife will be possible but the landscapes does change rapidly during this period.
From October to January the vegetation is green and lush after the monsoons, water is plentiful, and it’s harder to see Tigers (though this can add to the excitement) because of the tall grasses and heavy foliage. Birdlife is also prolific at this time and flowers and trees are blossoming. Increasingly from February to May temperatures are rising fast from the mid twenties centigrade to high thirties or forties by end of April, so grasses wilt and die, landscapes turn to dust and water has evaporated, making it a good time to see and photograph wildlife around the last remaining waterholes, but much hotter, dustier and arguably less picturesque.
The basic premise of the TOFT campaign is that legal, responsible, well managed tourism into India’s finest wildernesses and Tiger reserves is the very best way to save the forests of India and its Tigers. Tourism provides the economic imperative and the best reason for protecting Tigers, and if we protect Tigers, we protect the landscapes and habitats that they exist on, and the totally invaluable and critically undervalued ‘ecological services’ that forests and their biodiversity provide in terms in water storage, medicines and carbon sinks to name just a few.
It is the only industry at present that is non extractive and wants to see healthy untouched habitat and biodiversity in all its glory and is prepared to pay for standing forests over felled forests, live animals instead of dead one, natural landscapes over cultivated ones.
Tourism is already saving Tigers and habitat – but by default, and TOFT’s only concern is that it’s not through responsible, well planned and carefully managed tourism.
This is where TOFT aims to change how tourism is derived and operated in India, and ho important your purchasing decision are when only using TOFT members.(see above)
For further details and articles on this subject see link here
Wildlife/Birdlife Guidebooks
Here are a variety of books to help prepare you for your journey. You can order books online through Amazon or via Stanfords or your local bookseller or through bookshops in Delhi or Bombay.
This coming season 2008/9 there will be TOFT associated Pocket Guidebooks to each park, which you can purchase when you arrive at your lodge, or from the park gate for US$ 5 or Rs 195.
| Author |
Title |
Description |
| Various |
Indian Wildlife Insight Guide |
Covers mammals, main parks and Indian wildlife in reasonable depth. |
| Gurung K. K. |
Field Guide to the Mammals |
A good informative guide to Indian wildlife of the Indian Subcontinent |
| Grimmett R. |
Pocket Guide to the Birds of the Indian Subcontinent |
This is a pocket version companion to "Birds of the Indian Subcontinent" covering all the bird species found in India, Pakistian, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and the Maldives. |
| Ali S. |
The Book of Indian Birds |
For nearly fifty years "The Book of Indian Birds" has been a close companion of the recently inducted bird- watching enthusiast as well as of the seasoned ornithologist in India. The book remains an indispensable field guide for everyone who wishes to enjoy the rich and varied bird life of the country. |
| Kazmierczak K. & Van Perlo B. |
A Field Guide to the Birds of the Indian Subcontinent |
This guide covers all the species of birds found on the Indian subcontinent. It provides a companion for anyone travelling in Pakistan, India, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, and should also be useful in peripheral regions for which few guides exist. |
Tiger Books
| Author |
Title |
Description |
| Ullas Karanth & Manfredi P. |
In Danger |
This book discusses the relationship between people, endangered habitats and wildlife. The book forms part of an attempt by Ranthambhore Foundation to try and bridge the widening gap between nature, protected areas and people. |
| Thapar V. |
Land of the Tiger |
This is an exploration of the extraordinarily diverse natural history of the vast area covered by the Indian subcontinent, which extends from Pakistan in the west to Burma in the east, and stretches north to encompass the Himalayan kingdoms of Bhutan and Nepal. |
| Ward G. C. |
Tiger-Wallahs |
Describes efforts to save the Indian tiger from extinction, and why those efforts seemed doomed to failure. |
| Thapar V. |
The Tiger’s Destiny |
Drawing on 16 years' association with Ranthambhore National Park in India, Valmik Thapar has written a book about the tiger - past, present and future. It is a celebration of this glorious predator, but more importantly it is a cry for help. |
| Thapar V. |
The Secret Life of Tigers |
Documents the family life of three tigresses and their cubs from soon after birth to adulthood. An extraordinary account if records for the first time the active role the male tiger plays as a father. |
| Mountfort G. |
Saving the Tiger |
A complete account of the tiger in the wild, and the efforts to save it from extinction. |
| Green S. |
Tiger |
Historical and cultural account of the tiger, showing how the decline of its natural habitat and relentless pressure from poachers and farmers have turned a naturally retiring, solitary creature into an aggressive man-eating predator. |