Bewilderness
Madhya Pradesh has the highest tiger density on the planet, four reserves we plan, and a small list of naturalists we trust. We've walked these forests every season for fourteen years.
Places we plan
9 places we’ve walked, returned to, and would send a friend.
Assam
Kaziranga
Two-thirds of the world's one-horned rhinos. Elephant grass taller than the jeep. Nothing else looks like it.
Kerala
Periyar
Walking safaris, not jeep drives. Elephants from a boat. The South Indian park we actually send people to.
Rajasthan
Ranthambhore
Tigers against ruins. Crowded, and worth it for the right four days in March or April.
West Bengal
Sundarbans
The only mangrove tiger forest in the world. You won't see a tiger. That's almost the point.
Maharashtra
Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve
Quieter than Bandhavgarh in March, drier than Pench in May. Tigers come down to the lakes when the heat sets in.
Central India
Bandhavgarh
The highest tiger density in India. Walking safaris allowed.
Central India
Kanha
Sal forests, sambar at dusk, the Banjar river running through.
Central India
Pench
Kipling's jungle. Leaner crowds, leopard country.
Central India
Satpura
On-foot, kayak, and night drives — India's most flexible park.
Who plans this · Wildlife
Shailesh on Bewilderness.
I went to Bandhavgarh the first time as a tourist. The naturalist I met asked me to come back in a different season. That second trip is where Hideaways really began.
Fourteen years on, I plan central-Indian wildlife trips for a living because the forest keeps changing the question. We don't book rooms — we plan field days, with the right naturalists, in the right months.
“The forest doesn't owe you a tiger. The trip is the days around the tiger.”