Tigers + Baloo – Even More Good Cat Juju!
I love the jungles of India – the beauty of the trees/bamboo and never knowing what you’re going to see. The jungles are quiet, but not silent. The wind whispers through the trees – you can hear the leaves as they float to the ground. The quiet will be pierced by chirping birds, cicada buzzing, screeching peacocks, alarm calls of the langur and deer plus the terrifying rutting calls of the spotted deer. Then all may quiet down again until the next cycle of jungle sounds.
30 tiger sightings (27 unique), a sloth bear (yes, Baloo is real), 2 packs of Dhole (wild dogs), black bucks, Nigali (blue bull), Chital (spotted deer), Barasingha (swamp deer), Sambar, Muntjac (barking deer), gaur, wild pigs, langur monkeys, Paradise fly catchers, Indian rollers, several types of kingfishers, grey hornbills, the Taj Mahal, and Agra Fort….what an amazing sensory overload experience with Royal Expeditions!
India is simply one of the most colorful, vibrant, and historically significant destinations filled with exotic wildlife, birding, gorgeous jungles, mountains and beaches. Luxurious accommodations, delicious food and gracious service await your arrival.
Tigers, tigers, a sloth bear and more tigers! This trip beat last year’s record of 25 tigers and a leopard. Let’s start in Tadoba NP in the state of Maharashtra. Our afternoon game drive yielded the 2, 11-month old daughters of Madhu and an almost 2-year old sub-male of C3. Tigers are not named until they leave their mother somewhere between 2-21/2 years old.
Our morning game drive was more colorful with daddy Mowgli and his 2 daughters about 11 months old. Mom, Tara, didn’t show up until much later and I have to say she would have been very annoyed at Mowgli’s babysitting as he slept most of the time with a few roll-overs, then later a cooling off in the pond with both girls!
Tadoba is the hotttest of the 4 parks with one high temperature of 113 degrees. We stayed at the nicest lodge there – Waghoba Eco Lodge with its unique design. I love there are 2 female naturalists here – Shaheen and Divya who are both very good!
On our 3rd and final game drive in Tadoba, we saw Chanda and then spent more time with Tara and her 2 daughters. Tadoba: 11 sightings, 8 unique.
Onwards to Pench NP ( the next 3 parks are all in the state of Madhya Pradesh) where we stayed at Pench Tree Lodge, but in the very spacious cottages not the tree houses. On our afternoon safari in the beautiful teak forest with ghost trees we only had a poor sighting of the male cub of Bijamatta. The next morning was spectacular as we were enthralled to see Kala Pahad and her 3 cubs drinking at a water hole. The 2 males and their sister are about 5 months old and drank quite a long time right in front of us until a vehicle backfired, the langurs starting screeching and mom hurried the little ones away. 5 sightings plus wild dogs in Pench.
Beautiful Kanha NP with its Saal and ghost trees was our next stop where the lovely, award-winning Kanha Earth Lodge would be our home for 2 nights. Our afternoon drive yielded a poor sighting and the next morning there were no tigers but an amazing sloth bear that walked right towards us, a wild dog pack and the black bucks with their beautiful horns – quite the game drive. We had 3 separate tiger sightings that afternoon: Veersingh (m) resting by a water hole, a mud-covered Pattewala (m) laying in the water then a lovely DJ (f) sighting who walked right towards us, in between vehicles, across the road and into a pond. Awesome afternoon and wildlife experiences with the lodge manager and awesome naturalist, Harpreet, also known as Happy! 4 tigers, sloth bear, wild dogs, black buck in Kanha.
Our last national park was Bandhavgarh where we stayed at Kings Lodge for 1 night and 3 game drives with the very good and fun naturalists, Yash and Raju. Our afternoon game drive yielded no tigers but we did see wild elephants. Morning would be quite different as we were lined up waiting to enter zone 1 when there were tiger sightings from the road. We went tearing out and watched Raa and her 4 cubs play from the tarmac road that separates zone 1 and 3. Unfortunately the grass was very tall and the 1 1/2 month old tiny cubs made for really bad photos but very fun to watch them jumping on each other. A ranger made us leave the road so we entered zone 1 and saw Beti (f) in the pond and Jamhhol (m) in a waterhole. I have a photo of Jamhol from last year and I know Beti’s mother, Dotty, having seen her many times over the years. It was exciting to see one of her four daughters. Yash said they haven’t seen 2 of the girls in quite a long time and think they’ve moved to the non-tourist section, which is 80% of the park. Beti’s sister, Sundri, is still in the area – they avoid each other – and they think Beti will have to find a new territory soon. Sundri, whom we did not see, ran her mother, Dotty, out of the territory – nature can be so cruel! Sundri means beautiful and they say she is more beautiful than Beti which I find hard to believe. I’m fascinated with Beti’s whiskers and find them more prominent than most of the male tigers we’ve seen. On our last game drive of the trip, we saw 3 of the 4 cubs of mother, Bhitri and father, Bajrang. They are 14 months old and pretty lazy, laying in the grass – 2 photos were ok, the 3rd sibling barely moved. 10 sightings plus wild elepaphants.
We often stay at the Pugdundee Safari Lodges as they are charming, single-use plastic free, have delicious food from their organic gardens, gracious service plus awesome naturalists. I love the way they know the tigers’ names, their history, and habits.
Did you know most of the time, tigers back into the water?
This is what bad tiger sightings are photographically, although still exciting to see! (I count them if I can get a shot and tell it’s a tiger.) Look closely as often you see the white of the ear, leg or flicking tail. And yes, I ask my naturalist, “where” 20 times until I can finally spot it.
Other non-tiger wildlife! There is more to see on your game drives – I’m just a big cat lover. African guides call me, “paws and claws” people. I love the langur monkeys – they’re so playful and photogenic. For the first time ever, I saw a mother carrying around her dead baby – it was heartbreaking to witness. Our naturalist said they can carry them around for a couple of days – it’s their mourning process. Otherwise, lots of babies holding tight to their mothers. And the birds of India are fabulous!
We were hosted on our last night at the brand new Oberoi tented camp at Bandhavgarh! The tents are spacious and beautiful with gorgeous grounds, great food, and lovely service that you would expect from Oberoi. Regrettably we had to make our way to Jabalapur airport for our flight back to Delhi and did not get to do a game drive with them.
Before we started on our tiger safari, we did drive from Delhi to Agra for a Taj Mahal and Agra Fort visit as no trip to India is complete without a Taj Mahal visit. Of course there are some many cultural and historical sites to visit throughout India as well as other wildlife parks. Royal Expeditions can craft amazing experiences based on what your clients want to do.
Royal Expeditions was founded by the Princess of Jodhpur (still is) and a member of Parliament for almost 25 years and also the Minister of Culture. Vishal Singh, partner and managing director, helped found TOFTigers and is the India Director.
kiki paris / may, 2025