India 2024 Trip Report
- pscrimshaw
- May 24, 2024
- 14 min read
Updated: Mar 4
India. A country with rich cultural history, natural beauty, and over a billion people. India is a total sensory overload, but if you're bold enough to tackle it on then you can be rewarded with one of the most unique experiences of your life.
As a wildlife photographer, there is one animal that people come to India for: the Bengal tiger. I've spent years photographing big cats across Africa, but now I was ready to search for the biggest of them all. Tigers are elusive, like ghosts in the jungle that see you even if you never see them. This wasn't going to be an easy subject to photograph, but I made the journey to their last remaining strongholds in central India to give me the best chance at finding them. My trip began in the capital city of New Delhi, after 28 hours of travel. To say I was overwhelmed would be an understatement. The sights, sounds, and smells of everyday Indian city life is unlike anywhere else I've been to. In many ways it was so daunting, that I just wanted to escape from it all, but at the same time I couldn't resist taking it all in.
Unfortunately I didn't have much time to spend in Delhi, as I made the long 4 hour drive to the city of Agra to visit India's most famous monument...
I knew since I was coming all the way to India, I couldn't not visit the Taj Mahal. The iconic marble structure is hands down the most beautiful building that I've ever seen in my life. The craftsmanship, artistry, and tranquil beauty is so hypnotizing that your eyes are always squarely focused on the Taj. It also gave me plenty of opportunities to practice a different type of photography, which I found very rewarding.
After my morning visiting the Taj, I also got to visit the Agra Fort as well. A beautiful symbol of Mughal architecture, the fort is just as much a part of the story of Agra as is the Taj Mahal. This trip was mostly for wildlife photography, but I'm so glad that I took the time to visit these two landmarks.
After spending my first few days sight seeing, I was off to the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh to visit the famous national parks there. It was such a contrast to go from the huge bustling cities of Delhi and Agra, to the rural villages and jungles that make up central India.
A short 1 hour flight and 4 hour road transfer later, and I had arrived at Bandhavgarh National Park! Bandhavgarh is home to the highest density of tigers in India, so I knew that if I wanted to give myself the best chance to photograph them, this was going to be the place to be.
Indian safaris are slightly different than the African ones that I am more accustomed to. Instead of large landcrusiers, you sit in a small open air gypsy vehicle. I honestly liked the gypsy system, and there's nothing like feeling the fresh air and breeze on your face as you look around all sides in search of tigers. Plus, on thin jungle roads having a smaller vehicle is much better for positioning.
While I thought that finding tigers in Bandhavgarh would be easy, it took days before I actually had a decent sighting. That did give me plenty of time to photograph the other Indian wildlife, which is just as worthy of a photo in my opinion.
Finally on our 3rd day, we quite literally turned and stumbled across a young female tiger walking down the road. The chaos of a tiger sighting is hard to explain. Everyone visiting the park is searching for that one specific animal, so when they end up finding it it's total pandemonium. Yelling, screaming, vehicles jockeying for position. It's definitely not for the faint of heart.
It was hard to get a good photo in the mess of vehicles, but she did end up crossing right by our vehicle so I managed to get one shot of her. I later that found out that this was the daughter of Dotty, one of the famous tigers of Bandhavgarh. She had recently come of age and had pushed her mother out of her territory, showing how difficult life can be for these solitary cats.
After the sighting of Dotty's daughter, it was mostly quiet for the rest of the day in terms of tiger sightings. Bandhavgarh is a beautiful park though, and the landscapes are stunning to say the least. Even if I wasn't finding much success with tigers, I was definitely enjoying the experience.
The following morning, we were driving down a road and saw a handful of vehicles stopped and pointing into the forest. A huge male tiger known as Bajrang was making his way towards the grasslands. While there were less vehicles this time around, photographing tigers as they move through the thick forest makes getting a clear shot very difficult. Eventually he crossed the road into the tall grass, and began stalking some nearby gaur. He was spotted after a few minutes, but the shots I got of him in the grass were much better than I could have hoped for.
Eventually Bajrang disappeared into the grass, most likely to take a nap. We made our way around the park looking for other tigers, but I would keep getting distracted by other subjects. Even if I was so focused on tigers, if there is a good subject in good light in front of me, then I take a picture!
That afternoon we would head to a different zone of the park, and just as the light began to fade, another male tiger named D1 came down to a local waterhole to cool down. Again, it was a lot of jockeying around for positioning with other vehicles, which was quickly becoming frustrating considering how hard it is to find a tiger in the first place.
Somehow, my time in Bandhavgarh had almost run out, and I still didn't have a tiger photo that I really loved yet. Sightings were much harder to come by than I expected, and as a result the huge pileups of vehicles when a tiger was finally found meant that getting in a spot for a good photo was almost impossible. India really pushes wildlife photographers to their limits.
On our last morning in Bandhavgarh, we were not even in the park for 5 minutes when we came across a wild bull elephant. In 2018 a herd of about 100 wild elephants moved into Bandhavgarh, which was the first time that Madhya Pradesh had elephants in almost a century. These elephants are not very comfortable around people however, and this bull frequently charged and showed signs of agitation towards the morning vehicles. Luckily he moved towards the grasslands, which gave him as well as the tourists some breathing room.
After spending time with the elephant, we had gotten news that Dotty had been found on the other side of the park. While we raced over to see her, she was laying in thick vegetation, and so many vehicles meant no good photos could be had. We left eventually on our own, and just as we were about to head out of the park we stopped by a water hole and saw Bajrang cooling down. At last, a tiger sighting all to ourselves!
A forest department vehicle pulled up next to us, and the ranger got out of the vehicle to have a word with my driver as to what we were looking at. I personally thought this was such an incredibly stupid and reckless thing to do, especially in a park where there could be tigers around anywhere. The second that Bajrang saw the ranger on foot, he snarled and bolted straight out of the water. Tigers are not fans of humans, and the ranger not only put himself and us at risk, but he ruined the one private tiger sighting I had gotten during my stay at Bandhavgarh. I wasn't pleased, but I did have a couple of photos that I could say that I was happy with.
At last it was time to say goodbye to Bandhavgarh, and I began the journey towards my next destination: Kanha National Park. Initially I planned my trip so that I would get all my tiger photography out of the way in Bandhavgarh, and then I could just take a step back and enjoy whatever Kanha had to offer. But tiger sightings hadn't quite yielded the results I had been hoping for, so now I had even more pressure in Kanha to get some good tiger shots.
While I was a bit worried because Kanha doesn't quite have as good tiger viewing as Bandhavgarh, my fears totally went away when 20 minutes into my first morning drive in Kanha we found two subadult cubs of the famous tigress, DJ. The female cub was right on the side of the road, and I finally had a clear, uninterrupted view of a tiger. I'm surprised I didn't break my camera with how much I was pressing my shutter button, but I took hundreds of photos of just her sitting down and posing for us.
Eventually she reunited with her brother who was on the other side of the road, and the two made their way across the tall grass and later towards a nearby water hole. The way that these two posed for me was exactly the type of tiger photographs that I was dreaming of when I planned this trip. This one sighting alone had already blown everything I had seen in Bandhavgarh completely out of the water.
What an incredible start to my time in Kanha. Sometimes you just know that you have a special sighting in front of you, and you just take in and enjoy the moment because you know how rare it is. For once I could actually breathe and enjoy being in the presence of tigers, rather than be frustrated by the circus of other people around me. Everyone in Kanha was very respectful of the tigers space as well as the views of others, which was a welcome change from Bandhavgarh.
Later that afternoon, we scouted around a different zone from the morning and weren't having much success. We came to the territory of a different female tiger, and while we were chatting to another vehicle, she appeared out of nowhere and started walking down the road. It was only us and one other vehicle, but unfortunately we had to follow her from behind which limited the shots we could get.
Apparently tigers don't like to feel the pressure of vehicles behind them, so even though there weren't many of us she still moved off into the forest because of it. It was frustrating, but I did get some unique framing shots that I was happy with.
We sat and waited, hoping that she would come back out onto the road after a few more vehicles came and left. Instead, we heard that one of her cubs, a large male had been seen near a waterhole right next to the road. It was tricky getting a clean view through the leaves of the forest, and unlike Bandhavgarh which was mostly bone dry, Kanha still had quite a bit of greenery left. When most other vehicles had left, we were allowed by some kind tourists in the best spot to briefly pull in front of them and get some of our own photos. Even if tiger sightings can be chaotic, there are still a few good people out there that are willing to share with you as long as you are polite and respectful.
Kanha was already totally blowing my expectations out of the water. This was supposed to be the hard park to find tigers in, and yet in just one day we had multiple incredible sightings.
Unfortunately it seemed like we had used up much of our luck in that one day, because the next day was mostly a wash. There were signs and sounds of tigers, but no great sightings. We had one large male cross the road in front of us, but he paid us no mind and didn't pose at all. Then later a male that was blind in one eye, but he seemed rather skittish and as soon as we pulled up by him he ran off into the jungle. DJ's cubs were briefly at the waterhole again, but the light was too harsh and no great photos unlike the day before. That meant more general game photography, which was fine by me considering how tiger heavy the last day was.
The next day, we ventured into a new zone, and quickly spotted the tigress Neelam. She was walking in the tall grass, but she never came out again much to the disappointment of everyone. After exchanging information with a few more vehicles, we learned that someone had spotted a sloth bear off in the distance that was on the move. That immediately caught my attention, and considering how rare it is to find sloth bears, I decided to pivot and focus on photographing the bear if it decided to pop out again.
After waiting for about 40 minutes or so, we saw the distinctive low black shape of a sloth bear moving across the landscape. It seemed to be headed straights towards us, so we patiently waited for our shot as it came closer and closer. Finally, it made its way to a nearby termite mound and began to feast, before turning its attention and coming to cross the road right in front of us!
Once again, Kanha delivered one of those special sightings that you just have to sit back and appreciate. Since it was a Wednesday, the park closes in the afternoon which meant that my second safari would have to be outside the park in the buffer zones. Those usually don't have as much wildlife activity, so I was satisfied with my sloth bear sighting for the day and didn't expect much from the buffer safari. I had no idea what was coming!
The buffer safari started slowly at first. There were some tracks, but nothing that turned into any sightings. Mostly deer, birds, the usual suspects when tigers aren't around. Then, out of nowhere (I keep saying that but it's literally how all these happen), a female tiger was walking down the road straight towards us as we were all alone. At last the one type of sighting that had eluded me, a tiger walking head on down the road!
I fired away as many photos as I could, but the light was low and dark rain clouds were building. I was shooting at F 2.8 with my 400 mm, and dropping my shutter speed as low as I could without risking missing these incredible tiger shots. The adrenaline rush was unlike anything I had ever felt before. I had learned how hard it is to find a tiger, let alone photograph one. And the real key is that you have to find a tiger completely by yourself otherwise you risk others ruining your sighting. All the ingredients for success were here, and I wasn't going to throw away this magical opportunity.
When another vehicle came up from behind her, she quickly darted off into the forest. At this point I had learned how these tiger sightings go, and honestly, it just comes down to pure luck most of the time. The safari gods were on my side, and that's the only reason why I got the photos that I did.
I thought this day couldn't get any better, until we had to race back to exit the park and some other vehicles had found a leopard in the forest! The light was virtually non existent at this point and the leopard was way too far for good photos, but I was just astounded that I got to see one at all, let alone in a buffer safari! A sloth bear, tiger, and leopard all in one day. I couldn't have scripted it any better even if I tried.
I've done enough safaris at this point to learn that often times, your best day is the one right before your leave. And more often than not, the morning that you actually leave you don't find anything early as good as the day before. So with my tiger, bear, and leopard day happening the day before I leave, I quite literally had 0 expectations for my last morning.
Well apparently the safari gods took that a little too seriously because they decided to have an absolute monsoon of a thunder storm on my last day in Kanha. Heavy rains meant no tigers wanted to come out, and it was so dark and miserable that I barely wanted to come out of the now covered vehicle either.
We did come across a small herd of blackbuck, one of the other rare residents of Kanha. They had been relocated to Kanha a few years ago, but unfortunately their numbers weren't doing so well and there were only about a dozen or so left in the park. Even if it was dark and rainy, I did grab a few shots of them that left me satisfied for the day.
After almost two weeks, my time in India had come to an end and it was time to head home. India was unlike anywhere else in the world that I've been to, and the amazing experiences I had at the Taj Mahal and photos that I had taken of the local wildlife were simply incredible. Safaris in India are very different to Africa, and the chaotic nature of them can definitely become frustrating as a photographer. But with a little bit of luck, you can come away with great photos as long as you put in the work for them. I had come to India to photograph tigers, and I can honestly say that I succeeded in that task. I can see how addicting it can be to find tigers, and I definitely feel like I'm itching to get back out there and do it again sometime!
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