Wildlife safari has captured the interest of many animal and nature lovers. India offers one of the best destinations for wildlife safaris being a veritable storehouse for animals and birds. There are around 89451 species of fauna in India; mammals (86) Birds (70), reptiles (25) and amphibians (3), fish (8) and invertebrates (23). Best part is that all of these animals can be viewed in their natural setting in national parks and nature reserves. It is no surprise that wildlife safari is a top tourist activity today.
To get the maximum out of your wildlife expedition, most of these reserves have jeeps for easy getting around and they are the safest option. But horse or elephant safaris are more fun and the slow gait of the animals allow better chance to soak in the sights and sounds of the surroundings.
Tiger is the essence of the Indian wildlife. So any wildlife safari in India is incomplete unless you’ve spotted a tiger. Ranthambhore and Corbett are the two most preferred locations for tiger-spotting in India. Ranthambhore in southern Rajasthan is one of the largest of all the reserved parks. It has a good population of panthers, hyenas, sloth bears, jackals, caracal, etc. Corbett National Park in Uttaranchal is fondly referred to as “the land of roar, trumpet, and songs”. It got this title because of the variety of animal sounds that can be heard within its enclosure. Apart from tiger, jackal, wild boar, chital, hog deer, and sambar are found here while the trees are filled with kingfisher, crested serpent eagle, pallas's fishing eagle and Himalayan grey headed fishing Eagle.
Gir National Park and Sanctuary in Gujarat is the only surviving habitat of the Asiatic Lion. Plenty of wild animals thrive here too making their home in the lush vegetation of the forest along with varieties of birds. If you want to see the Royal Bengal Tiger then the vast swampy area of Sundarbans in West Bengal is the place to try. The vegetation of the place also offer good breeding ground for other animals like deer and rhesus monkey, etc, fishes like red fiddler crabs and hermit crabs.
The Kaziranga National Park in Assam is another hotspot for nature lovers. It houses about 2,000 endangered one-horned rhino along with other wild animals like elephants, Indian bison, swamp deer, hog deer, sloth bears, tigers, leopard cats, jungle cats, otters, hog badgers, capped langurs, hoolock gibbons, wild boar, jackal, wild buffalo, pythons, etc and plenty of birds.
Other renowned destinations for wildlife tour in India are Periyar National Park in Kerala, Bandipur & Nagarhole National Parks, Karnataka, Rajaji National Park in Uttaranchal.
