Thirty tigers in six days is not a promise. It is a logbook entry.
Small-group wildlife photography journeys through India's central tiger reserves, led by a filmmaker who has spent his working life in them.
Kanha National Park
The logbook
What was actually seen
Every operator says the sightings are incredible. These are specific — what was seen, in which park, drawn from recent departures.
| Park | Seen | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Kanha | Tiger · Sunaiyna | Alarm calls triangulated; she emerged where predicted and walked past the vehicle |
| Kanha | Leopard | Came out onto the rocks, sat, then walked back into the forest |
| Bandhavgarh | Tiger · nursing female | Full-day permit; found in the middle of the day with the park almost empty |
| Bandhavgarh | Tiger · pug marks, then kill | First pug marks of the trip, then a kill the same afternoon |
Three ways to travel
Pick who takes you
Safari with Lala
Led by Lala himself, airport to airport. The smallest groups we run and the first to fill.
With our naturalists
The same reserves, the same drivers, the same full-day permits — led by the naturalists who work these forests all season.
Bespoke
Your dates, your party, and one particular animal if that is why you are coming.
Why it works
A full-day permit, and somebody who knows the tiger's name
Most operators sell a three-hour morning drive and a three-hour afternoon drive, with the middle of the day spent at the lodge. We buy full-day permits. When the other vehicles leave at ten, we are still in the park — which is where the animals are when nobody is watching.
The second advantage is not logistical. Lala and the guides he works with have followed these individual tigers for years. They know which cub belongs to which mother, which male holds which meadow, and what an alarm call two ridges away means. That is the difference between finding a tiger and being in position before it arrives.
The context
Why now
We stopped feeling like clients and started feeling like friends. We even swap recipes now.
A guest, after six days in Bandhavgarh and Kanha
Where we go
The reserves
Bandhavgarh
Sandstone cliffs over sal forest and meadow, and among the highest tiger densities in India.
Kanha
Sal forest opening into wide grass maidans, and the last stronghold of the barasingha.
Tadoba
Dry teak and hard light, and tigers unusually relaxed about vehicles.
Ranthambore
A thousand-year-old fort, three lakes, and tigers photographed against stone.
Lala's work
What the trips produce
A few frames from the reserves we run. Prints of these are available; the titles are his. Swipe or use the arrows.
Tell us when you can travel and what you want to photograph
Most guests plan six to eighteen months ahead. The earlier you write, the more of the calendar is still open.