Here at Exodus we thrive on feedback from our customers. It's the only way we can ensure our trips continue to be the best they can be. So, for the real tales, twists and turns of the trip you're interested in, look no further than the reviews from our previous travellers. Any feedback collected (Good or bad) from Exodus clients is posted straight onto our website - totally unedited. Read more...
This was my second time on the Land of the Tiger trip. This time exceeded the first. 11 tigers seen, a couple of them seen on a few occasions (reliable sightings). One excellent sighting, most of the rest in the good category. 2 leopards, 1 jungle cat, 1 sloth bear and 1 wild dog also seen. You need to be aware that you will get your best views from the back of an elephant during the "tiger show".
What was the most inspirational moment of your trip?
Tigers will always rank highly as an inspirational moment, but viewing my pictures of the jackal family once I got home almost brought tear to my eyes. Travlling by train is fun, there is some great food around and also fantastic bird life as well.
What did you think of your group leader?
Harish was excellent. He specialises in wildlife trips, so knew his way around the parks as well as the local guides. He will even take the opporunity to take an optional game drive on his own! He put in a lot of effort to make sure everything ran smoothly. I can't think of a single time when something went wrong.
Do you have any advice for potential travellers?
Take as long (and fast) a lenses as possible. A second camera body is also a good idea. Camera cleaning equipment is also needed (very dusty). For this reason eye drops are also a good idea. Be aware that you may go on game drives were you don't take a single photo. There are drives were you may not see anything noteworthy. Very little WiFi available and only occasional 3G access.
Is there anything else you would like to add?
Tigers wont be around in the wild forever. Take the opportunity now. I will definetly do this trip for a third time in the future. Seeing tigers is like an itch that just can't be scratched!
This is not a trip for cissies! Early starts, long bus and train journeys, heat, dust, cold, and sometimes days without sight of a tiger (plus the dreaded Delhi belly) – this is a trip that involves hard graft. But the rewards, if you see tigers, are beyond compare. We were fortunate enough to see 11 tigers and those moments will live in my memory bank forever. Equally, we endured the disappointment of four back-to-back drives in Bandhavgarh without seeing a single stripe. You have to be prepared for both eventualities. However, one of my favourite drives in Kanha was when we saw no tigers but witnessed a whole range of wildlife including Barasingha, jackals, jungle cats, Gaur, deer, wild boar, wild dogs, monkeys and a spectacular array of birds
What was the most inspirational moment of your trip?
Any time spent in the presence of a tiger was simply magical. I’ve been lucky enough to see wildlife all around the world but these magnificent animals take the prize for sheer magnetism. Unfortunately our first tiger sighting in Ranthambore was accompanied by a hideous cacophony of shouting and screeching as canters reversed into each other to try and get into the best position. I hated the whole noisy circus, but looking at the photos now, I only remember the majestic beauty of my first gorgeous tiger. Jeep game drives in Kanha and Bandhavgarh were a lot more civilised!
What did you think of your group leader?
Harish was a great tour leader, a real ‘fixer’. The trip ran very smoothly due in no little part to the care he put in to arranging as much as he could for us; from trying to sort out our jeep routes in advance, to changing our train seating so as to keep the group together. His encyclopaedic knowledge of the flora and fauna of India kept the wildlife junkies among us fully informed. He was also good company.
Do you have any advice for potential travellers?
Even in March/April with lunchtime temperatures nudging 40 degrees it was still freezing in the early morning, especially in Kanha, where we each wore four layers, a blanket and some even had hot water bottles! Overnight trains were either sweltering or freezing, so have the appropriate clothing to hand. Occasionally there is a cavernous gap between meals, so have a few muesli bars or similar with you: they’re also useful if you get an upset stomach and can’t face curry (you can go off curry quite quickly!). Take the longest image-stabilised lens you can, plus lens cleaning gear to combat dust (also a scarf or similar to stop your hair turning into a fright wig). My 70-300mm lens was the best option for photographing tigers from the back of elephants. Do as many optional game drives (especially in the morning) as you can and don’t miss a single elephant ‘tiger show’ as it’s the best way to get close-ups. Use manual focus or you’ll end up with lots of fuzzy tigers behind pin-sharp foliage! Because we were a small group (7, reduced later to 6) our tips bill was proportionally higher (tips are a flat rate per vehicle and not per head, and NOT related to service!); with the optional game drives it all adds up. Would I go again? Just try and stop me!
Is there anything else you would like to add?
The awful statistics about the demise of the tiger really hit home once you’ve witnessed these monarchs of the jungle in their own habitat. Having seen the extensive bureaucracy in India at first hand, it would appear that contributing to initiatives at the ‘business end’ of tiger conservation (like those supported by Exodus) may be the only way to save this incredible species. The latest tiger census figures were released during our trip; the opinion of the guides and other experts we spoke to in Kanha was that these ‘official’ numbers weren't so much massaged as plucked out of thin air. The thought that tigers may be extinct in the wild within 20 years is utterly depressing. Wildlife lovers need to do more than just take photographs now.
Stephen Hartley-Brewer
LAND OF THE TIGER
Written
Be prepared for frustrations along the way - bumpy roads, uncomfortable trains, and above all what can be many many hours of game drives with the risk of increasing despair at not seeing this true king of beasts. But rest assured, you WILL see them (even if Exodus won't guarantee it, you can do 6+ drives in Bandhavgar where it seems the hit rate is 50%+ per drive, plus drives in the other parks), they are quite incredible which will make it all seem worthwhile, and there's a day of beautiful history/architecture around Agra too.
What was the most inspirational moment of your trip?
Seeing "B2", the most dominant male tiger in Bandhavgar, eating at a kill, washing himself like a domestic kitten, strolling nonchalantly across the track to a watering hole, growling... or perhaps the highlight was getting almost uncomfortably close to tigers from our elephant-back vantage point
What did you think of your group leader?
Superb. Harish Kumar has so many years experience of leading tours, often birding and nature tours, in India that his knowledge of the wildlife is encyclopedic; and his relationships with the parks, hoteliers, etc. strong enough to make things work as smoothly as they can (given that this is India). India is not a trivially easy place to travel but Harish and his colleagues in India made things work for us.
Do you have any advice for potential travellers?
I do recommend the trip but you do need to think twice before you book. It's a long way to fly then train and minibus to undertake perhaps 50 hours of game drives without the certainty of seeing these (admittedly magnificent) animals. If you think you may take a serious dislike to the public transport, food, high risk of Delhi Belly spoiling a day or more of your trip, or frustration at (temporary) lack of tigers (or indeed if you are very lucky getting 'tigered out' by the end of the trip!) then you might be better off doing e.g. an African safari or a more leisurely 'cultural' tour of India.You need to have a certain level of robustness, in my view, for this trip's rewards (tigers and some, but not much, of the region's history) to outweigh its frustrations and pitfalls.
However, if you are committed to the idea of seeing this animal in its last redoubts, then this is the trip for you. While (in my opinion based on what I learned on this trip and from speaking to many other travellers) any trip that spends more than 2 full days in Bandhavgar will pretty reliably give you tigers, this trip gives you time in two other reserves which are not only pretty rich in tigers themselves but have their own characters and strengths: Ranthamore with its ancient fort and hunting palaces scattered through the park; Kanha with its open grasslands and rich bird life.
Land of the Tiger Tourists expect, travellers experience. Of nowhere is this more true than India.Unpack preconceptions and expectations, replace them with a sense of adventure and a sense of humour!The busy streets teem with life and colour. Ox carts brush flank to wing with limousines, brightly painted trucks play chicken with cycle rickshaws.The flaming flash of tigers moving proudly through the jungle, confident in their own superiority. Langours lazing languorously in the sun, bemused by four wheeled creatures with clicking cameras. Leopards, deer, jungle cats, wild dogs and jackals. Beautiful birds in blues and greens decorate the trees.All this and the Taj Mahal. A timely reminder of the amazing skills of the Indian artisans. Forts and temples beautifully preserved.Accommodation from 5 star luxury, through to simple lodges, in stunning surroundings, to a basic couple of nights on a train!Throw in the colour and fun (?) of Holi Festival. A warning here for ladies with blonde locks, they will end up pink!A truly wonderful and memorable trip.
What was the most inspirational moment of your trip?
Seeing a tiger mother with her cubs from the back of an elephant in Kanha National Park was something that I'll never forget - but just the atmosphere of being in the parks in the morning with the sounds of the jungle waking up around you was something quite magical.
What did you think of your group leader?
Krishna was great - as an ornithologist, he had a great knowledge of the bird species that we saw on our drives through the parks (and could even identify them from blurry smudges in some of our photographs), and as a tour leader, he was passionate and enthusiastic about his country, and made sure we all had a great time.
We were in India for the Holi festival, and he organised a party at the jungle lodge that we were staying at, with all natural dyes for us to throw at each other - which we tried to wash off in the neighbouring river afterwards.
Do you have any advice for potential travellers?
Don't go with the expectation of seeing large mammals on every game drive! We were spectacularly lucky, seeing 13 tigers, 2 leopards, 5 jackals and 2 wild dogs in total. Obviously it's great to see some of these amazing animals in the wild - but it's just as amazing to be in the parks, and absorb the sounds and atmosphere of these wild spaces. There wasn't a single drive where we failed to see something new - a new bird species, or deer exhibiting different behaviour.
Is there anything else you would like to add?
If you want to see tigers in the wild, this trip is probably your best chance of doing so - there are so many game drives built into the schedule, and the option for further ones, that your chances are maximised. Even on days when you don't see any tigers, it's impossible to forget that they're not far away, with sightings of pugmarks or the sound of distant alarm calls. A fantastic experience, and one that I won't forget!
Probably my only criticism of the tour is the way that the group was split across multiple carriages on the overnight trains. Our tour leader explained the difficulty of getting tickets for train journeys, and that quite often we weren't getting on or off at the start or end of a train line, but it still seemed unfair on some of the solo travellers to find themselves isolated in a carriage away from the rest of the group.
What was the most inspirational moment of your trip?
Each time we saw a tiger was incredibly moving. But my favourite moment strangely was a leopard sighting. We were the only jeep and the leopard walked down a rock and drank in a pool right in front of us.
What did you think of your group leader?
Harish was excellent. His drive, enthusiasm and organisational skills were amazing and he has so much knowledge about the local wildlife.
Do you have any advice for potential travellers?
Bring plenty of patience. You may have many hours of game drives without seeing tigers - they are endangered after all! And don't forget that it's not all about tigers - enjoy the rest of the animals and birds in the parks too!
In the winter months it is incredibly cold in the mornings - I was wearing 5 layers and a blanket! So remember your warm clothes, gloves and hat.
Michael Phillips
LAND OF THE TIGER
Written
Awarding top rating of this holiday against the context of other group holidays, including Exodus trips and a similar holiday to India with a different company. The focus of the trip are the National Parks but the variety of experience from visiting the Taj Mahal to travelling by rail should not be underscored. Whilst there are enough activities to keep one fully occupied there are opportunities to relax or enjoy free time within the schedule. The value for money and organisational precision made this trip a relaxing leisure holiday.
What was the most inspirational moment of your trip?
The time in the National Parks highlighted by sightings of tigers is the most rewarding experience. I was fortunate to enjoy a sighting of a tiger as part of a group whose jeep was the only jeep on the particular track. The driver carefully reserved our jeep as the tiger continued his stroll toasted us, marking his territory periodically. Our sighting lasted 45 minutes over a 2 kilometre stretch whilst 'Munha' strolled around his 'patch'. One of those times when you are in the right place at the right time with the right people. Such sightings are a rarity though the rest of the group did get to see 3 Cheshire cat grins that afternoon! Finding our way to the Imperial Hotel 911 bar in Delhi for large g&ts rounded the last afternoon off nicely.
What did you think of your group leader?
The tour leader performed an exceptional role in spite of one difficult client. His organisational skills for the set journeys enabled everyone to relax and enjoy their time. Navigating the Indian railway system on our behalf enabled the group to kick back and sleep in the knowledge our destination would be reached with our luggage intact. The tour leader showed great flexibility allowing the group to enjoy experiences outside the itinerary such as watching a Bollywood film. He did an outstanding job in organising a birthday celebration for one group member. Thankfully I was on his team when we played our cricket matches!
Do you have any advice for potential travellers?
Whilst the highlight of the tour will be to see the tiger there is so much more to the experience. First and foremost enjoy all the animals, birdlife and Eco systems of the parks. The variety of parks and seasonal variations for this tour do impact on your frequency of sightings (local guide opinion) so be patient! You are likely to see the tigers but quality of sightings is variable. The locations and overnight travelling involved make this a close group holiday and one of the most memorable experiences is sharing the experience. The safari experiences are in shared jeeps so be prepared to appreciate what other people want to see. Whilst this was hugely enjoyable experience and a holiday be prepared for 5 a.m starts, sleeping on trains and long days travelling. Whilst there is little physical effort required you need to fully participate within a group to benefit from the experience.
Is there anything else you would like to add?
There are not enough superlatives for the holiday that I had. I would add that the group that I travelled with maximised all the opportunities to enjoy India and I firmly believe that ultimately it is the people that make the holiday. The Exodus itinerary provided us with every opportunity to do so. One optional itinerary that I would like to see added would be a group trip to a Tiger Project - perhaps at the expense of one of the safaris.
from 72 reviews.
Login above to retrieve a previously saved list or 
Click on 'Add to wishlist' to pin trips here.
