Safari Bases
Wildlife & Safari
The towns you sleep in — gate access, jeep bookings and the drive to the first zone.
41 places
Tamil Nadu
Anamalai Tiger Reserve
The Anamalai Tiger Reserve, also known as the Indira Gandhi Wildlife Sanctuary, lies in the Anaimalai Hills of the Western Ghats in Tamil Nadu near Pollachi and Valparai. Part of a UNESCO-listed Western Ghats landscape, its shola forests and grasslands shelter tigers, elephants, gaur, the endangered lion-tailed macaque and the Nilgiri tahr.
Madhya Pradesh
Bandhavgarh National Park
Bandhavgarh has one of the highest densities of Bengal tigers in India, set around an ancient hilltop fort in the Vindhya hills of Madhya Pradesh. Its mix of sal forest, grassland meadows and dramatic cliffs gives Bandhavgarh some of the highest tiger density in India.
Karnataka
Bandipur National Park
Bandipur National Park, in the Chamarajanagar district of Karnataka, is one of India's tiger reserves and part of the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve. Once a hunting ground of the Mysore maharajas, its teak and rosewood forests shelter tigers, leopards, elephants, gaur and dholes, and it forms a continuous wildlife corridor with Nagarhole, Mudumalai and Wayanad.
Karnataka
Bhadra Wildlife Sanctuary
Bhadra Wildlife Sanctuary and Tiger Reserve, set around the Bhadra reservoir near Chikmagalur in Karnataka's Western Ghats, is a lush tiger reserve known worldwide for a successful, voluntary relocation of villages that helped its wildlife rebound. Its forests shelter tigers, leopards, elephants, gaur and rich birdlife.
Odisha
Bhitarkanika National Park
Bhitarkanika National Park in Odisha protects one of India's largest mangrove ecosystems, a maze of tidal creeks and forests fed by several rivers. It is famed for its huge saltwater crocodiles, along with king cobras, water monitors and vast numbers of birds; nearby Gahirmatha beach is a major nesting site for Olive Ridley sea turtles.
Kerala
Chinnar Wildlife Sanctuary
Chinnar Wildlife Sanctuary, in Kerala's Idukki district near Marayoor and Munnar, is an unusual rain-shadow reserve of dry thorny scrub and deciduous forest, very different from Kerala's usual rainforests. It is known for the grizzled giant squirrel, star tortoise, elephants and a landscape dotted with sandalwood trees and ancient rock art.
Jammu & Kashmir
Dachigam National Park
Dachigam National Park, in the mountains just outside Srinagar in Jammu and Kashmir, is the last stronghold of the endangered Kashmir stag, or hangul, the state animal. Rising from riverine valley to alpine meadow, it also shelters Himalayan black bears, leopards, musk deer and a wealth of Himalayan birds.
Karnataka
Dandeli (Kali Tiger Reserve)
Dandeli, part of the Kali Tiger Reserve on the Kali river in Karnataka's Western Ghats, is one of South India's top wildlife-and-adventure destinations. Its deciduous forests hold tigers, elephants, black panthers and one of India's richest hornbill populations, and the river has white-water rafting and kayaking.
.jpg?width=560)
Rajasthan
Desert National Park
Desert National Park, spread across the Thar desert near Jaisalmer and Barmer in Rajasthan, is one of India's largest protected areas and the last stronghold of the critically endangered Great Indian Bustard. Its dunes, scrub and rocky expanses shelter desert foxes, chinkara, desert cats and raptors, along with ancient fossils.
Uttar Pradesh
Dudhwa National Park
Dudhwa National Park, part of the Dudhwa Tiger Reserve in the Terai grasslands of Uttar Pradesh near the Nepal border, protects one of India's finest surviving stretches of tall wet grassland and sal forest. It is a stronghold for tigers, the rare swamp deer (barasingha) and reintroduced one-horned rhinos, along with elephants and rich birdlife.
Gujarat
Gir National Park
Gir is the last refuge of the Asiatic lion, the only place on earth outside Africa where wild lions roam. This dry deciduous forest in Saurashtra also shelters leopards, antelope and over 300 bird species across its safari routes.
Himachal Pradesh
Great Himalayan National Park
The Great Himalayan National Park was listed by UNESCO in 2014, and what makes it worth the effort is what it does not have: no road crosses it, nothing is sold inside it, and there is no signal past the boundary. Entry is on a permit, issued at Sai Ropa or Gushaini. Past the gate you walk. The standard trips run two to five days up the Tirthan, Sainj or Jiwa valleys with a local guide and a porter, and the community booking system means the money stays in the villages at the edge. Himalayan brown bear, musk deer and western tragopan all live in here and you will probably see none of them — this is dense forest, not grassland. What you get instead is four days without meeting anyone. The ecozone villages outside the boundary — Gushaini, Ropa, Shangarh — are where you sleep before and after, and each is worth a night either side. Mid-May to the end of June, and mid-September to the end of October. The higher passes hold snow outside that, and the monsoon closes the trails.
Uttarakhand
Jim Corbett National Park
Jim Corbett is India's oldest national park and the birthplace of Project Tiger, set in the Himalayan foothills along the Ramganga River. Famed for its tigers, elephants and rich birdlife across the Dhikala, Bijrani and Jhirna zones, it is one of the country's safari destinations.
Madhya Pradesh
Kanha National Park
Kanha is one of India's largest and most beautiful tiger reserves, a landscape of sal forests and open meadows said to have inspired Kipling's 'The Jungle Book'. It is also the last home of the rare barasingha (swamp deer).
Assam
Kaziranga National Park
Kaziranga National Park is a vital wildlife conservation sanctuary spanning over 430 square kilometers of alluvial floodplains along the southern banks of the Brahmaputra River in Assam. The unique landscape comprises a dense marshy terrain dominated by towering elephant grass, shallow reed swamps, and open sal forest canopies. The national park is known for hosting over two-thirds of the world's entire surviving population of the endangered Great Indian One-Horned Rhinoceros. The reserve floor operates under strict environmental regulations, split systematically into four safari ranges. Bagori range remains popular for early morning elephant-back safaris, allowing close, safe tracking lines to observe rhinos grazing peacefully in the high morning mists.
Rajasthan
Keoladeo National Park (Bharatpur)
Keoladeo National Park in Bharatpur, Rajasthan, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of the world's finest bird sanctuaries. A man-made wetland created by a former ruler, it hosts hundreds of resident and migratory bird species, from painted storks and herons to wintering waterfowl, and was historically a rare wintering ground of the Siberian crane.
Assam
Manas National Park
Manas National Park, in the Himalayan foothills of Assam on the border with Bhutan, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, tiger reserve, elephant reserve and biosphere reserve in one. Its grasslands and forests along the Manas river shelter tigers, rhinos, wild elephants and rare species such as the pygmy hog, golden langur and Bengal florican.
Tamil Nadu
Mudumalai National Park
Mudumalai National Park, in the Nilgiri Hills of Tamil Nadu, is a key part of the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve, adjoining Bandipur, Nagarhole and Wayanad. Its mix of deciduous forest, grassland and swamp supports tigers, elephants, gaur, leopards and rich birdlife, and it lies on the scenic route between Ooty and Mysuru.
Karnataka
Nagarhole National Park
Nagarhole National Park (Rajiv Gandhi National Park), in Karnataka's Kodagu and Mysuru districts, is a lush tiger reserve within the Nilgiri Biosphere. Its rivers, teak forests and the Kabini backwaters support tigers, leopards, elephants and dholes, and the Kabini zone is famous among wildlife photographers for rare sightings of the black panther.
Maharashtra
Nagzira Wildlife Sanctuary
Nagzira Wildlife Sanctuary, in the Gondia and Bhandara districts of eastern Maharashtra, is a compact, lake-dotted forest that forms part of the Navegaon-Nagzira Tiger Reserve. Its teak and bamboo forests shelter tigers, leopards, gaur, wild dogs and abundant birdlife around scenic lakes.
Arunachal Pradesh
Namdapha National Park
Namdapha National Park, in the Changlang district of eastern Arunachal Pradesh, is one of India's largest and most biodiverse protected areas. Ranging from tropical forest to snow-capped peaks, it is the only park in India believed to host four big cats - tiger, leopard, clouded leopard and snow leopard - along with the rare red panda and hoolock gibbon.
Assam
Nameri National Park
Nameri National Park, in the Sonitpur district of Assam at the foothills of Arunachal Pradesh, is a birdwatcher's paradise along the Jia Bhoroli river. Famed for the rare white-winged wood duck, it also shelters elephants, tigers, leopards and clouded leopards, and has gentle rafting down the Jia Bhoroli through forest.
Uttarakhand
Nanda Devi National Park
Nanda Devi National Park, in the Chamoli district of Uttarakhand, surrounds Nanda Devi, India's second-highest peak, in a high-Himalayan glacial basin. A UNESCO World Heritage Site, it shelters snow leopards, Himalayan musk deer, bharal (blue sheep) and Himalayan tahr amid dramatic peaks, glaciers and alpine meadows.
Madhya Pradesh
Panna Tiger Reserve
Panna Tiger Reserve, on the banks of the Ken river in Madhya Pradesh, is a celebrated conservation success story, having rebuilt its tiger population after the cats were lost from the park. Its plateaus, gorges and forests shelter tigers, leopards, gharials and abundant birdlife, and its location near Khajuraho makes it an easy add-on to a heritage trip.
Madhya Pradesh
Pench Tiger Reserve
Pench Tiger Reserve, straddling Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra along the Pench river, is the landscape that inspired Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book. Its teak and sal forests are rich in tigers, leopards, wild dogs, gaur and abundant deer, and it was home to the celebrated Collarwali tigress, one of India's most prolific.
Assam
Pobitora Wildlife Sanctuary
Pobitora Wildlife Sanctuary, in the Morigaon district of Assam near Guwahati, is famed for having the highest density of one-horned rhinos in the world. Its compact grasslands and wetlands are packed with rhinos and are also excellent for wild buffalo, leopards and migratory birds.
Maharashtra
Radhanagari Wildlife Sanctuary
Radhanagari Wildlife Sanctuary, in the Western Ghats of Kolhapur district in Maharashtra, is one of the region's oldest protected areas and is known for its population of the Indian gaur (bison). Part of a UNESCO-listed Western Ghats site, its dense forests, plateaus and the Radhanagari Dam support gaur, leopards, sloth bears and rich birdlife.
Uttarakhand
Rajaji National Park
Rajaji National Park, spread across the Shivalik foothills of Uttarakhand near Haridwar, Rishikesh and Dehradun, is a tiger reserve best known for its large population of Asian elephants. The Ganga flows along its edge, and its sal forests and grasslands shelter elephants, tigers, leopards, deer and over three hundred bird species.
Karnataka
Ranganathittu Bird Sanctuary
Ranganathittu Bird Sanctuary, on islets in the Kaveri river near Srirangapatna and Mysuru, is the largest bird sanctuary in Karnataka. Its riverine islands host large breeding colonies of painted storks, pelicans, herons, ibises and cormorants, while marsh crocodiles bask along the banks, all easily seen on a short boat ride.
Rajasthan
Ranthambore National Park
Ranthambore National Park is one of the preeminent and largest wildlife conservation sanctuaries in Northern India, known for its thriving population of the endangered Royal Bengal Tiger. It lies in the Sawai Madhopur district, where the ancient Vindhya and Aravalli mountain ranges converge, the landscape comprises rugged rocky cliffs, dry deciduous forests, and interconnected lakes. The park's unique visual identity is defined by the massive 10th-century Ranthambore Fort, which sits inside the forest lines. Tigers are frequently observed hunting in broad daylight across the historic stone ruins, palace pavilions, and lake fronts, creating an unmatched wild landscape profile. The national park operates under strict environmental regulations, split systematically into ten specific safari zones to manage safari vehicles and preserve the sensitive ecological core slots.
Maharashtra
Sanjay Gandhi National Park
Sanjay Gandhi National Park, in the northern suburbs of Mumbai, is a rare protected forest within a megacity and one of the world's most-visited national parks. Its forests are famous for a resident leopard population living alongside the city, and the park also holds the ancient Kanheri Caves, lakes, a toy train and popular nature trails.
Rajasthan
Sariska Tiger Reserve
Sariska, set in the Aravalli hills near Alwar, is a tiger reserve known for its dry forests, ancient temples and the dramatic Kankwari Fort. It made conservation history as the first reserve to successfully relocate tigers after local extinction.
.jpg?width=560)
Gujarat
Sasan Gir (Talala)
Gir, near Talala, is the last place in the wild where the Asiatic lion survives. Its dry-deciduous forest and scrub also shelter leopards, deer and a wide range of birds, and safaris run from the sanctuary's gates.
Madhya Pradesh
Satpura Tiger Reserve
Satpura Tiger Reserve, set in the rugged Satpura hills of Madhya Pradesh along the Denwa river, is one of central India's most distinctive parks. Less crowded than its neighbours, it is known for walking safaris, canoe safaris and boat rides, with sightings of leopards, sloth bears, tigers, gaur and the Indian giant squirrel amid dramatic gorges and forests.
Kerala
Silent Valley National Park
Silent Valley National Park, in the Nilgiri Hills of Kerala's Palakkad district, protects one of India's last undisturbed tracts of tropical evergreen rainforest. Part of the Nilgiri Biosphere, it is known for its endemic lion-tailed macaque, rich birdlife and river ecosystem, and is famous as the focus of a landmark environmental movement that saved it from a dam.
Odisha
Simlipal National Park
Simlipal National Park, in the Mayurbhanj district of Odisha, is a tiger reserve and biosphere reserve set among rolling sal forests, plateaus and waterfalls. It is one of the few places associated with rare melanistic (black) tigers, and also shelters elephants, leopards and gaur, along with the Barehipani and Joranda waterfalls.
West Bengal
Sundarbans National Park
The Sundarbans National Park is a monumental, unique wildlife conservation wilderness spanning a massive estuarine mangrove delta formed by the confluence of the Ganges and Brahmaputra rivers in West Bengal. Characterized as the largest continuous mangrove forest on earth, the protected ecosystem is cut into a complex maze of tidal mudflats, narrow river channels, and dense island swamps. It is known for hosting the world's only population of tigers adapted to living inside a mangrove habitat. The entire safari experience operates exclusively on water, where visitors board certified multi-deck passenger boats to track wildlife along the thick roots of the Sundari trees. The core reserve holds saltwater crocodiles, water monitors and river dolphins.
Maharashtra
Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve
Tadoba is Maharashtra's oldest and largest national park, increasingly famous for frequent daytime tiger sightings. Its teak and bamboo forests around Tadoba Lake support tigers, leopards, sloth bears and wild dogs.
Rajasthan
Tal Chhapar Sanctuary
Tal Chhapar Sanctuary, in the Churu district of Rajasthan's Shekhawati region, is a flat, saline grassland famed for its graceful blackbuck herds and as one of India's finest hotspots for raptors and migratory birds. The open plains make wildlife watching exceptionally easy and rewarding.
Kerala
Thekkady (Periyar)
Thekkady is a prominent high-altitude wildlife conservation destination at an elevation of 900 metres in the Cardamom Hills of Idukki district. Positioned right along the border lines of Tamil Nadu, the region centers entirely around the core boundaries of the Periyar Tiger Reserve, a sanctuary spanning over 925 square kilometers of rugged evergreen rainforest terrain. The unique safari experience operates entirely on water, where visitors board double-decker passenger boats to track wildlife along the submerged tree trunks and marshy banks of the lake basin. The outer perimeters of the park transition smoothly into expansive organic spice farming valleys.
Uttarakhand
Valley of Flowers National Park
A UNESCO World Heritage Site in the high Himalayas famed for its vast meadows of endemic alpine flowers blooming in monsoon. The Valley of Flowers National Park is an Indian national park located in North Chamoli, deep within the West Himalaya region. It is known for its alpine meadows carpeted with hundreds of species of colorful wild orchids, poppies, and primulas.
