Indian safari: the very best 2-week itinerary to look at flora and fauna in India


Blessed with exceptionally various landscapes and surreal surroundings, northern India has each component to fulfill the avid flora and fauna lover with its huge treasure trove of herbal assets.

Guests from far and wide the area are awestruck no longer simplest through the would possibly of the lofty Himalayas and holiness of the river Ganges but additionally through one of the vital maximum impressive Indian flora and fauna {that a} flora and fauna safari in India has to supply.

Map of an Indian safari itinerary map

This specifically curated North India chicken and flora and fauna itinerary will quilt a staggering number of landscapes, every house to its distinctive wild group. Taking you to one of the vital absolute best India Nationwide Parks, this Indian safari is geared for birders and flora and fauna fanatics and is best for photographers and households as nicely.

Tiger on a river bank in Corbett National Park
Tiger in Jim Corbett Nationwide Park © Wander with Jo

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Day 1 – Delhi

Maximum first-time guests to North India get started their go back and forth from Delhi. Even supposing you propose to only move throughout the town, there’s a wealth of birdlife in numerous corners of the capital the place you’ll be able to simply spend a couple of hours of fruitful birdwatching.

Excellent birding can also be had at the banks of the Yamuna river whilst Lodhi gardens and Buddha Jayanti Park cling a fantastic collection of species. As well as, some ancient websites function appropriate habitats for lots of birds.

Species to seem out for are the larger flamingo, Eurasian spoonbill, striated grassbird, and lots of species of geese and raptors corresponding to booted eagle, marsh harrier, and peregrine falcon amongst many others. In a single day Delhi.

Days 2 and three – Kosi River and Kumeria Reserve Wooded area, Uttrakhand 

The Western Himalayan foothills, some 250 km northeast of Delhi be offering very good flora and fauna and birding alternatives. Your house for the following two nights would be the luxurious Click on Hotel Corbett Tiger Den at the outskirts of the world-famous Jim Corbett Nationwide Park, named after the mythical man-eating-tiger hunter, Jim Corbett. With an Asian elephant inhabitants of over 2,000 people in Uttarakhand, that is your first likelihood to identify them all the way through the go back and forth.

Asian elephant portrait
Asian Elephant

On arrival, you’ll be able to spend the latter a part of the day looking alongside the Kosi river for brown dipper, little forktail, noticed forktail, 3 species of wagtail, brown fish owl, tawny eagle owl, and different lowland species.

Subsequent day is spent within the forests round Mohan on the lookout for nice barbet, orange-bellied leafbird, pink sunbird, black bulbul, rusty-cheeked scimitar babblers, various warblers, titties, and flycatchers. Tracks of leopards and wild tigers are often observed, although the large cats are simplest from time to time noticed. Two nights at Tiger Den.

Days 4 and 5 – Jim Corbett Nationwide Park 

The Dhangari Gate of Corbett Nationwide Park is a brief thirty mins pressure from Kumeria and is a wonderful position to identify Sirkeer Malkhoa (sirkeer cuckoo)and streak-throated woodpeckers. At the 31 km pressure to Dhikala, elephant and tiger sightings are commonplace, most commonly all the way through the hotter months. Another way, it’s no longer most often simple to identify the Royal Bengal Tiger within the dense jungles of Corbett. A jungle safari will take you nearer to a sighting of an entire life.

safari jeep in India
Safari car in Jim Corbett Nationwide Park © Wander with Jo

Mammals of Corbett Nationwide Park

Tiger, leopard, elephant, jungle cat, fishing cat, leopard cat, sloth undergo, Himalayan black undergo, chital deer, sambar deer, hogg deer, barking deer, goral (goat-antelopes), wild boar, jackal, rabbit, Indian gray mongoose, otters, Indian pangolins, yellow-throated martens, langur, and rhesus monkey.

The tiger, the nationwide animal of India, is the largest cat on the planet and a glimpse of this endangered species will depart you in awe. The elusive leopards are tougher to identify, so when you see one believe your self an excessively fortunate particular person.

Be expecting to peer nice hornbill, grey-headed fishing eagle, and Pallas’s eagle on a stump in the course of the Ramganga Reservoir if you succeed in Dhikala. Right here you are going to spend the remainder of the afternoon on your open car on the lookout for grassland experts just like the marsh harrier, black francolin, crimson avadavat, and oriental skylark are rather commonplace right here.

sunset in a forest in India
Jim Corbett Nationwide Park © Wander with Jo

There will probably be two extra recreation drives within the morning and night on the second one day within the everlasting seek for the tiger. Benefit from the stunning panorama and scan the woodland for the noted tiger stripes. Using throughout the woodland east of Dhikala is the most efficient position to identify the elusive cat as prey is abundant within the chaur grasslands of Corbett.

There are about 700 Asian elephants in Corbett; they’re a part of a migrating inhabitants that still lives in Rajaji Nationwide Park. Those Asian elephant herds can steadily be observed feeding at the inexperienced grass on this house. You are going to spend two eventful nights at Malani Wooded area leisure space. Remember the fact that there is not any telephone reception at Malani they usually run on sun.

forest rest house building in Corbett National Park
Malani Wooded area leisure space
spotted deer group in a forest in India
Noticed deer © Wander with Jo

Day 6 – Corbett to Nainital 

After breakfast, you bid adieu to Corbett and take the scenic adventure again to Dhangari Gate and onwards to the city of Ramnagar. Have lunch at any of the great wayside eating places, then go the barrage over the Kosi River, the place there’s a small park at the left.

Right here you are going to be rewarded with huge flocks of Brahminy geese (ruddy shelduck), and different commonplace waterbirds like cormorants and darters. The reservoir partitions are some of the few puts the place you’ll be able to spot the uncommon wall creeper

Against the tip of the day pressure to Nainital (38 km), the hill the city at 7000′ the place you are going to be spending 3 nights. In a single day at Nainital.

Days 7, 8, and 9 – Nainital 

Nainital is a gorgeous hill station, affording very good perspectives of the Himalayas and one of the vital outstanding peaks corresponding to Nanda Devi (the second-highest mountain in India) and Trishul Height. Many fascinating chicken species are discovered within the native gardens and the encompassing hillsides, making birding in Nainital a memorable revel in.

small bird in India
Birding in Nainital © Wander with Jo

Birds just like the red-billed blue magpie, chestnut-crowned guffawing thrush, and black-headed jay can also be observed inside of strolling distance of Vikram Antique Inn, your house all the way through your keep in Nainital.

The luxurious Mongoli Valley is a thirty minute pressure downhill from Nainital the place you are going to spend the easier a part of the day on the lookout for striated guffawing thrush, Asian barred owlet, orange-flanked bush robin, and slaty-headed parakeet.

At the 3rd morning, practice a path uphill from the resort until it meets a street. Go the street and stroll down the stairs searching for Indian black-lored titties, bolden bush robin, and white-capped bunting.

The Uttarakhand Govt has a phenomenal community of fresh and inexpensive guesthouses. For many who wish to spend extra time birding or mountaineering, those supply very good bases.

Day 10 – Agra

One of the best ways to go back and forth to Agra from Nainital is through using all the way down to the railway station at Kathgodam,(38 km) and catching the in a single day teach to Agra Cantt railway station. You are going to arrive in time to catch a glimpse of the solar emerging over the Taj Mahal, a vacation spot on the most sensible of maximum customer’s lists.

The river Yamuna flows immediately in the back of this mausoleum and early morning sightings at the banks may just come with waders like commonplace sandpiper, black-winged stilts, plovers, nice thick-knees, gulls, river terns, and extra.

thick knee bird in India
Indian thick knee © Wander with Jo

After an extended day of sightseeing and birding, you are going to pressure for roughly two hours against Bharatpur. Enroute, don’t fail to remember to pay a talk over with to the traditional town of Fatehpur Sikri. This UNESCO Global Heritage Website online used to be constructed within the sixteenth century, used to be the capital of the Mughal empire for 10 years, and has some of the greatest mosques in India, the Jama Masjid. In a single day on the shocking Bagh Hotel, Bharatpur. Whilst at Bagh Hotel don’t fail to remember to talk over with their magnificent chicken hides. Golden oriole, hoopoe, black-winged stilt, white-throated kingfisher, and pond heron are often observed.

Day 11 and 12 – Bharatpur

Bharatpur is house to the world-famous Keoladeo Nationwide Park, the most well liked chicken sanctuary in India, and also you will have to spend no less than a couple of days on any go back and forth to North India. That is more than likely the one position on the planet the place as many as 130 species had been recorded in one morning of birding.

The sanctuary is well-managed and the birds don’t seem to be simply spooked. Right through wintry weather, the park is house to almost 400 species and on a excellent day, a customer can hope to identify just about part of them, particularly the duration between October and March when large numbers of Paleoarctic migrants arrive and mingle with the resident birds.

There is a wonderful community of tracks around the park which is able to both be explored on foot or bicycles to be had for rent on the front gate. Nice white pelicans fly in all the way through wintry weather whilst Dalmatian pelicans happen once a year. The lovely black-necked stork is at the decline, however thankfully can nonetheless be observed at Bharatpur. In a single day at Bharatpur.

You are going to spend the next day to come on the Band Baretha Natural world Sanctuary, about an hour and a part pressure from Bharatpur and a birdwatcher’s paradise. There are lots of common species discovered right here, however the big name enchantment this is the Indian skimmer. There’s a dam on the finish of the lake the place you’ll be able to search for the brown crake, painted snipe, dusky crag Martin, and the rarer crag martin.

To your leisurely go back to Bharatpur, there are spots to peer booted eagle, desolate tract wheatear, tawny pippin, Blyth’s pipit, and long-billed pipit.

Day 13 and 14 – Ranthambore Nationwide Park

Day 13 will take you to some of the absolute best nationwide parks in India, Ranthambore. As soon as a noted searching floor of the former maharajas of Rajasthan, the Ranthambore Nationwide Park provides a phenomenal likelihood to peer the royal Bengal tiger in its herbal habitat. It may be simply integrated together with your excursion to Bharatpur as it’s only a two-hour teach/street pressure.

You’ll be able to get right of entry to the park through personal jeep or canters, however to take care of the drift of tourists, the collection of automobiles allowed throughout the park all the way through morning and afternoon is very much limited.

samba deer portrait
Sambar deer at Ranthambore © Wander with Jo

Ranthambore is a thrilling Indian Nationwide Park. Essentially referred to as the house of the Bengal tiger, the park has wonderful flora and fauna, with a complete of 40 species of mammals, 320 species of birds, and 35 species of reptiles. A flora and fauna safari in Ranthambore will deliver you nice animal sightings.

Mammals of Ranthambore:

Tigers, sloth undergo, leopard, noticed deer, sambar deer, chital, nilgai, jackal, desolate tract fox, Indian fox, jackal, striped hyena, jungle cat, desolate tract cats, caracal, commonplace langur, macaque, Indian wild boar, chinkara, commonplace palm civet, 5 striped palm squirrel, palm civet, commonplace yellow bats, rufous tailed hare, Indian false vampire, Indian flying fox, Indian gerbil, Indian mole rat, long-eared hedgehog, ratel, Indian porcupine, small Indian mongoose, small Indian civet, and commonplace mongoose.

Crocodile in India
Crocodile © Wander with Jo

Reptiles of Ranthambore:

Snub-nosed marsh crocodiles, tortoise, desolate tract observe lizards, banded kraits, commonplace kraits, Ganga soft-shelled turtles, cobras, Indian pythons, saw-scaled vipers rat snakes, Russel’s vipers, North Indian flap-shelled turtles and the Indian chameleon.

The lovely surroundings of steep cliffs and a thick expanse of jungle dotted with ancient ruins are price a talk over with in itself. Semi-desert specialties discovered listed below are painted spurfowl, painted sandgrouse, the Eurasian owl, and Indian eagle owl (rock eagle owl).

Excluding large cat and sloth undergo sightings, there’s a variety of excellent birding, each inside and outside the park. Part an afternoon must be stored apart for birding at the primary street to the park. Indian courser and the yellow-wattled lapwing can also be discovered right here. The acacia woodlands on all sides of the street are excellent for white-bellied drongo and the scarce white-naped woodpecker, and the black-rumped flameback woodpecker. You are going to be spending two nights at any of the accommodations out of doors the park.

woodpecker, birding in india
Black-rumped flameback woodpecker © Wander with Jo
crested bunting portrait, Indian bird
Crested bunting at Ranthambore © Wander with Jo

Day 15 – Go back to New Delhi

Your go back adventure to Delhi from Ranthambore will probably be through rail. It takes about six hours through categorical teach to succeed in Delhi and when you’ve got the afternoon to spare, head to the Humayun Tomb (constructed within the 1560s), ten mins from the railway station.

You’ll be able to spend a excellent couple of hours birding right here looking for noticed owlets, black kite, black-rumped flameback woodpecker, and lots of different resident species.

spotted owlets on a branch, Indian spotted owlets
Noticed owlets © Wander with Jo

Go back to the resort/airport to clean up, ahead of catching the flight on your subsequent vacation spot.

(If you select to go back to Delhi through automotive, prevent at a spot known as Sonkh, about 15 km from Bharatpur, at the street against Mathura, to peer a number of Indian black ibis (often referred to as red-naped ibis) feeding within the open fields.

Ultimate ideas

For those who dream of seeing wonderful Indian flora and fauna and birds, we are hoping this Indian safari itinerary is helping you get in the market and make this lifetime revel in a truth!

Jyotsna Ramani is a go back and forth author that has visited 40 international locations. Firstly from India, Jo has been touring to Nationwide Parks in India since she used to be a child. You’ll be able to examine her travels at Wander with Jo.


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