Destinations

Bandhavgarh National Park

Madhya Pradesh – a large central Indian State – is king among the tiger regions of the subcontinent. And there’s little dispute about its crown jewel – Bandhavgarh National Park. With nearly 90 Bengal tigers prowling its mix of sal forests, rocky outcrops and bamboo thickets, Bandhavgarh is where you may see several different tigers over the space of three or four days. 

By the end of my third visit to Bandhavgarh I realized that finding  tigers and enabling guests to take awesome photos of them is not something that just happens organically. You don’t just show up and drive out to find tigers, like oranges on a tree. To the contrary. In the pantheon of wildlife guiding, consistently being able to find tigers is in the masterclass category. It is a skill which requires acute sensory capabilities, a keen sense of anticipating animal behavior, loads of local knowledge and experience and the temperament and ability to be an effective team member or leader. Put all this together and you have your ‘born’ naturalist guides who can make quick, correct decisions as to ‘what happens next.’ The hallmark of an expert guide. 

During my last two trips to Bandhavgarh I was privileged to work with a team consisting of Bandhavgarh lead naturalist Sadhvi Singh, forest guide Bharti Shukla and two different drivers, Dipak and Sanjay. As a team, they were simply phenomenal and I don’t think it is an exaggeration to say that every one of us on their vehicle had the time of our lives.

In retrospect those few days with the crack Bandhavgarh team scouring the forests and glades were among my most enjoyable experiences ever on safari. Not simply because our guiding team were so phenomenally good at finding tigers, but also because we connected with them on a human to human level. 

In barely a couple of days we found common ground (our shared love of the wilderness and wildlife and the great outdoors) and we quickly realized that we enjoyed each other’s company. Every morning and every afternoon game drive was like opening a new gift, like being invited to a special, exclusive party. It was exciting, even exhilarating. Nonstop fun. Mostly because we were successful as a team in experiencing some extraordinary tiger and other wildlife sightings. But I think also because we realized how fortunate we were to be together in that special place, at just the right time of the year. 

There are many opinions about the best time of the year to visit the tiger reserves in central India. From what I’ve experienced so far, the mid- to late March and early April timeframe is hard to beat. Most importantly, the forest undergrowth is not nearly as thick then as it is in the post-monsoon months. Which makes all the difference. Notably in being able to see a tiger at a distance coming and going. Not just a brief glimpse of it walking out of the forest, crossing a dirt track in a matter of seconds and then disappearing on the other side.  

Also, by later in the dry season many of the tigers and other animals – including their prey species – tend to concentrate around remaining sources of water which improves the likelihood of seeing them. Unlike other big cat species, tigers positively like water and can often be seen cooling themselves on the edge of a lake or river. Or even swimming – as we were fortunate to see on one occasion. 

My two recent outings to Bandhavgarh had many highlights. Here are a few of the signature tiger sightings, by name.

Bajrang

Bajrang – one of Bandhavgarh’s magnificent dominant male tigers – happened to be their first ever tiger for several members of our party. We initially saw him stalking an adult gaur – which was exciting unto itself. Predictably the tiger gave up on that risky proposition. Check out the horns on a fully grown gaur and you will know why. Opting for a graceful exit, Bajrang  started to move from our left to our right, strolling slowly through a grassy area. 

By that stage a squad of vehicles had moved ahead and around a corner, anticipating the tiger’s movement. And so it was. In full view of the admiring guides, drivers and visitors, Bajrang emerged from the tall grass, majestically striding towards and then right by us with barely a sidelong glance. Conversation ceased abruptly as everyone watched every footfall, one languid step after another, as the tiger demonstrated his absolute confidence in being master of his domain. 

Silencing the entire crowd, Bajrang jumped across a gap in the path (I missed the shot) and then slowly disappeared into thicker vegetation. I felt like I had been holding my breath the entire time and I don’t think I was the only one. Even lead Bandhavgarh naturalist Sadhvi Singh proclaimed that no matter how many tigers she’d seen before, she still stands in awe every time it happens. 

DM

On the afternoon drive on our first day in Bandhavgarh we experienced what may have been an even better sighting. A large and extraordinarily handsome male – DM – was spotted sitting in the water behind a dead tree at a distance. Our driver hastened to the spot and we got ourselves into what the guiding team thought would be a good position. They were right. Barely 10 minutes later, DM stood up from the water, gave us a few looks and then walked directly towards us, momentarily stopping to shake first his left and then his right front paw. 

We had ample opportunity for some dead-on head shots before DM walked down an embankment. It’s over, I thought. Not so fast. Turning on a dime, DM walked back up the wall and then away from us and around the lake. Providing us with yet another opportunity to admire him, the tiger then stopped and looked up before crossing the lakebed. We had come practically full circle as he was once again walking almost directly towards us. Eventually DM moved past us and into a forest, at which point we  let him go. A tiger sighting for the ages.

Pujari

On an uncharacteristically rainy and overcast day we initially didn’t have much success, until we saw a female tiger lying down at a distance, again close to water. Even from far away we could discern some of the telltale differences between male and female tigers. Females are smaller and more slender, they also have noticeably smaller heads and are generally more orange in color than males. 

That afternoon we observed yet another one of Bandhavgarh’s dominant males – Pujari. In the water, right below a dam wall, with his backside towards us. It took some patience on the part of our team but once again they made the right call by sticking around. After maybe half an hour or so, Pujari got up from where he was cooling off in the water and walked up and over the dam wall. His distended stomach told a tale of a successful hunt. Thirty or so minutes later, we saw Pujari again as he re-entered the water in pretty much the same spot.

Jamhole 

The following day our team’s strategic decision to delay the start of the game drive by half an hour or so paid off handsomely. Knowing that yet another dominant male in the area – Jamhole – habitually frequents a specific water spot a bit later in the afternoon, it was much more than luck when we found him there. Almost all the other vehicles had driven much further into the park by then so we had Jamhole all to ourselves. Jamhole – the first tiger I ever saw (in January 2023) – was looking a little beaten up with a visible facial wound and some puncture marks elsewhere on his body. None of us were surprised when Jamhole got into the pond. We were happy when he got out of the water though, crossing the road right in front of us. There were no other cars around for the duration of the sighting which lasted a good 15 to 20 minutes.

Buffer wali – and more 

A bit later we found the Buffer wali; wali being the Hindi word for female. Initially spotted sitting up in an open firebreak, the tigress soon  walked into the thick bush, which is when all the other cars took off. We did not. Within 10 minutes or so our patience paid off as the Buffer wali emerged from the bush and crossed the road from our right to our left, giving us a couple of good looks. Another good photo op? Check. Except this time you had to be ready and prepared with a relatively high shutter speed to stop the motion. 

The afternoon game drive that day was a riot. It started with a female tiger sleeping in the grass. Not our best view ever but it didn’t really matter. Not that day. Minutes later we spotted a male tiger walking across the road. And then proceeding to lie down in full view of his grateful audience, in good light. It was Bajrang doing his best rock star tiger routine. 

The next 45 minutes or so produced sightings of three additional tigers: a subadult male and female on walkabout, and another tiger on a rocky outcrop as the light was disappearing and we were making our way back to camp. All our tiger sightings that afternoon were within a kilometer of each other.  

Earlier in March – on the first of two back-to-back trips – we had experienced several equally amazing tiger sightings at Bandhavgarh:

• A dominant male tiger ended up in full view, reclining on a flat rocky spot at the top of a ridge. It took an hour of patiently hanging around before he made his move from being hidden by vegetation to posing for what turned out to be one of the best photos of the trip. 
• A large female tiger which had been lying about 10 meters off the road eventually got up and walked first parallel to and then across the road. 
• A family  group of four tigers – a female with three youngsters – provided us with some tantalizing images walking at the edge of a forest.

When we were not seeing tigers, we were looking at some of the many other mammals and birds to be found in Bandhavgarh. A highlight one morning was a female leopard fairly deep in a forest, nicely positioned on some logs, a few feet off the forest floor. The spotted cat was about 50 meters from the edge of the road. While I got some pretty good photos of the leopard, they could have been much better. My mistake? Not using a monopod in order to keep the shutter speed as low as possible in poor light conditions. 

Yet another memorable Bandhavgarh tiger sighting was of a female tiger and her subadult daughter walking parallel to the road checking out some scent markings on a tree stump and then moving on. A little while later we relocated the mother who emerged from the forest where she provided us with yet another good photo. 

And finally, a family group of five tigers emerged from the sal forest and crossed the road right in front of us. It wasn’t so much a photo opportunity as it was a reminder of the vagaries of wildlife viewing. Had we gotten to that spot five minutes later, we would have seen – nothing.

Getting to Bandhavgarh 

Getting from Delhi to Bandhavgarh takes the better part of a day. It starts with a morning flight of about two hours from Delhi to Jabalpur Airport. From there it is a  3.5 to 4 hour road transfer to Bandhavgarh. Driving on mostly narrow winding asphalt roads, the trip is not without some highlights. Passing through several small villages along the way it is impossible to avoid the crowded streets – particularly on market day. Streets in many parts of India – notably in rural villages and towns – are so much more than roadways for traffic. Mostly they seem to be extensions of the sidewalks. Clogged with careening motorcycles, bicycles, tuktuks, pushcarts, pedestrians, dogs, cows and even domesticated buffaloes. Colorful displays of goods for sale – of every description from fruits and vegetables to shoes and saris – spill out into the roadway.

Bandhavgarh Jungle Lodge rooms and dining 

Bandhavgarh Jungle Lodge has two types of comfortable air conditioned rooms, a large lounge and dining room area with an open upstairs balcony. Dinners are served in various locations including an outdoor area at night. Over the course of three different stays at Bandhavgarh over the last couple of years, we’ve found the property to be professionally managed, the staff exceedingly friendly and the meals varied and nicely prepared. 

Dinners are usually preceded by some finger food snacks like chicken tikka or paneer or something similar, perhaps with a pre-dinner cocktail or soft drink. Next up: a soup of some sort (vegetable mostly) and then a selection of buffet items including chapati and other breads, various salads, a couple or more vegetarian dishes and some chicken and fish. All tasty and flavorful and not overly spicy in the ‘hot’ sense of the word. A dessert is served separately and it could be a fresh fruit salad, a caramel custard, gulab jamun or jalebi. 

One of the most fun activities on a tiger safari is the mid-morning breakfast. Around 9 am or sometimes a bit later – quite a bit later if the tiger viewing is hectic – the safari vehicles congregate at an open-air campsite. Everyone gets out and walks around a bit, maybe for a stop at the rest room facility, or simply to stretch their legs and check out the surroundings.  

Meanwhile the camp team sets out an absolutely splendid breakfast spread, usually on the bonnet of the safari vehicle. There’s freshly brewed coffee, hot tea, juice, sandwiches, cookies and cake, some fresh fruit and boiled eggs. Plus a typical Indian breakfast offering such as samosa, aloo bonda, vegetable cutlets, or parathas with chutney and pickles. 

At Bandhavgarh the picnic site has several vendors preparing a local favorite- a noodle dish which goes by ‘Maggi’. It is essentially ramen noodles doctored up the Indian way with fresh chilies and onions. Be daring and try the hot version!  

All national parks are closed on Wednesday afternoons, so we had one afternoon free. At around 5 pm we went off to the nearby village of Tala to check out the local market. Walking around the open market with most of the items spread out on blankets, we observed the vendors doing brisk business in fresh vegetables, fresh fish and goat meat, some prepared foods, clothing, shoes, grains and spices. It was colorful, authentic and quite fascinating. Adding a peculiarly India note: having to dodge a wandering cow in the narrow aisles between the vendors. 

For information about our Fish Eagle Safaris March 2026 small group trip to India please contact Bert at bert@fisheaglesafaris.com, or leave a message with our answering service at 1-800-513-5222 or at 713-467-5222.

I think many first-time visitors to India are pleasantly surprised to find such rich culture, friendly people, diverse landscapes, culinary delights and simply stunning historical sights and artifacts. Yet at the same time they may find the experience to be overwhelming, due to its intensity and the borderline chaotic atmosphere with crowded streets, unfamiliar customs and potential health concerns.

Full disclosure: I had some misgivings about visiting India for many years. Only now, having visited the country twice and planning to go back, do I realize that it was mostly due to a lack of knowledge. After two different visits and spending several weeks cumulatively in the far north (Ladakh), the western ghats (Mumbai), the far east (Assam), the golden triangle (including Agra and Jaipur), the holy city of Varanasi on the Ganges River and in four major tiger reserves in Madhya Pradesh in central India, I do know one thing. The country is underrated as both a cultural and a wildlife destination. The secret of course, as is the case almost anywhere else in the world, is to travel with a local tour operator who can match your expectations with the actual experience. Or at least get pretty close. Maybe India isn’t for everyone and every prospective visitor has to be prepared to be challenged to some degree, whether it’s culture shock or simply naivete about life in a developing country. 

If you can handle being outside of your comfort zone and you relish experiencing things and sights and people and experiences that may shock you a little but also exceed your wildest expectations, then by all means go to India. We would love to talk to you about arranging your own customized itinerary or joining one of our small-group trips focused mostly on the tiger & wildlife experience. Call us at 713-467-5222 or 1-800-513-5222 or email bert@fisheaglesafaris.com for more information. 

The Tigers

Three thousand six hundred and eighty two individuals is the current estimate for the Bengal tiger population in India. A significant increase from previous years and in fact one of the world’s great conservation success stories. Seeing a tiger in the wild is the single most exciting and impactful wildlife encounter I have experienced anywhere. The suspense of looking for them and then finding them and seeing these awesome, larger than life, striped cats confidently striding through an Indian jungle, is near impossible to convey in writing. If I’d known how magical a tiger sighting would be, I definitely would have made my way to India a long time ago.  

The people, culture, traditions, religions, diversity and cuisines

While tracking tigers in the wild is likely the most compelling reason to visit India – at least for wildlife devotees – there are many, many others. India’s rich culture, traditions, its diversity and its incredible variety of regional cuisines make for a truly unforgettable journey. As do its people.  

Most visitors to India get to meet and interact with just a tiny fraction of the country’s one and a half billion inhabitants. Which is too bad as they are infinitely fascinating and diverse, colorful, and unfailingly friendly and welcoming to strangers. I found that connecting with Indian people on a human-to-human level became easier by the day, with the least bit of effort on my part. Whether they were school children or college students, young professionals, retired workers, restaurant employees and owners, roadside vendors, shopkeepers, naturalist guides or hospitality industry professionals, farmers, fishermen, city guides, taxi or rickshaw drivers; the Indian people I’ve met on my travels were curious, spontaneous, warm and polite. Even in the face of sometimes overwhelming language barriers, I had a year’s worth of memorable ‘stranger of the day’ encounters in just a few weeks. You can too!

Mumbai

What does one even say after spending just two days in the megalopolis that is Mumbai, India’s largest city and home to more than 20 million people? I think my enduring memories will include the stunning sunset views from Harriman Point over Back Bay and the Arabian Sea, with the city skyline bathed in a golden-red early evening light. Also visiting the intriguing Afghan Church, the physical embodiment of a lesson in history that several modern leaders have disregarded at their peril. 

The Lalbaug spice market was fascinating, particularly observing the step-by-step process of making custom blends of garam masala. Engaging with a few local ladies – one of whom had her son with her – turned into a watch party of sorts as we joined them keeping an eye on their chosen mix of red chilies being roasted on large, firestoked pans (tawas). Don’t stand too close: a whiff of the acrid smoke will singe your nasal passages like never before. Once the chilies had been toasted to the patrons’ specifications, a separate mix of additional seasonings such as bay leaves, coriander, turmeric, cumin, black pepper and mustard seeds was scooped onto the hot pan surface. After the roasting comes the grinding – almost constantly going on in the background – and in no time you can be on  your way with your own unique masala mix. After some rupees have changed hands of course.    

Often (still) referred to as Bombay – even by its own inhabitants – my short visit to Mumbai was simply delightful. This megacity is likely best known for being home to India’s thriving Bollywood film industry. It has more billionaires than any other Asian city. There are state-of-the-art bridges, a stunning oceanside drive, a skyline crammed with gigantic skyscrapers, architectural masterpieces, and marvelous old churches and palaces. Dharavi – Mumbai’s well-known slum area – is one of the most densely populated areas in the world with an estimated density of nearly 900,000 people per square mile. In popular culture, Dharavi was most notably used as the backdrop in the award-winning 2008 British film, Slumdog Millionaire. 

A few of the other highlights on my day-and-a-half of guided touring in Mumbai included these:

• The Chhatrapati Shivaji rail terminus. This architectural marvel, formerly known as Victoria Terminus, is known for its unique blend of Victorian Gothic Revival and traditional Indian styles. Designed by Frederick William Stevens, it is replete with pointed towers and turrets, and a massive central ribbed dome. The station has a unique place in Indian history, being the spot from which the first train in India departed in April 1853, travelling a distance of 25 miles. Nowadays nearly a million people pass through the station on a daily basis. Be sure to look for the spot where the still missing marble statue of Queen Victoria once stood. My guide Heer and I (from No Footprints Mumbai) hopped on a local train to Byculla for a light lunch at Bombay Sweets. This ‘sweet shop with a twist’ takes familiar Indian sweets and creates something entirely new. Fancy some gulab jamun dressed up in the shape of a Mexican churro? This is the spot. The restaurant also serves some healthy street snacks, if sweets are not your thing. 
• The Gateway of India. This rather dour-looking victory arch was built to commemorate the visit of King George V and Queen Mary in 1911. Opposite the much more imposing Taj Mahal Palace and Tower Hotel overlooking the Arabian Sea, the Gateway of India is the emblem of Mumbai tourism. The Gateway was built as a symbol of the power of the British. Ironically, the monument also marked the end of British rule, as the last infantry left Indian shores from the Gateway in 1948. From the Gateway we took a walk to the Royal Bombay Yacht Club, the beautiful Dhanraj Mahal (an Art Deco Palace) and the Maharashtra Police Headquarters.
• The Afghan Church should be a mandatory stop for anyone with even the vaguest of interest in the invasion Afghanistan. It was built by the British between 1847 and 1858 to commemorate the dead of the First Afghan War and the disastrous 1842 retreat from Kabul. In this fiasco the British army lost 4,500 troops, along with about 12,000 civilian camp followers, the worst British military disaster until the fall of Singapore a 100 years later. A memorial inside the church also records casualties from the Second Anglo-Afghan War. The impressive edifice was constructed using locally available buff-colored basalt and limestone. 
• Worli Fishing Village and Sassoon Dock. Best visited early in the morning (when the fishing pier is literally buzzing). After a drive-by glimpse of the colorful fishing village, we spent some time taking in the dock area, with several trawlers alongside, having just off-loaded their catch. A sea breeze helped but did not entirely succeed in masking the overpowering smell of heaps of drying prawn shells, leftovers from the morning’s auction.    

• Mumbai’s famous bazaars. I spent half an hour or so perusing the Crawford Market, a bustling hub of organized chaos. It’s a treasure trove of surprises – jewelry, textiles, decorations, and sadly, even pets. Strolling through the narrow lanes, dodging push carts and motorbikes, this is the place to get a real ‘slice of life’ glimpse of Mumbai’s street culture and human interactions.  
• The Laundry District area where the laundrymen, more popularly known as the Dhobhis, wash the clothes of Mumbaikars. Again, best to get there early in the day to  see the Dhobhis at work, flogging and beating the clothes tirelessly. With nearly all of the city’s washing done here, it’s hardly surprising that these guys are known as the ‘Washing Machines’ of Mumbai.
• The Dabbawalas. We stopped, chatted and took some photos with a few of the approximately 5,000 dabbawalla workers who deliver around 200,000 hot lunches from homes and restaurants to office workers in Mumbai. The lunchboxes are picked up in the late morning and are delivered using bicycles and rail transport. Even though many of the dabbawalas cannot read or write, their distribution system is practically flawless, using abbreviations for collection points, color codes for starting stations, numbers for destination stations, and building and floor markings for the dabbawallas who make the ‘last mile’ delivery to the offices.  

Satpura National Park

In a conversation at a breakfast spot on my second day at Satpura, a seasoned tiger aficionado remarked that Satpura National Park was fast developing into India’s single best park. By the time I left two days later, I knew exactly why he said what he said. Satpura is beautiful with an enviable mix of tall sandstone mountains, narrow gorges, ravines, waterfalls, streams and dense forests. The park’s all too evident diversity starts with two unique species of trees – sal and teak. Add to that a wide variety of ferns, mango trees and a host of other trees, shrubs, bamboo, climbers,  grasses and flowers. Its biodiversity is enhanced by the presence of several natural as well as anthropogenic grasslands, created by the relocation of a host of villages from the core area of the reserve. The grasslands support a sizable population of herbivores which in turn support a steadily increasing number of Bengal tigers. Satpura National Park has an abundance of butterflies, birds and reptiles, and it has good numbers of mammals. Among those that are readily observed are several  typical central Indian species like spotted deer, sambhar, sloth bear, leopard, wild dog, tiger, gaur, Indian giant squirrel and more. My best advice is to go and see Satpura soon, before everyone else discovers it.

Bori Lodge

Mumbai may be an Indian megacity but here’s one thing you cannot get at the airport: decaf coffee. Ask and all you’ll get are questions and odd looks. I settled for tea. Getting from Mumbai to the first tiger reserve on my schedule – Satpura National Park – involved an Air India flight to Bhopal (the capital city of Madhya Pradesh state), followed by an uneventful 3-hour private road transfer to  Bori Safari Lodge. 

Bori Safari Lodge is located on a farmland estate neighbouring Dhapadamal Village, close to the park entry gate. From Bori Lodge, guests can do game drives, walking safaris, night drives, bird watching and anthropological walks. The expert staff naturalists are well versed with the landscape and are ever ready to bring the experience alive for you. 

Bori Lodge has eight modern rooms with more than ample space. The rooms – each of which has a private viewing deck – have both inside and outside showers and a partially outside bath. The central courtyard is for recreation and socializing, with a separate dining area, lounge (which had slow WiFi) and a library. There are a couple of options for outdoor dining as well, and an infinity pool for the hot days which the area experiences from about March onwards. The food is excellent, as I experienced right away over a late lunch around 3 pm on my day of arrival. That evening, I joined a few other guests over sundowners, at a high rocky spot overlooking a mix of teak, crocodile bark and Indian satinwood trees. 

The following morning we departed early on a game drive, entering the park at 530 am, spending a good couple of hours driving through the park to Zone 1 in the core area. It was initially quiet, but as soon as we entered the core area we started to see good numbers of wildlife. These included wild boar, monkeys, langur monkeys, nilgai, sambar deer, gaur and more. 

By late morning we came upon a party of 3 subadult tigers. My first tigers for the trip! While it wasn’t my best view of tigers by any means, the excitement was running high and we did get some good looks at two of them, and managed to take a handful of useful photos. On the way back to camp we got really lucky with an excellent sighting of a leopard, always a somewhat unusual and very special occurrence in the Indian tiger reserves. Before it slunk off, the spotted cat spent several minutes sitting in a heavily shaded area, apparently looking around for signs of prey animals. Getting a perfectly exposed photo was more than challenging but I was thrilled to see my first tiger for the trip, on my very first game drive.

Our afternoon game drive was even better. This time, our destination was Bori’s Zone 2, not nearly as long a drive from the camp as Zone 1. Also the area is relatively new so it does not attract quite as many vehicles as Zone 1. This afternoon, our luck held out and we had simply superb views of a female tiger in good light. The tiger gave us every opportunity to get our shots as she emerged from behind some rocks into the open, walking right in between two trees and directly towards us, and then taking a detour into the bushes before emerging again and giving us yet more looks. Every photographer in the area was smiling. Zone 1 had lots of general game and some great birds as well. All in all a near perfect day in a tiger reserve in Madhya Pradesh!

Reni Pani Lodge

The following morning we set off on a road/boat transfer from Bori to Reni Pani. I made a rookie mistake by not keeping my big camera with me, not realizing that all luggage (other than what you were carrying) would be transferred to the destination lodge separately, by road. So when we came upon two sub-adult tigers on the edge of the lake, all I had to capture the action was my iPhone. Fortunately we did get pretty close up and one particular sequence – when the young male walked over to his sister and then started to show some interest in the boat – was best captured on video in any event. An incredible sighting. I thoroughly enjoyed the beautiful lake scenery en route to our next stop in Satpura: Reni Pani Jungle Lodge. 

Reni Pani Jungle Lodge turned out to be an older but clearly very popular lodge located in forest habitat typical of the Satpura Tiger Reserve. Reni Pani features twelve comfortable if somewhat rustic cottages, all built using local material. All the cottages have  viewing decks, large bay windows, sturdy doors and well equipped bathrooms (with showers and separate toilets). The air conditioning was 100% effective, an important consideration in Satpura where it can get very hot (well into the 90’s Fahrenheit) by mid afternoon from March onward. The central area or meeting place has a unique design with a dining area, bar, library and lounge all under the same cover. Over the course of my 2-night stay, I enjoyed a good variety of mostly buffet food, heavy on vegetarian options but not exclusively, with both chicken and fish starters and a goat stew on one of the nights. Also plenty of paneer, and an excellent range of fresh salads. 

Reni Pani’s large stands of teak forest and its heavily wooded, rugged hills are typical of the terrain one should expect in the Satpura Tiger Reserve. It is a true forest environment with adjacent patches of agricultural land. The area around Reni Pani is known for consistently good sightings of animals like sambhar, cheetal (spotted deer), nilgai, wild boar, barking deer, black buck and occasionally leopard. The abundance of Reni Trees (a type of berry) and other fruit-bearing plants  attract good numbers of sloth bears to the area. The area around the lodge is particularly rich with bird life. 

A night drive into the buffer area on the afternoon I arrived was a bust. We hardly saw anything and when we eventually did find a nocturnal animal – a civet – the naturalist’s spotlight was not strong enough to make the animal visible. The morning drive the next day more than compensated for that lapse with my first-ever sighting of a sloth bear – actually two of them – in good light and in an open area. Sloth bears are notoriously difficult to photograph, but I lucked out as at least one of them had its head up and the autofocus managed to lock on to the snout. Totally black animals can play havoc with autofocus due to the low-contrast situation.   

My stay in the Satpura area ended with yet another highlight – an extended sighting of a small jungle cat – yet another first on my now rapidly growing list of Indian mammals. Uncharacteristically it did not immediately run away or hide, and I had more than just a few seconds to get some pretty good images of this dainty little animal – which looks uncannily like a regular domestic cat.

Yet another first for me in Satpura was observing and being able to photograph a large marsh (also known as mugger) crocodile, alongside a stream where it was lying with its gape open. These medium-sized crocodiles are found in many parts of India, but their conservation status is considered ‘vulnerable,’ due mostly to habitat loss.  

Agra – The Taj Mahal 

If you’re carrying even a moderate amount of electronic gear on a trip to India, resign yourself to getting unwanted additional scrutiny from their equivalent of the TSA. They never made me take off my running shoes but more than made up for that ‘lapse’ by rifling through everything else. Checking in for my flight from Bhopal to Delhi I had to remove my binocs from their case, and was instructed to open every small bag with batteries, GoPro camera, cables – the works. It was a solid  20-minute process.   

My evening was spent at the comfortable Andaz hotel at Delhi Airport. We’ve had to spend quite a few nights there over the last couple of years and it delivers a first-class experience every time. Dinner was room-service pizza (perfectly edible) with some gulab jamun for dessert. The following morning Kathy and I literally spent less than an hour together (she had just arrived in Delhi from Istanbul) before I had to get myself and my stuff downstairs for the train ride to Agra. Just like my last train trip in India in January 2023 (which was from Delhi to Jaipur), the journey to Agra on the Gatimaan Express (India’s first semi-high-speed train) was an easy and relaxing ride of just over 90 minutes. Considerably faster than a road trip which takes close to four hours. Fortunately we brought along a packed breakfast as the breakfast served on the train was pretty mediocre. The Gatimaan Express isn’t first class by any means but it is a fast, safe and comfortable way to get from Delhi to Agra, or vice versa. 

Our local Agra guide Sanjay Mudgal accompanied us in a small deluxe tour bus on our day-long sightseeing outing in Agra, a city of 3 million inhabitants of which about  75 percent are Hindu and 20 percent  Muslim. This one-time capital of the mogul kingdom has several notable monuments and palaces, and of course the world’s most famous mausoleum, the Taj Mahal. Outside of the city itself there’s a substantial agricultural area where lentils and mustard seeds are cultivated, among others. Agra is also known for its handmade rugs, for shaping and manufacturing of jewels, and the city has a large cadre of working artisans and craftsmen.

Our first stop was Agra – the fort. The Red Fort in Agra is a massive 16th-century fortress built of red sandstone. Enclosed by towering walls, it houses palaces, mosques, and audience halls with intricate Mughal architecture. Once a royal residence, its blend of Persian and Indian styles, lush courtyards and views of the Yamuna River make it both a historical marvel and a symbol of the grandeur of the Mughal Empire.

By late afternoon – after a welcome respite from the heat back at our hotel –  we boarded the bus again for the ride to the Taj Mahal. The Taj Mahal – the stunning white marble mausoleum in Agra – was the Mogul Emperor Shah Jahan’s tribute to his beloved wife Mumtaz Mahal who died in 1631. The Taj has become an enduring symbol of love and devotion. It did not disappoint. Looking at it for the first time one is immediately struck by the perfect balance and elegance of this timeless jewel. The four minarets balance out and complete the ensemble for simply the most pleasing whole. 

Walking around with our guide we were shown some special angles from which to take a few more photos. I think my conclusion was that the Taj Mahal looks great from any angle. I was also relieved to realize that it was possible to take good photos of the Taj from several spots without necessarily showing all the other visitors. There were likely several thousand other visitors present but it really did not matter. An enterprising photographer used some deceptively simple techniques (among others using light reflected from a cell-phone) to produce some innovative and highly creative images of several of us in the form of silhouettes with the Taj Mahal in the background.  

The following morning we enjoyed some alternative views of the Taj Mahal from a small hillock, perhaps half a mile or so from the edifice, where a small group of people were doing some yoga. While they worked their way through a series of asanas, we enjoyed some tea and coffee and refreshments and trained various cameras and iPhones on the domes and minarets of the Taj Mahal as the sun rose in the east. It was a relaxing and pleasant end to our brief Agra stay; imminently we’d be back in the bus and heading back to Delhi. Tiger safari ahead!

Part 2 of this blog – a closer look at our tiger and other wildlife viewing experiences in Bandhavgarh, Kanha and Pench National Parks and in the farflung Kaziranga National Park in Assam – will be published in our June newsletter.

For information about our Fish Eagle Safaris March 2026 small group trip to India please contact Bert at bert@fisheaglesafaris.com, or leave a message with our answering service at 1-800-513-5222 or at 713-467-5222