World Wildlife Fund

Wild India 2010

$9,595 per person, based on double occupancy. Single supplement: $1,695

Trip Overview

Explore India’s wild side in less-visited parks and experience the rich culture that has made India famous. This expedition with WWF's travel partner Natural Habitat Adventures includes: safaris in search of tigers and one-horned rhinoceros, vintage-style comfort at deluxe eco-lodges in a range of nature habitats and a visit to the sublime Taj Mahal at sunrise, gleaming pink in the dawn’s rays.

For more information or to sign up, please call NHA at 800-543-8917.

Trip Itinerary

Day 1: Delhi, India
Arrive in New Delhi and transfer to the Taj Mahal Hotel. This afternoon we explore the city on a guided tour that brings alive the many layers of its complex history, visiting Vijay Chowk, Humayun’s Tomb and Qutab Minar. This evening, we enjoy a welcome dinner.

Day 2: Nagpur / Kanha Tiger Reserve
Fly to Nagpur and drive to Singinawa Jungle Lodge in the heart of the Kanha Tiger Reserve. The park offers India’s best tiger viewing, while the grasslands and deciduous forest also support chital, sambar, common langur, wild boar, Indian bison, sloth bear, Asiatic jackal, wild dog, rhesus monkeys and occasionally leopard. Kanha is also home to the world’s last population of barasingha, an endangered swamp deer with 12-point antlers. Once a hunting ground for imperial rulers and viceroys, Kanha is now one of India’s most important wildlife reserves.

Days 3 - 5: Kanha National Park
Our explorations include morning and evening game drives in jeeps, and safaris on elephant back. (Elephant rides cannot be guaranteed, as they depend on the successful tracking of the tiger by the mahouts.) At the close of each day we retire to the superb comforts of our lodge.

Day 6: Nagpur / Kolkata
Drive to Nagpur this morning and fly to Kolkata, where we settle in at the luxurious Oberoi Grand Hotel. This classic landmark is over 125 years old, exuding Victorian elegance yet offering every conceivable modern amenity.

Day 7: Kolkata
We spend the morning touring Kolkata, third-largest city in India and the capital under the British Raj from 1772 until 1911. While the city experienced a melding of traditions during the British Empire, it was also the locus for a fierce movement for Indian independence, prompting the Crown to move the capital to Delhi. Kolkata has a strong literary, artistic and revolutionary heritage, and its creative energy is palpable.

Day 8: Jorhat / Kaziranga
Fly from Kolkata to Jorhat, continuing by road to Kaziranga National Park in Assam. The park, which borders the sacred Brahmaputra River, was created in 1926 as a refuge for the one-horned rhinoceros. Once hunted nearly to extinction, today this two ton beast is a conservation success story, rebounding to more than 1,600. We stay at the new Diphlu River Lodge.

Days 9-11: Kaziranga National Park
Morning and afternoon jeep drives reveal the park’s diverse habitat, a mix of elephant grass, thorny rattan cane, tracts of semi-evergreen forest and shallow swamps. The reserve boasts an amazing variety of wildlife, including wild buffalo, hog deer, Hoolock gibbon, elephants, pythons and tigers. Waterfowl abound, too: egrets, pond herons, river terns, black-necked stork, fishing eagles and pelicans. In the river one may find otters, gharial and dolphins.

Day 12: Guwahati / Delhi
We drive a half-day to Guwahati to catch our afternoon flight to Delhi, with the rest of the day at leisure.

Day 13: Taj Express to Agra
Early this morning we board the Taj Express train for Agra. We tour the magnificent Red Fort, locus of Mughal power until the imperial capital was moved to Delhi in 1637. This afternoon we visit the Taj Mahal, built in 1631 by Emperor Shah Jahan as a memorial to his beloved wife. Perhaps the most elegant building in the world, the Taj Mahal manifests the apex of Mughal art in its exquisite design details and elaborate gardens.

Day 14: Agra / Delhi / Home
We return to the Taj Mahal for a guided tour at dawn, as the sunrise casts a pink glow on the translucent marble. After breakfast we drive back to Delhi, where dayrooms are available for us. This afternoon we transfer to the airport for flights home