India Safari

Home , Bengal tiger, Chital, Gaur, Pench National Park

November 7 - 21, 2021 | 15 Days | Overland Adventure MAP NOT TO SCALE Expedition Highlights

• Search for the increasingly rare Bengal tiger in Bandhavgarh National Park, formerly a maharajah’s private hunting preserve.

• Enjoy in-depth explorations of each park—traversing the forested ridges, thick bamboo, and shallow rivers; searching for wild boar, chital deer, and sambar; and keeping an eye out for the varied birdlife, such as the green bee-eater, white-bellied drongo, and plum-headed parakeet.

• Stay at lovely jungle lodges and a STORK-BILLED luxury tented camp, supremely situated KINGFISHER in areas of great natural beauty. • Join an optional extension to discover Kaziranga National Park; this UNESCO World Heritage Site is home to the world’s largest population of Asian one-horned rhino.

• Itinerary...... page 2 > • Flight Information ...... page 3 > • Meet Your Leader ...... page 4 > • Rates...... page 4 > • Know Before You Go...... page 4 > GAUR CHITAL

Itinerary Sunday – Tuesday, November 14 – 16 KANHA NATIONAL PARK Spend three days devoted to wildlife viewing in Kanha’s Based on the expeditionary nature of our trips, there may be ongoing forests and plains—a true wilderness. The diverse topography enhancements to this itinerary. provides the ideal habitat for animals, and photographers discover great opportunities to “capture” the wildlife. Explore Sunday – Tuesday, November 7 - 9, 2021 by 4x4 vehicles on twice-daily wildlife viewing drives. Expect DEPART USA / DELHI, INDIA to encounter herds of barking deer, swamp deer, and sambar. Board your independent flight to India. Arrive late in Delhi on This area is also the best place to look for the gaur, a bison- November 9 and transfer to the Radisson Blue Plaza Delhi for like animal and the largest of all bovids. With luck, other an overnight. possible species include Indian wild dog, langur monkey, sloth bear, or perhaps even a rare chousingha—the world’s only four-horned antelope. The rich birdlife of the park includes Wednesday, November 10 such specialties as lesser whistling-ducks, crested treeswifts, DELHI / JABALPUR / BANDHAVGARH NATIONAL PARK jungle owlets, Alexandrine parakeets, and Indian pond-herons. This morning, board our flight to Jabalpur and continue overland to remote Bandhavgarh National Park. Formerly a maharajah’s private hunting preserve, the area was designated Wednesday, November 17 a national park in 1968 and is now one of the best places to KANHA NATIONAL PARK / PENCH NATIONAL PARK view Indian wildlife and to seek out the rare and endangered After one last morning game drive, set out on the drive toward Bengal tiger. Arrive in time for lunch at the Bandhavgarh Pench National Park, the 19th Project Tiger Reserve, in the Jungle Lodge, your base for three nights. Enjoy an afternoon central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. Its wildlife-rich forest safari by 4x4 vehicle, with dinner and overnight at the lodge. habitats were the inspiration for Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book. Check into the Jamtara Wilderness Camp, a luxury tented camp surrounded by lofty arjuna trees and your home Thursday & Friday, November 11 & 12 base for three nights. BANDHAVGARH NATIONAL PARK Enjoy two full days exploring this diverse park set among the ASIAN ELEPHANT Vindhya Hills of Madhya Pradesh. In the lowlands of the park, search for wild boar, as well as several deer species—barking, sambar, and chital—and be sure to keep an eye out for the elusive leopard and tiger. In the trees overhead, watch for Rhesus macaques and Hanuman langurs. Bird watching in the area is also excellent, with 150 recorded species.

Saturday, November 13 BANDHAVGARH NATIONAL PARK / KANHA NATIONAL PARK After morning safari, travel across hilly terrain and through extensive sal forests, colorful towns, and small villages to Kanha National Park. Check in to the Kanha Jungle Lodge, your base for four nights.

ZEGRAHM EXPEDITIONS | INDIA SAFARI < 2 > JATMARA WILDERNESS CAMP ONE-HORNED RHINO

Thursday & Friday, November 18 & 19 buffalo. Other highlights include wild boars, hog deer, hoolock PENCH NATIONAL PARK gibbons, and the locally common swamp deer or soft-ground Spend two full days in the park with twice-daily wildlife viewing barasingha. Birds abound at Kaziranga as well: bar-headed drives. The rich variety of mammals that live here make it a geese; gray-headed and Pallas’ fish eagles; Oriental darters; photographer’s paradise, with excellent chances of spotting herons and egrets of all shapes and sizes; black-necked, lesser gaur, chital, Indian wild dog, chinkara, mongoose, jackal, adjutant, Asian open-billed storks; and many more. jungle cat, and hyena, with a possibility of spotting the elusive tiger and leopard. Among the more than 200 avian species found here are bulbuls, barbets, flycatchers, and kingfishers. Wednesday & Thursday, November 24 & 25 KAZIRANGA NATIONAL PARK / GUWAHATI / DELHI / USA After a final morning safari, transfer to the airport in Guwahati Saturday & Sunday, November 20 & 21 for your flight to Delhi. Enjoy dinner and rest at the Radisson PENCH / NAGPUR / DELHI / USA Blu Plaza Delhi. Board your late evening/early morning After a final morning safari, transfer to Nagpur for your flight independent homeward flight, arriving in the USA the same to Delhi. Enjoy dinner and rest at the Radisson Blu Plaza Delhi. day. Board your late evening/early morning independent homeward flight, arriving in the USA the same day.

Or, choose to continue your adventure on the optional Flight Information Kaziranga Extension, November 21 - 25, 2021. You will need to purchase airfare from your home city/Delhi and Delhi/home city. Domestic air transportation within India is included in the price of this expedition. Please contact our in-house Air Department for fare quotes, reservations, or other air-related Sunday, November 21 questions. DELHI / GUWAHATI / KAZIRANGA NATIONAL PARK Return to the airport this morning for our flight to Guwahati. After lunch at a local restaurant, depart overland for Kaziranga ROSE-RINGED National Park. There may be time for a stroll along the border PARAKEET of the park. Spend the next three nights at Diphlu River Lodge, situated on the Diphlu River, a place of great natural beauty.

Monday & Tuesday, November 22 & 23 KAZIRANGA NATIONAL PARK Spend two full days exploring this amazing 165-square- mile reserve that borders the Brahmaputra River and Mikir Mountain Range. The country here is mostly flat—a tangle of thorny rattan cane, elephant grass, evergreen forest, and shallow marshland. The park is home to one-horned Indian rhinos—the largest number of this species in the world roams here—as well as wild Asian elephants and wild Asiatic water

ZEGRAHM EXPEDITIONS | INDIA SAFARI < 3 > Meet Your Expedition Leader

RICH PAGEN – Rich first became enthralled by the wonders of the natural world around the tide pools and forests of his native New York. Since then, he has embarked on a career in conservation biology that has ranged from teaching science and environmental awareness to teenagers from Los Angeles, to traveling the coast and river deltas of Alaska’s North Slope by Zodiac to reach remote wetlands where he monitored loon nests. After such field biology projects as surveys for mammalian carnivores in the mountains of California, bird migration monitoring in Canada, and a study of army-ant-following birds in the Peruvian Amazon, Rich was drawn back to the sea where he taught marine science and island ecology on Catalina Island in California for several years. He has also conducted shipboard surveys for marine mammals and seabirds, as well tagging studies of sea turtles and pelagic sharks.

Rates

Main Program $9,990 per person, double occupancy $11,990 per person, solo occupancy Limited to 14 expedition members.

Kaziranga Extension $3,990 per person, double occupancy $4,990 per person, solo occupancy KAZIRANGA

INCLUDED: NOT INCLUDED: • All transportation and airfare within India • Airfare from your home city/Delhi and Delhi/home city • All excursions in the company of a world-class expedition • Excess baggage charges leader and local guides • Airport arrival and departure taxes • All gratuities • Transfers for independent arrivals and departures • All accommodations • Passport and/or visa fees • All group meals, including selected beverages with • Travel insurance lunch and dinner • Items of a personal nature such as laundry, alcoholic beverages • All entrance fees (other than listed at left), and other incidentals • Arrival and departure transfers on group dates • Email/Internet/fax/telephone charges • Gift certificates for recommended expedition gear • Medical expense coverage and emergency evacuation insurance

A 25% per person deposit will secure your space on this expedition. All rates are per person, quoted in US dollars, and must be paid in US dollars. Rates and itineraries are subject to change. Please review our Terms & Conditions online at www.zegrahm.com/terms, or call our office for a printed copy.

Know Before You Go Travelers to India should be aware that, although the accommodations on these programs are en suite, when away from major towns, the standards, although clean and cheerful, are sometimes below three-star Western standards. Prospective participants should also be aware that some days of the program entail traveling for extended periods by air and car, which can be quite strenuous. Despite the occasional delays and sometimes bumpy conditions, our expeditions to India receive rave reviews from travelers who possess a strong interest in wildlife, a sense of humor, flexibility, and a true spirit of adventure.

To reserve, visit www.zegrahm.com/india-safari or contact your travel consultant. < 4