From royal hunting grounds to sanctuaries
We tell guests this not to spoil the safari, but because knowing what it took makes every sighting mean more.
Ranthambore: the hunting ground of the maharajas of Jaipur.
Sariska: belonged to the rulers of Alwar, who built a hunting palace on its edge.
- Ranthambore sanctuary
- 1955
- Ranthambore national park
- 1980
- Bharatpur shooting reserve
- From the 1850s
- Keoladeo national park
- 1982
- Bharatpur: shaped from the 1850s into a private duck-shooting reserve for the maharajas and their guests. Its old shooting records, carved on stone tablets, are still inside the park.
- Told without pride: our family elders know how close the tiger came to vanishing in these hills.
- The irony: the hunting reserves kept the habitat whole, and when the princely states merged into India they became sanctuaries.
- Ranthambore's path: a game sanctuary in 1955, one of the first Project Tiger reserves in the early 1970s, and a national park in 1980.
- Bharatpur's path: a bird sanctuary first, then Keoladeo National Park in 1982.
- Dry forest: in the Aravalli hills and Vindhyan plateau, dhok forest with tigers, leopards, sloth bears and sambar.
- Grassland: on the desert's edge, the home of blackbuck and chinkara.
- The Thar: the bustard, the desert fox and the great migrating raptors.
- Wetlands and rivers: from Bharatpur to the Chambal, full of birds and crocodiles. One journey can take in all four.
- Not by accident: forest guards, village councils, naturalists and families like the Bishnoi fought for all of it, and the work is not done.
The Bishnoi, who died for trees
Samrathal Dhora: at this sand dune in the Bikaner country, Jambhoji gathered followers and gave them twenty-nine rules.
The name: bis for twenty and noi for nine.
Rules for the living world: do not cut green trees, show compassion to all living beings, do not kill animals. Bishnoi villages have kept them for more than five centuries.
- Founded
- 1485, after a long drought
- Founder
- Guru Jambheshwar, Jambhoji
- Rules
- Twenty-nine
- Khejarli
- 1730, 363 lives
- Khejarli, 1730: men sent by Maharaja Abhay Singh of Jodhpur came to cut the village's khejri trees for timber.
- Amrita Devi: she hugged a tree and refused to move, saying a head given for a tree is a fair price. She was killed, and so were her daughters.
- The 363: villagers came to take their place until 363 had died and the maharaja stopped the felling. A memorial and a yearly fair honour them.
- Orans: across Rajasthan, villages protect sacred groves dedicated to a local god or goddess, where no one may cut a branch or graze too hard.
- Refuges: some orans are a few trees round a shrine, others whole hillsides, and in the desert they are often the last refuge of chinkara, foxes and nesting birds.
- Khichan and Jawai: villagers at Khichan feed wintering cranes, and Jawai's Rabari accept the odd lost goat as the price of sharing a hill with a goddess's cat.
- Faith before law: conservation here often began as a matter of belief.
- The Bishnoi today: they report poachers, rescue injured animals and leave water and grain for wildlife in summer.
- Visiting: their villages near Jodhpur are among the easiest places to see blackbuck close. See Bishnoi villages and Bishnoi conservation.
The wild places of Rajasthan
Ranthambore, tigers in a ruined fort
Where hills meet: near Sawai Madhopur, where the Aravalli and Vindhya hills meet, between the Banas to the north and the Chambal to the south.
The setting: tigers walk past lakes, banyans and crumbling pavilions under a tenth-century hilltop fort, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2013.
- Machli: the tigress often called the most photographed in the world lived to a great age and died in 2016.
- The lakes: Padam Talao, Rajbagh and Malik Talao, where tigers drink in the dry months.
- Getting there: three to four hours from Jaipur, on the main Delhi to Mumbai railway, with some of India's finest wildlife lodges.
Jawai, leopards and herders
Not a national park: granite hills, farms and a great reservoir in Pali district.
The dam: begun in 1946 under Maharaja Umaid Singh of Jodhpur and finished in 1957.
- Leopards and people: they live in the hill caves, often a short walk from villages and temples, alongside Rabari herders in red turbans.
- The reservoir: mugger crocodiles bask on its edge, and in winter it fills with migrant birds.
- Tolerance: many Rabari see the leopard as the goddess's vehicle and rarely retaliate when one takes livestock. That is why the leopards are so relaxed, and why we ask guests to respect the villages and temples.
- The great sight: a leopard on a granite dome at dusk, with a shepherd walking his goats home below.
Bharatpur and Keoladeo, a wetland of birds
Small but rich: about 29 square kilometres of marsh, woodland and grassland, with more than 370 bird species recorded.
The name: from an old Shiva temple inside the park.
- Winter: ducks, geese, pelicans and eagles from Central Asia and Siberia.
- After the monsoon: trees crowded with nesting painted storks, herons and cormorants.
- The lost crane: the rare Siberian crane once wintered here, but has not been recorded since 2002.
- Status: a Ramsar wetland in 1981 and a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1985.
- How to explore: by bicycle or with a licensed cycle-rickshaw driver, many of them superb self-taught naturalists. It is about an hour from Agra.
Sariska, the tigers that came back
A tiger reserve from 1978: in the Aravalli hills of Alwar district.
The loss: by 2005 poaching had wiped out its tigers, a scandal that shook the country.
- The return: in 2008 tigers came back from Ranthambore, the first by helicopter, and numbers have slowly grown.
- History inside: the ruined Kankwari fort, the early medieval temples of Neelkanth and the Hanuman shrine of Pandupol.
- Closest to Delhi: a good pairing with Alwar and the deserted town of Bhangarh.
Tal Chhapar, the grassland of blackbuck
Small and flat: about seven square kilometres in Churu district. Tal is the local word for a flat, shallow depression.
Blackbuck: hundreds graze among grass and saltpans, and males spar with spiral horns.
- Raptors: from September to March, eastern imperial, tawny and short-toed eagles, with harriers coasting low.
- Desert foxes: den at its edges.
- Easy to add: to the painted towns of Shekhawati or to Bikaner.
Desert National Park, home of the bustard
The true Thar: about 3,162 square kilometres of Jaisalmer and Barmer districts, with dunes, rocky ridges, salt lakes and wide grasslands.
The godawan: the great Indian bustard's last stronghold, a tall, heavy, critically endangered bird and Rajasthan's state bird.
- Other residents: chinkara, Indian wolves, desert cats and spiny-tailed lizards.
- Winter raptors: eagles, buzzards and falcons.
- Fossil wood: around 180 million years old.
- How to visit: base yourself near Jaisalmer and go out with a specialist naturalist at dawn.
More wild corners
Khichan: near Phalodi, villagers feed thousands of demoiselle cranes every winter morning. Read about the cranes of Khichan.
- The Chambal: the National Chambal Sanctuary, downstream of Kota, shelters gharials and river dolphins.
- Sambhar: flamingos gather on the salt lake in winter.
- The southern hills: forests around Kumbhalgarh and Mount Abu hold leopards, sloth bears and wolves.
A birder's Rajasthan
On a great flyway: every autumn, birds from Central Asia, Mongolia and Siberia pour south over the Himalaya to winter here.
Who goes where: Bharatpur takes the ducks, geese and pelicans. The deserts take the cranes, harriers, larks and eagles.
- City lakes too: the lakes of Udaipur and Jaipur's Man Sagar fill with migrants.
- Sarus crane: the tallest flying bird in the world, dancing in pairs in the wetlands.
- Peafowl: strutting through every village, protected by faith and custom.
- Desert sounds: grey francolins calling at dawn, and sandgrouse flocks coming in to drink in the Thar.
- Our birding route: Keoladeo, then Tal Chhapar and Khichan, ending in the Thar.
- Read more: birding in Bharatpur, our Bharatpur birdwatching guide and the ready-made Birding Rajasthan journey.
The bustard, and the fight for the desert
Once widespread: it roamed grasslands across western and central India.
Now: only a small population survives, most of it in the Thar around the Desert National Park.
Past threat: hunting thinned its numbers in the last century.
- Today's danger: high-voltage power lines, which a heavy, low-flying bird with poor forward vision cannot see in time.
- The argument: courts, conservationists and the state have debated moving lines underground for years.
- A safety net: a breeding programme near Jaisalmer collects eggs from the wild and raises chicks.
- Local affection: communities who regard the bird fondly help protect the grasslands.
- Looking for one: go with patience and a specialist. Sightings are never guaranteed, and the bird must never be chased by vehicle.
- Even without a bustard: a dawn drive across the open Thar, with chinkara bounding away and a fox trotting home, is unforgettable. Read about the great Indian bustard.
How we do safaris, and what we won't do
Tiger reserves: in Ranthambore and Sariska, open jeeps called gypsies or larger open buses called canters run set routes in assigned zones.
Our choice: the smaller vehicles, paired with naturalists who know each tiger's family history.
Jawai: drives on private land around the lodges, with trackers who understand both leopards and herding families.
- Bharatpur: on foot, by bicycle or by rickshaw.
- No baiting, no chasing: we never pay for either.
- Quiet and still: voices low, phones away and engines off when animals are close.
- Never: feeding wildlife, or booking elephant rides anywhere.
- The test: if an animal changes its behaviour because of us, we are too close. See our ethical encounters guide.
- Giving back: lodges that employ local people, support anti-poaching work and protect their land.
- Tip well: naturalists' and trackers' skills keep a forest's knowledge alive.
- No promises: two days in Ranthambore give you a very good chance of a tiger, three a better one. The forest decides.
A wildlife calendar for Rajasthan
October to March: pleasant days, cold dawns and winter birds. Bring warm layers for early drives in open vehicles.
November to February: peak season at Keoladeo, cranes at Khichan and raptors in the Thar.
- All-round season
- October to March
- Peak birding
- November to February
- Easiest tigers
- March to June
- Core zones closed
- Monsoon, July to September
- Tal Chhapar passage
- September and October
- September and October: passage migrants at Tal Chhapar, and Keoladeo's heronries busy after the monsoon.
- March to June: the forest thins and tigers gather at water, but it is very hot, so we plan long midday rests.
- Monsoon: some buffer areas and Jawai stay open, and the countryside is at its greenest.
- Month by month: the best time for tigers and the best time to visit Ranthambore.
Wildlife lodges and how to combine them
Ranthambore
SUJAN Sher Bagh: a tented camp in the old style, close to the park gates.
- The Oberoi Vanyavilas: tents in walled gardens, with a polished spa.
- Aman-i-Khas: a small, serene camp of large tents on the forest edge.
Jawai
- SUJAN JAWAI: luxurious tents among the granite hills, with its own trackers and naturalists.
- Compare them all: our guide to wildlife lodges.
The Thar, Tal Chhapar and Bharatpur
The Thar: stay at Jaisalmer and drive out at dawn.
- Tal Chhapar: pair it with a haveli hotel in Shekhawati or a palace in Bikaner.
- Bharatpur: close enough to Agra for a long day, but a night nearby puts you at the gate at sunrise.
Journeys that link them
Big cats and birds: Ranthambore, Jawai and Bharatpur.
- Palaces and Tigers: safaris with Jaipur and Udaipur.
- Golden Triangle with Ranthambore: tigers added to Delhi, Agra and Jaipur.
- Families: our page on tiger and leopard safaris explains how we plan with children.
What most visitors to wild Rajasthan miss
An original tiger reserve: Ranthambore was among the first nine reserves when Project Tiger began in 1973.
Newer tiger country: Rajasthan has added reserves since, including Mukundra Hills near Kota and Ramgarh Vishdhari near Bundi.
- Project Tiger
- Launched 1973
- State bird
- Godawan, since 1981
- State wild animal
- Chinkara
- State tree
- Khejri
- State flower
- Rohida
- A leopard in the city: Jhalana, on the edge of Jaipur, is a small forest reserve where leopards live within sight of the city.
- Two state animals: the chinkara represents the state's wild animals and the camel its livestock.
- Desert emblems: the khejri is the state tree and the rohida, with its orange spring flowers, the state flower.
- River giants: the gharial of the Chambal is critically endangered, and the Ganges river dolphin is India's national aquatic animal.
- A birdman's park: India's great ornithologist Salim Ali worked at Bharatpur for years and championed its protection.
How long to allow, and who it suits
First-time tiger seekers: three nights at Ranthambore, with four or five drives.
Leopard lovers: two nights at Jawai, where sightings are often close and unhurried.
- Ranthambore
- Two or three nights
- Jawai
- Two nights
- Bharatpur
- One night, two for birders
- Desert National Park
- A dawn from Jaisalmer
- Birders: a winter circuit of Bharatpur, Tal Chhapar, Khichan and the Thar, ten days or more.
- Families: a tiger park plus one gentle place like Bharatpur, where children can cycle among the birds.
- Not for you if: you dislike very early starts, dust and cold dawns in open vehicles. The wild keeps its own hours.
What we pack for the forest
Muted colours: greens, browns and khaki. Bright colours and white stand out in the forest.
Winter dawns: a warm jacket, hat and gloves. Open jeeps are freezing at six in the morning.
- Binoculars over lenses: bring a pair for each person.
- Book early: Ranthambore's best zones and vehicles fill months ahead in high season.
- Dust and water: a scarf and a refillable bottle. Never leave plastic in the park.
- Sit still: the guests who see the most are the ones who talk the least.