Andrew was one of the guests on this year’s Tigers of Tadoba photography holiday. We arranged the tour for Derek & Andrew after we learnt that two of the tigresses in Tadoba had recently given birth, which meant there was the possibility to photograph tiger cubs. 
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Jean & Kevin joined Jayne on our April 2018 Indian tour to photograph the Bengal Tigers of Bandhavgarh.
Omar & his friend came all the way from Kuwait to join our Dalmatian Pelicans of Greece photography holiday. Our trips this year attracted many international clients from USA & Kuwait to Denmark, Belgium & Germany.
I have to admit to being blown away when I opened Omar’s email & saw his images. Some of them are absolutely sensational.
Jessica was a guest on one of the Dalmatian Pelicans of Greece Photography Workshops that we conducted in January 2018. Having run this tour for the past four years, the itinerary is now, in our opinion, the perfect experience. But it’s not what we think that matters, the opinion of our guests matter more.
Jessica said, “I had the pleasure to go to Greece in January 2018 to photograph the Dalmatian Pelicans of Greece & I thoroughly enjoyed the whole experience. Not only were there plenty of opportunities to capture images of these big & charismatic birds in various conditions, but we also had a lot of fun with the group. Our guide Sean was always attentive & ready to answer our questions & give photography advice. The accommodation was ideal & the trip very well organised. Being able to photograph the pelicans very early in the morning & late in the afternoon added a special touch to the photos. I would certainly recommend going on this photography trip in Greece.”
David learnt that there were two female tigers who had recently given birth to cubs in Tadoba National Park. This was probably around late November 2017 & two other females had also given birth a little earlier. It seemed that a visit to see the Tigers of Tadoba was on!
David & I, plus my friend Andy, could not miss this great opportunity of hopefully viewing 3 to 4-month-old tiger cubs. So, we caught a plane to Nagpur & then travelled to Tadoba for some excellent tiger viewing & photography.
David is always networking which helps significantly in the meticulous planning NaturesLens always carry out when preparing wildlife photographic trips & workshops. This was no exception.
If you want to get the best possible viewing in the core tiger zones, you usually have to book at least three months in advance. David learnt that two of the Tigers had made their home outside of the core zones of the reserve. We therefore decided to take a gamble & arrange some of our drives in the lesser used reserve areas. We hoped this would increase our chances of seeing as many different cubs as possible. Of course, this could have gone wrong if the Tigers had returned to the main areas but we felt confident they would not.
Our gamble paid off! In reality, this was probably not an enormous gamble due to the planning by David. Most tourists tend to stick to the traditional core areas as they believe they offer the best sightings. I believe we were the only westerners in the areas where these two females were to be found, which made our viewings & images even more special.
It was sweltering hot & extremely humid. More so than Gujarat, (see my other blog post about the trip that preceded this, to The Little Rann of Kutch). But we chose this time because there would be less water about & animals including tigers would congregate more around the central water holes. It can be a difficult time to see other wildlife, & while we did have excellent views of many other species, we did not see the Sloth Bear or Leopard which Tadoba is also famous for, although others did see them. The Tigers more than made up for this though.
David & I also arranged to do a full day game drive which has to be agreed well in advance. I believe only one safari vehicle a day is allowed to stay in the park. A full day can heighten your chances of more game viewing, but it can also be a long hot day in 30c – 40c temperatures. During our time on our own in the reserve, we had great views of the dominant male tiger, Bagrang. We were very lucky as he is usually only seen a couple of days a month mainly due to his vast range.
The tigers we saw are as follows:
I have attached a selection of images & hopefully, this will whet your appetite to book a tiger photography tour with NaturesLens in the future.
Join us in India at the end of March 2019. Our India’s Bengal Tigers of Tadoba is a photography holiday of 7 night/8 day duration, which costs £3299 & takes place in India, between the dates of 23rd – 30th March 2019.
It is ideal for photographing asiatic jackal, bengal fox, black kite, black vulture, brown fish owl, crested serpent eagle, dhole, egyptian vulture, gaur, grey mongoose, indian roller, jungle cat, langur monkey, leopard, little egret, little grebe, red jungle fowl, rhesus macaque, sambar, sloth bear, spotted deer, striped hyena, tiger, wild pig & more.
This photography holiday is led by David Miles for NaturesLens. The photography holiday is offered on a full board, non-shared basis. Group size for this photography holiday is a minimum of 3 participants & a maximum of 7, plus David.
All the details of the Bengal Tigers of Tadoba photography holiday.
Many followers of NaturesLens will probably know that David & I have been friends for many years. Well before he & Pui Hang set up NaturesLens & have enjoyed many photographic adventures together.
Just before Christmas 2017, David asked me if I had been to the Little Rann of Kutch. I said I had never even heard of it. Kutch is a little-known wildlife destination in the state of Gujarat near the Pakistan border. So off we went in March this year to carry out a recce for NaturesLens.
We stayed at a lodge near the park of Little Rann of Kutch. The area is mainly a vast saline desert interspersed with thorny scrub & grasslands, appx 5,000 sq kilometres. It is a very strategic location for bird migration including many types of raptors, waders, cranes, flamingos & other bird species. It is also home to the very rare Asiatic Wild Ass, Indian Wolf, Indian Fox & Desert Fox. Some of these species can be seen nowhere else.
This is a fantastic opportunity to photograph rare & endangered species which will make great additions to your portfolio. The Raptors do not have trees to perch in, so unusually they sit on the ground. This provides unusual opportunities to photograph raptors at eye level as they take off from the ground.
It can be scorching hot in this desert region often up to 38c. But it is a dry heat so much more bearable than some other states of India, which can be very humid.
David & I spent a week exploring the habitats & there are many more great locations we did not have time to visit. Our timing was probably a little bit late as the migrating birds were starting to leave & return to their breeding countries. But we still had great opportunities for photography & realise it could have been even better.
It is indeed a location I would not hesitate in returning to in the future. Hopefully, the images here will give you a taste of what to expect on any future Wildlife of the Little Rann of Kutch Photography Holiday to Gujarat.
Darren joined our Autumn Birds of Prey workshop to capture stunning portraits of our charismatic raptors. As you can see, I would say he achieved his goal!
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