2025 Ultimate India Trip Report

A note from a client:

“Just returned from the Wild India trip and it was wonderful.  I must say Jason goes out of his way to make sure everyone is having a good time and has everything they need.  I have never had a trip leader reach out while traveling to make sure we were ok coming and going home! A nice touch that shows how much he cares about his clients. Needless to say the trip itself was well done and we saw beautiful leopards, tigers, one horned rhinos and elephants! Of course there were many beautiful birds as well as lots of other critters to keep us entertained! Jason was also generous with his time for anyone who wanted help editing their photos in our down time.  If you are thinking of going on a trip with Jason, just do it! “

A small portion of the photo highlights can be seen here:

https://www.holzphotoclient.com/Travel-and-Photograph-Trip-Reports/India-Highlights2

The first portion of the trip was focused on leopards and we ventured to one of the best places in the world to see leopards, Jawai.  Leopards in Jawai live among granite hills and caves. These open rocky landscapes make sightings more common compared to typical jungle safaris.  Leopards here are remarkably tolerant of humans. They often roam close to villages and temples without incidents of conflict, thanks to generations of mutual respect between them and the local goat and sheep herders.

In addition to the rocky leopard habitat, there is a large reservoir in the area that is home to an abundant bird life.  After many fantastic leopard game drives, we did some bird watching and photography around the area.  The highlights were Indian eagle owl, common kingfisher, flamingoes, multiple ibis species, painted storks, shrikes, bee eaters and parakeets.  

The next portion of our Ultimate India trip took us to Tadoba National Park.  Tadoba National Park, located is one of India’s premier tiger reserves, known for frequent and close-up sightings of Bengal tigers. The park encompasses a mix of dry deciduous forests, bamboo thickets, and serene lakes, supporting rich biodiversity including leopards, sloth bears, wild dogs, and over 200 bird species.  Our group had 11 safari drives and we had a total of 26 tiger sightings.  This is high number is not the norm, but the sightings in Tadoba are usually high as it is one of the top three parks to see tigers in India.  

One of the more exciting moments of the trip, after a morning game drive, the group was looking for Indian paradise fly catchers, I had been told that a large male tiger had been in the area earlier, but didn’t think much of it.  Of course, something in the back ground was moving and caught my attention, it was the male tiger!  We briskly walked over to our vehicle and anxiously waited and hoped the tiger would cross the road in front of us.  The tiger walked out of the dense bushes within 100 yards from us – it was a rush being on the ground with a nearly 600 lb tiger crossing the road in front of us, not giving a second thought about us as he went on about his business.   

Our group had several sightings with sloth bears, including one that walked right past our vehicle following the scent of a female, and several sightings of the very rare wild dogs (also known as dholes). 

The last portion of the trip took us to Kaziranga National Park.  Kaziranga National Park is renowned for harboring the world’s largest population of the endangered one-horned rhinoceros. Spanning lush floodplains along the Brahmaputra River, the park also shelters elephants, tigers, wild buffalo, swamp deer, and over 480 species of birds. Its unique blend of grasslands, wetlands, and forests makes it one of India’s most ecologically significant wildlife reserves. 

We got to see so many one-horned rhinos and even some babies – including a five day old baby as it ran around its mother.  In addition to the rhinos, we have great viewing of wild elephants and even had a large heard cross the road in front of us.  As we explored the park, we saw different species of turtles, monitor lizards and even python coiled in the base of a tree, and the bird lovers on our trip were in heaven, birds were abundant.   The highlight of Kaziranga was not only the elephants, the one horned rhinos, all of the deer species or the various birds, but our group was very fortunate and blessed to see the extremely rare golden tiger.  The forest of Kaziranga are dense, making it tough to see any tiger, let alone the golden tiger, which is a color phase where there is very little black on the tiger, especially in the face.  

The 2025 Ultimate India trip was a very exciting adventure and everyone went home with a smile on their face.  I hope you’ll consider joining me for India in 2026.  Many people do not consider India a safari destination, but it has an abundance of wildlife along with great people willing to help you at any moment.

My trips are for photographers and nature lovers, and if you go on one of my trips, you are more than welcome to have a copy of all of my keeper photos!   A small portion of the trip highight photos can be seen here:

https://www.holzphotoclient.com/Travel-and-Photograph-Trip-Reports/India-Highlights2

Species Highlights from the trip:

Jawaii

Leopards
Flamingoes
Painted Stork
Black Ibis
Green Bee eater
Peacocks
Langur Monkeys
Indian Eagle owl
Rose-Ringed Parakeet
Common Kingfisher
Peacocks
Long Tailed Shrike
Blue Bull

Tadoba

Tiger
Indian Gaur
Blue Bull
Leopard
Indian Paradise Flycatcher
Mottled Wood Owl
Indian Roller
Sloth Bears
Langur (monkey)
White Eye Buzzard
White Throated Kingfisher
Mongoose
Spotted Deer
Samba Deer
Four Horned Antelope
Crocodile
Peacocks
wild boar
Lapwing
Jungle fowl
crested tree swift
cuckoo
drongo
racket tqiled drongo
changeable hawk eagle
common hoopoe
pied kingfisher
FLameback woodpecker
indian golden oriole
Blue naped monarch
rufious Treepie
Indian Rat snake
Forest Lizard

Kazaringa

Tiger
Golden Tiger
Rhinos
Wild Elephants
Water Buffalo
Swamp Deer (Barasingha)
Hollock Gibbons
Peacock
Soft Shell Turtle
Hog Deer
Indian Tent Turtle
Assam Roofed Turtle
Bengal Monitor Lizard
Indian Python
Great Indian Hornbill
Indian Roller
Kalij Pheasant
Grey headed Fishing Eagle
Blue bearded Bee Eater
White-rumped Shama
Pied Kingfishers
Changeable Hawk Eagle
Green-billed Malkoha
Yellow footed Green Pigeon
Emerald Dove
Blue tailed Bee Eater
Rose Ringed Parakeet
Swamp Francolin
Chestnut headed Bee Eater
Jungle Owlet
Jungle Mynah
Mountain Imperial Pigeon
Yellow Wagtail
Egret
Ibis
Lesser Whistling Ducks
Purple Heron
Pelican
Cormorant
Sandpiper
Grey Heron
Black necked Stork
Red breasted Parakeet
White winged Wood Duck
Lesser Adjutant Stork
Pond Heron
Otter
Malayan Giant Squirrel
Hoary-bellied Squirrel
Tokay Gecko

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