Sundarbans
The only mangrove tiger forest in the world. You won't see a tiger. That's almost the point. What makes Sundarbansworth a long conversation isn’t in any guidebook. It’s in the rhythm of who runs the lodges, which naturalist is in the field that month, and which lanes the festival actually unfolds in. We plan trips here the way locals plan a weekend — knowing what’s open, what’s in season, what’s worth skipping.
Things worth doing
- Tiger sightings rare — go for the delta, not the cat
- Four nights minimum, three on the water
- Pairs with Kolkata at the start, not the end
- November to February only — heat and mosquitoes ruin the rest
Who plans this · MP Wildlife
Shailesh on Sundarbans.
I went the first time as a tourist. The second time, the naturalist I'd met asked me to come back in a different season — and that's how this began.
Fourteen years on, I've sat in the same Bandhavgarh jeep at 5 AM more times than most lodge owners. You learn the forest by season, not by visit.
“Bandhavgarh is not a park. It's a place I keep going back to because the forest keeps changing the question.”
When to go
- Oct–Feb
- Cool air, prime sightings, parks at full life.
- Mar–Apr
- Leaner forest, easier sightings if you can take the heat.
- Jun–Sep
- Many parks closed for monsoon; cultural and Himalayan trips shine.
Pairs well with
Three places we often plan in the same trip.
Uttarakhand
Auli & Garhwal
The Garhwal high country — Auli, Joshimath, the Valley of Flowers — for travellers who want meadows and serious mountains in one trip.
West Bengal
Bishnupur
The terracotta temple town of the Malla kings. Brick the colour of dried blood, panels that read like a Mahabharata graphic novel.
Rajasthan
Bundi
A blue-painted hill town with a 14th-century palace nobody renovated, stepwells in residential lanes, and Kipling's old guesthouse still standing.