by Mia Taylor
Last updated: 2:42 PM ET, Tue May 1, 2018
Travelers are being offered a rare opportunity to see Bengal tigers in their natural habitat as part of a new tour from Natural Habitat Adventures.
The tour operator, one of the leaders in sustainable nature travel, announced a new seven-day tiger intensive expedition that includes visiting Ranthambore National Park, a place deep within the jungles of southeast Rajasthan known to be one of the premier locations for viewing the world's last remaining Bengal tigers.
Led by top naturalist guides, the India Tiger Quest experience includes traveling at the optimal time of year for tiger sightings, when temperatures are warming but the monsoon rains are still weeks away drawing wildlife into the open to drink at shrinking waterholes.
"If your goal is to search for Bengal tigers with the very best odds of spotting them, this compact adventure is for you," states the company's website. "Our trip is strategically timed for early summer when visitors are fewer and tigers are less elusive."
After years of plummeting tiger numbers, India witnessed a 30 percent rise in its quadrennial tiger census in 2014, compared to 2010. Conservation groups attribute some of that growth to sustainable ecotourism.
The economic impact of visitors to India's tiger reserves benefits the communities in proximity, providing jobs and offering local people an incentive to protect the wildlife with which they share the land.
"Given that India is home to 70 percent of the world's remaining wild tigers, and India is the only country currently seeing a rise in tiger numbers, the presence of wildlife tourism here is integral to that continued conservation success," Natural Habitat Adventures said in a statement.
Participants on company's India Tiger Quest will search for tigers on morning and afternoon drives through the deciduous jungle, keeping a lookout for other jungle wildlife as well, including sloth bear, leopard, sambar, chital, palm civet, langur monkeys, pythons and more.
To make the experience even more exclusive, the number of trip participants is limited to 11, ensuring that everyone gets a window seat on the open-sided 4x4s that provide transportation for the safaris.
While the emphasis of the trip is on nature, the itinerary also includes a bit of history and culture in the bustling city of Delhi. There will be a half-day tour of India's vibrant capital, which is home to a wealth of cultural treasures and engaging human interactions.
It's also important to note that Natural Habitat Adventures is the world's first carbon-neutral travel company. That means emissions from your trip will be 100-percent carbon-offset.
What's more, because of the company's commitment to environmentally friendly travel, and the exceptional quality of its small-group nature adventures, World Wildlife Fund, the world's leading environmental conservation organization, has named Natural Habitat its worldwide travel partner.
Departures for the India Tiger Quest are offered throughout 2019 and 2020.
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