Super wildlife photo trip!! Our Trogon guide, Guilherme Battistuzzo, and local guide, Gaurav Ramnarayanan of Safari Crafters, were both excellent, personable, knowledgeable, very effective, and fun. The short trip to the Fortress and Taj Mahal were stunning and very informative. Bharatpur's Keoladeo National Park was a great site for birders with many Flying Fox or Fruit Bats, young adorable spotted owls exhibiting funny antics, beautiful Common and White-throated kingfishers and many varied water birds. Ranthambore has 65 tigers and we saw around 15 with many close and ideal for photography. Gaurav, Guilherme, and our drivers were able to position us for many great static and motion shots of these fantastic animals. We found Sloth Bears twice and got photos. Sambar and Spotted deer were common as were gorgeous peacocks. At Jawai, the Indian leopards live in caves in rocky cliffs and we were able to get many photos of numerous leopards, some close and active, including some young leopards with and without their moms. These are gorgeous leopards, smaller than African leopards, and some have blue eyes. The "Jeeps", which are very sturdy pickups with two rows of seats welded into the beds, are ideal for the rough terrain and allowed good open photography opportunities. On a good day, your FitBit can register 25,000 steps. Indian food is very hot but they were able to make adjustments for those of us that had trouble with such hot but tasty food. Indian traffic is extremely fast and wild but the drivers are very good. Mary & I get over 70,000 photos and many many were outstanding. This is an absolutely fantastic wildlife photo trip!!!

The Trogon trip to India was fantastic!! The birding area near Bharatpur was top rate. It was beautiful and absolutely full of birds. I photographed many species of birds I had never seen before. There were also plenty of interesting mammals there. The highlight of the trip for me was photographing tigers in the wild in Ranthambore National Park. We saw and photographed quite a few tigers in very different landscapes……so exciting! To end the trip we photographed gorgeous leopards near Jawai. We had great opportunities, with some of them being pretty close up. Overall it was one of my favorite trips! Our guides were great during every facet of the trip. We were very well taken care of.

This was one of my more adventurous trips. Traveling on India roads is not for the timid. Tiger and leopard safari driving is not for the timid. We had good luck with tiger and leopard sightings thanks to the quickness and aggressiveness of our guides and drivers. Limit your gear on the safaris, it will get bounced around and there isn’t a lot of room. Be prepared for a lot of dust. It was hot, but not humid. Hot weather is needed for tiger sightings. Don’t take a backpack to the Taj Mahal, it will be taken and searched. You will temporarily lose sight of it. It was chaotic. The Taj Mahal is impressive, I’m glad it was included in the trip. Lodging was excellent. Good food, hot showers, and A/C. The food can be spicy, but buffets offer some non-spicy choices. Have meds on hand for upset stomach. People were quite friendly to us, they welcome tourists. We always had someone leading us, picking us up, and keeping us informed. It keeps the anxiousness and stress at bay. I was initially apprehensive about going to India, but it turned out to be a fun adventure. Highly recommended. Those tigers! Wow!

Just finished my third photography tour with Javier — and I’ve already booked my fourth. He’s a gifted wildlife photographer, an excellent teacher, and a patient, very organized tour leader. I come home from every trip with better photos and real improvement in my skills. He designed this tour for photographers like me who want outstanding bird opportunities without long or difficult hikes. We worked from locations where the birds came to us. The relaxed pace allows time to learn, review images, rest, and truly enjoy the experience. Small locally owned lodges, conservation-focused bird reserves, wonderful regional food, smooth logistics, and a supportive atmosphere made this tour exceptional.

My brother and I are both in our 70's and we both feel this may have been the best trip / vacation / adventure we have ever had. Javier (guide) and Kevin (our driver) were both superb hosts and guides. We both came home with CFExpress cards filled with photos (some even pretty good, many thanks to Javier's guidance and instruction). As we are not as physically able as we have been in the past, we were worried about this being too much, but this was very laid back and easy for us, again thanks to our guide and driver who were very attentive and kept good care of us.