Visit to India, in October/November 2005. 
 
 I wanted to visit India for two important reasons. In the first place I would love to see at least once in my life the tiger in its natural surroundings and secondly because India has the name to be one of the most important places for bird watchers in the world. Of course, if someone visits India for the first time one has to visit some, at least the most important, historical monuments too. And for every destination goes that to see something of the daily life is very interesting.

It is wellknown that India is one of those countries with a booming economy and a fast development of the prosperity of its inhabitants.  Although I have been in India to short (almost one month) to be able to really judge the situation I got the strong impression that reality is quite different. Cities give the impression of being neglected. The scene looks messy and uncontrolled. It is true that there are several historical monuments which are worth to visit, very interesting and beautiful  indeed, but as far as I could see, the daily Indian life does not show anything of prosperity yet. Maybe that is why the contrast is so big, and really shocked me.

Personally I was very happy that my aim was to visit Nature Reserves, and that part of my trip I enjoyed very much.  
 
The trip was tailor made for me by  Nature Safari India, a relatively small travel organisation, with an exceptional good service. I have met the owner, Sharad Vats, personally in New Delhi, and he stayed in contact during the whole period.
Small complains were resolved immediately without any problem. All together a very good choice. 
 
On the 27th of October I arrived in Delhi. During the 4 weeks of my stay in India I travelled around in the provinces of Delhi, Rajastan, Utter and Madhya Pradesh. In this area I have visited five different nature reserves.

• Rhantambhore. Gives a very good chance to see the tiger, and also a lot of other mammals. A disadvantage is the fact that the reserve can be very crowded and that there is a kind of competition between several guiding organisations to show their clients the best sightings.
• Bharatpur. A bird sanctuary of great importance for bird migration. This year they had very good rainy periods and their was a lot of water in all places. extremely interesting place for every bird lover.
• Bandhavgarh. Also in this reserve very good opportunities to see the tiger. Beautiful scenery inside but also outside the reserve in the adjoining areas. Also very good for bird watching.
• Kanha. Good chances to see the tiger. Also very interesting for bird watching.
• Pench. The chance to see the tiger in this reserve are relatively small. This reserve has been opened to the public only a few years ago. In other reserves generations of tigers have had the opportunity to get used to Jeeps and visitors. That is still not the case in this reserve. On the other hand it is very good for birdwatchers and to see other game, especially because it is less crowded than other reserves. 

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