We have been on so many wildlife safaris in Africa it would be virtually impossible to try and count them all! Despite the fact we certainly haven’t gotten bored of African safaris, we did think it was time to try something new. This was both for ourselves and also some of our clients who are also looking for something different. Where to go? The first thing that popped into my mind was India so that we could hopefully find some tigers – and maybe even some sloth bears. Van was not so sure about this option, but let’s be real – who cares? Decision made! Off we went to see tigers in India π
I am working on a separate article to detail our experience while on tiger safaris in central India, but this article is about the differences between going on safari in India compared to Africa. I am hopeful it will prove useful to anyone who is trying to make a decision between the two, or perhaps help prepare you if you have been to one country/continent and looking at now visiting the other.
1. Safari wildlife diversity
One of the biggest differences in my opinion between going on safari in India vs Africa is the wildlife diversity. Africa wins hands down here. There’s more species of wildlife to see in Africa. In India, the focus is on tigers, but aside from these big cats you may also see leopards, sloth bears, wild dogs, monkeys, gaur (Indian bison), wild boar and a few different types of deer. Most of the key tiger reserves do not have wild elephants (though you can see both in Jim Corbett and some others). Also you can see Asiatic lions in Gir National Park and Indian rhinos in some other “off the beaten track” wildlife reserves also.
Of course there are other things you could see like jungle cats, hyenas (very rare), snakes, birds etc but those are the main mammals. Compare this to most places you will go on safari in Africa, which typically have a much larger range of wildlife (especially mammals) living in the same places: Lions, leopards, cheetahs, elephants, rhinos, buffalo, zebra, giraffe, different antelopes, warthogs, monkeys, wild dogs, hyenas and more.
When you go on a tiger safari in India your key aim is to find a tiger and you find that you rarely stop for other wildlife. When you go on safari in Africa, there are many animals you will stop to take photos of and spend time with. You are less likely to get bored when on safari in Africa, since there is typically a larger quantity overall of wildlife.
2. Big 5 viewing while on safari
You can see the “Big 5” in both places (sort of). The traditional “Big 5” is lion, leopard, elephant, (black) rhino and (cape) buffalo. These animals exist in many wildlife reserves in Africa (in particular in South Africa, which I still believe to be the best place to see all five). They also exist in India, if you take a more liberal interpretation. India has Asiatic lions, leopard, Asian elephants, Indian rhinoceros and water buffalo (which are heavily domesticated but still exist in the wild in some places).
You would probably need to visit at least 2 reserves in different areas of India to have a good chance of seeing all of the Indian Big 5. There is no place to see lions and tigers in the same place (at least not in the wild) – they simply have never existed together.Β A good place to go would be Kaziranga reserve where you could have a chance of seeing elephants, rhino, leopards and wild water buffalo. You may also see a tiger (though not in the Big 5) – but they are rare to see even though the density is good. So there’s one place you could tick off four of your five if you were lucky. To see Asiatic lions you will need to go to Gir National Park, which is not exactly close by. Gir also has leopards, but none of the other Big 5.
After visiting these two places you may have been lucky enough to see the Big 5 but still would probably need to visit yet another reserve to have a good chance of seeing a tiger.
Once again, Africa (particularly South Africa) wins here (though obviously no tigers!).
3. Safari guides/naturalists and their knowledge
In both India and Africa you are more than likely going to have a guide. In most places in Africa, your guide will double as your driver. In India it’s fairly standard to have a naturalist (pretty much the same as an African guide) as well as a park-issued guide. Your naturalist is typically the same person for all your safari drives and mostly also doubles as your driver (some up-market places will give you a driver and a guide but in our opinion there’s not much to gain from this). The park-issued guide in India will usually change for each drive. This person is really more like a ‘spotter’ to try and spot wildlife, and usually doesn’t talk much.
The expectation is that your naturalist will do a lot of the ‘guiding’, however in our experience the interpretation that most guides provide in Africa (particularly South Africa) during sightings doesn’t really happen in India. Your naturalist/guide will answer questions you have, but they (at least in our experience) are much less likely to spend time actively providing information or interpreting animal behaviour. They are also typically pretty disinterested in anything other than tigers – something that at times can be frustrating for international guests who may also be interested in other wildlife.
The quality of guiding differs substantially between countries in Africa, but if you happen to have spent much time in private game lodges in South Africa, or any upmarket lodges across the continent, you may be a bit disappointed with the level of information you get while on safari in India.
4. Off-roading & sighting quality on your safari
The wildlife reserves in India (at least those we visited) are government-owned. You are not able to leave the road and you (for the most part) cannot stay within the park (you are able to stay in Jim Corbett in basic accommodation).
Staying in the park
The fact you can’t stay within the park means that you have to waste more time getting to/from the park and queuing at the entry gate. While it’s not a big deal it can eat substantially into your free time during the day. You could be spending up to 30+ minutes before and after your game drive in the morning in the afternoon – that adds up to hours over the course of your stay. Although your lodge will likely be in a ‘buffer zone’, which means spotting wildlife is possible, it means it’s less likely than staying in the heart of the parks in Africa where you may spot any sort of wildlife come up for a drink at a waterhole at any point during the day and night. Take this image to the right – taken from the deck of Tau Game Lodge in Madikwe Private Game Reserve.
Going off-road
In India you are not allowed to go off the road to follow wildlife or get closer to them. In Africa there are some places where you are allowed to do this (for example private game lodges in South Africa), whereas plenty of other places do not allow this (eg. Any government-run parks like Kruger, Etosha, Kgalagadi, Central Kalahari, Chobe, Serengeti, Masai Mara – just to name a few). Obviously you have a higher chance of good sighting quality (and photos) in places where your guide will drive off the road to get closer to wildlife.
Sighting management
Another thing that can be frustrating about going on safari in India (at least within the main tiger reserves) is the free-for-all that ensues at any tiger sighting. While most parks have a zone system (more on this below), which limits the number of vehicles that can be in any zone at one time – in practice what happens all those vehicles end up at the same tiger sighting. This means you might have over 20 vehicles jostling for a place – on the road – to see one poor tiger walking past. While there’s a sense of excitement to this, there’s also quite a bit of frustration – particularly if you are trying to get a good photo or video.
This is similar to some destinations in Africa as well – for example in Kruger National Park (where most people self-drive), popular areas of the Masai Mara and the Serengeti (excluding some private conservancies), Kgalagadi and Etosha National Park – all of these places do not have any sighting management. This means that there could be any number of vehicles at any given sighting, however I find in practice this is typically limited more by the size of each park and the fact a lot of people don’t have insider knowledge of where wildlife is likely to be. So for example in India the naturalists/guides have a good idea of where to go to see tigers come to a waterhole – so most vehicles will descend on that area.
Then at private game reserves in Africa you typically have a limit of 2-3 vehicles at any time at a sighting, which means you may have to leave the sighting after less time than you would like but at least when you are there there’s a much calmer atmosphere and a better chance for good photos and video.
In our experience, the frequency of crazy sightings with way too many vehicles was much higher in India when compared to reserves in Africa. The two places that come close would be the South of Kruger National Park around popular camps and the Masaai Mara (at least where I went) – but neither are systematically as bad as the main tiger reserves in India!
5. Zones and wildlife safari FOMO
What is really interesting and unique about going on safari in most tiger reserves in India is that they are split into zones (for example Ranthambore, Bandhavgarh and Kanha). You have to book the zones, and you are only allowed to drive within the zone you have booked for each safari drive you have. This is a good idea to restrict the number of vehicles allowed in each zone (which is necessary), however it creates an interesting issue – total FOMO.
It means that you might be staying in a lodge with other groups, and you each go off on your safari drive to different zones. You might not see anything but then you find out that the other groups in other zones had amazing sightings! It’s hard because you are constantly worried about what is going on in the other zone when yours is quiet.
While there are similar restrictions in private game reserves in South Africa (where you are restricted to whatever traversing area each lodge has), the key thing is that everyone else staying at your same lodge can drive the exact same area as you. So you are less likely to find out over breakfast that another group saw everything while you saw nothing (it’s still possible of course – right time, right place). However, in these reserves they use radios so that you can let everyone in the vicinity know if you found something good (like lions or leopard for example), so there’s more chance you will get to see the same sightings as your fellow lodge guests.
It also means in India if your zone is really quiet, there’s not much you can do. There might be 20 tiger sightings in the next zone but no matter what, you are resigned to your tiger-less fate! As zones have to be booked usually months in advance, it may also mean that you are stuck with the zone you booked ahead of time, before you knew that there was a huge male hanging out in XYZ zone or the tigress in zone ABC has cute cubs.
This is not a major issue, but it can create a much more competitive/apprehensive atmosphere at the lodge after each drive!
6. Accommodation quality, diversity
The safari industry is probably more mature in Africa than India, and given you also have many countries to choose from in Africa, let alone the number of reserves within those countries, there is overwhelmingly more diversity in terms of accommodation options in Africa. For example in South Africa you can choose from basic tented camping (or indeed supplying your own camping equipment) right up to truly amazing 5 star accommodation that costs more than $1,000 per person per day. The quality is generally higher in many of these places too, mostly because they have been doing it for longer but also because they tend to cater to more international guests (who demand high standards).
This all being said, we loved all of the places we stayed in India at each reserve we visited (reviews to come soon). Accommodation was excellent, service was for the most part top notch and the food was delicious. But there are still much fewer options to choose from, and you will find it difficult to find the same level of luxury and service as what you can get at the higher-end places in Africa. There are also fewer affordable options – for example it’s not easy to camp!
7. TIGERS
One thing that you need to keep in mind is that if you want to see tigers in the wild, India is the only place to go! So, while the tourism industry for wildlife safaris is more advanced in Africa (particularly South Africa), you will not see tigers. In our opinion, that along with India’s unique cultural aspect (outside safari) are the key drawcards for people to visit India over Africa for a wildlife safari.
In conclusionβ¦
Our overall conclusion was that Africa is still the best place to go to experience a true wildlife safari. You have a much better chance of seeing the Big 5, and overall more species of wildlife. The industry is more mature and advanced, so planning is easier as you have more options. Being able to stay in the reserves is a lot more efficient but also adds greatly to the overall experience. However India is well worth the visit if you are looking for something outside Africa (having already been), if you desperately want to see tigers, or if you are heading there to enjoy the amazing cultural aspect to the country anyway and want to add on the safari trip as well (highly recommended).
Will we go back to India to go on safari? At this stage it’s a ‘probably’ – our priority will continue to be Africa but we would definitely be open to visiting India again – and maybe take a group next time π
I hope to post more articles in the near future detailing our itinerary, reviews on our accommodation and some tips however if you’d like more information on going on safari in either India or Africa please get in touch!