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Bird-watching and wildlife viewing

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The Himalayas harbour a great diversity of habitats squeezed into narrow altitudinal belts from lush sub-tropical mosaic forests of grasslands and semi-evergreen woodlands to alpine meadows. This is an area where the Explorations Company has particular expertise. Our tailor made tours, accompanied by expert naturalist guides take you deep into tiger country spending nights in remote forest bungalows where you spend the days searching for tigers, leopard, elephant, sloth bears and a rainbow array of birds – almost 500 species in one park.

We explore some of the most remote and scenically magnificent areas staying in spectacularly located Raj era rest houses where we make all the catering and housekeeping arrangements. The highlights of our trips are superb guiding, great service and remote and rarely visited locations.

The Western Himalayas remain – despite increasing human presence - an extraordinary region for wildlife harbouring Himalayan black bears, Ibex and goral, serow and brown bears, leopards and snow leopards, wolves, marmots, wild dogs and Tibetan wild ass found at the edge of Ladakh. And all this diversity is presented against some of the most splendid mountain scenery in the world!

Extending over 520 square kilometres, Corbett is simply vast! This classic tract of wild India has a special beauty that is vividly described in ‘The Man-eaters of Kumaon’ and other books by Jim Corbett, after whom the park is named. To make the most of your stay here we shall arrange couple of nights at a lodge on the edge of the park, followed by few nights at Raj era forest rest houses, right at the very heart of this magnificent reserve.


The forested foothills of Corbett National Park are home to a healthy population of mammals, including Tiger, Leopard, Asian Elephant, deer including Sambar and Chital, Wild Boar, Jungle Cat, Sloth Bear, the striking and diurnal Yellow-throated Marten, Indian Crested Porcupine, and both Terai Grey Langur and Rhesus Macaque.

As one approaches Corbett, you may encounter a small flock of critically endangered Indian White-rumped Vultures soaring overhead. This once abundant scavenger is sadly now an extremely rare and erratic sight throughout the subcontinent but the Corbett area is still home to small numbers.


At the centre of the park lies Ramganga Lake and its surrounding grasslands which form a haven for wildlife. Good numbers of the larger mammals are also attracted to this stunningly beautiful lake.

From your lodge, you can explore the fringes of Corbett's magnificent Sal forests and search for some of the park's shyer and more elusive birds such as White-tailed Ruby throat, Slaty-blue Flycatcher and Aberrant Bush Warbler. Parties of maniacal White-crested Laughing thrushes crash through the undergrowth while, over your head, the diminutive Collared Falconet hunts small birds. You may find a Brown Fish Owl roosting by a quiet stream, or even come across its larger relative, the huge Tawny Fish Owl.

Along the Kosi River, large and impressive Crested Kingfishers pause and dive in search of an unfortunate fish. With luck, you will find the exquisite Wall creeper foraging along the cliffs or even amongst the boulders of the riverbed itself. In 2008, for the first time in five years, a few Ibis bills returned to winter along the Kosi River and, in 2011, one of our guests enjoyed outstanding views of four of these mysterious shorebirds, a beautiful visitor from the high mountains of Central Asia and the Tibetan plateau.


But one can only venture into the depths of the jungle by jeep! As you enter the gloomy forests, the stillness may be broken by the raucous bugle of an advertising Indian Peafowl, or the barking alarm call of a nervous Chital alerting us to the possibility of a Tiger!

Within the park you are likely to encounter small parties of handsome Kalij Pheasant and Red Jungle fowl as they scurry from the roadside at the approach of our vehicles. Your time here will pass all too quickly as you discover much of what makes Corbett so special.

Exciting birds such as Pallas's Fish Eagle, Changeable Hawk-eagle, Plum-headed Parakeet, Common Hawk-cuckoo and Crested Tree swift are widespread residents. The elusive Nepal Wren-babbler can often be lured to the roadside, where it may put on an outstanding 'one-bird' show - often in full view from our jeeps - whilst 'waves' of restless babblers, minivets, bulbuls, wood shrikes, woodpeckers, warblers and many wintering Pale arctic migrants are sure to make this a most exciting stay.

The grasslands at Dhikala overlook the attractive Ramganga Lake. As the eerie, skeletal forms of drowned trees emerge from the morning mists to reveal their attendant raptors, darters and egrets, some of the birds you may encounter here include Black Stork, Rufous-bellied Hawk-eagles, Black Francolin, Red Collared Dove, Emerald Dove, Lesser Coucal, Slaty-headed and Red-breasted Parakeets, Himalayan Swiftlet, Jungle Owlet and Blue-bearded Bee-eater, the latter with its gruff, barking call sounding quite unlike any bee-eater you have heard before! The river teems with mahseer and other fish which in turn support the very rare fish-eating gharial crocodile, the marsh mugger crocodile and otter.

This wealth of Nature makes the park a delight to visit at any time of year.


The Explorations Company, where no two journeys have ever been the same

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As a guide, the cost of our extraordinary and utterly bespoke journeys tends to start from $1200 per person per day excluding international flights.

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