Wildlife Trails Traveller Reviews

Three weeks in India with the fantastic wildlife photographer and teacher, Trai Anfield, concentrating on finding and photographing tiger and leopard, as well as experiencing all the cultural wonders of this extraordinary country. The trip exceeded all expectations. We stayed in a wonderful selection of safari lodges, tented camps, forts and palaces, experienced the food and customs of the regions, visited and spent time with the local people and were in Udaipur to celebrate the paint festival, Holi. Out of all the game drives we did over the three weeks, on only two did we return without having seen either tiger or leopard. A truly outstanding experience in every respect, made even more special by the dedication of Trai Anfield to make sure that her clients had the best possible tuition and opportunities to take the photograph of a lifetime.

Excellent in every respect. Everything worked perfectly. The booking arrangements, information and assistance before the trip, local guides and local arrangements all worked extremely well and the trip content, compiled in collaboration with Trai Anfield, was outstandingly brilliant.

We have recently returned from a 16-night trip to India, organised by Wildlife Trails. It was a tailored trip, encompassing safari in Kaziranga and Corbett with city breaks in Mumbai, Kolkata and Delhi to catch some IPL cricket. Essentially we were on a 16-night, 5 centre itinerary, no more than 3 nights in any one location, involving many and varied transfers by road, rail and air. The chaos which characterises India, and is certainly part of its charm, can cause frustration for travellers – unless they are travelling with Wildlife Trails, who have partnered with ground agents in India who have the knack of short-circuiting the chaos and arriving everywhere with comfortable punctuality, every time. A thoroughly professional service, enabling our party of 4 to fully enjoy the wonderful experiences India has to offer. We had dedicated wildlife drivers/guides during our stays at both Kaziranga and Corbett – in both cases they were very friendly, we were very well looked after by them, and they greatly enriched our experience of the wildlife. We were blessed with tiger sightings at both Kaziranga (2 different tigers on 2 different days!) and Corbett – where we close enough to the tiger to consider it an encounter rather than a sighting. And Rhino galore (including being amongst a sizeable herd on elephant safari), and wild elephant galore, and deer, and monkeys, and fabulous birds. Accommodation at both National Parks was very good, as were the meals. During our city breaks we had guided tours of each city. Our guides were all punctual, very knowledgeable and friendly – our experience of all 3 cities was certainly enriched by our guides. The agents and drivers who assisted with our transfers to and from airports and railways stations were unfailingly polite and helpful – we were delivered to our seats on the train in Kolkata and met at the carriage door when we arrived 19 hours later in Delhi. Kirsty from Wildlife Trails worked with us over several iterations of our itinerary – always offering positive suggestions and responding promptly and fully to our questions. Putting the trip together with Wildlife Trail was a pleasure in itself – and I’m very happy and impressed to be able to say that everything went according to plan. We would all four have no hesitation in recommending Wildlife Trails to anyone considering a wildlife adventure in India.

absolutely first-rate in every regard

WE had 2 nights in Delhi at Claridges, perfect as always, 3 nights at Kipling Camp,excellent staff, guide, rooms and best of all picnic by the river to bath the beautiful 'Tara' the elephant. Went on to Bandhavgargh 'Bandhav Villas' where we have stayed 5 times, treated like Royalty, the rooms have been upgraded, 6* service and most of all 22 Tiger sightings including mother and 3 cubs, wild dogs and other wild life. What else can one ask for?

We have used 'Wildlife Trails' now for at least 7 times. They are very knowledgeable, flexible, good listeners as to what you want to do/see, have really become our 'travel friends'. They arranged tours to India, Sri Lanka and Tanzania for us. They have give an excellent service and have good 'local partners' to be there for you.

It was a great itinerary that allowed us to see all the iconic and unique wildlife of India in the company of excellent guides, thoughtful drivers and accommodation hosts. In Gujarat we saw wild ass, birdlife including migrating bar headed geese, asiatic lions - which are not as easy to see as you might think and need persistence, Black buck, Indian wolf & jungle cat with leopard, tiger and a very fast moving sloth bear in Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra. The accomodation was excellent particularly Blackbuck Lodge @ Velavadar and Reni Pani @ Saptura and everywhere had top notch hospitality. Travel was by car, train and plane - travelling in India takes some acclimatisation but the drivers and meet & greet guides were very professional and made it as easy as they could! overall it was a well put together holiday which flowed and allowed us to experience India and Indian wildlife at its best.

Very efficient and put together a well thought through itinerary.

10 days in Pench, Nagzira, and Tadoba NPs, looking for tigers, sloth bears, leopards and more. I can't praise enough the way the whole trip was arranged and run, and the parks are magnificent (Tadoba is where you're most likely to see tigers, and we saw ten different ones, including two mothers with 2 and 4 cubs!, Nagzira is possibly the most beautiful, scenery-wise, but big cats are very hard to see - however, birding is phenomenal and wild dogs a real treat, Pench is in-between the two).

Wildlife Trails is a very responsive, responsible and proactive operator, and our trip to India proved great value for our money. We're returning customers and, after an earlier, amazing trip in 2004, we chose Wildlife Trails again for this tiger watching trip with a couple of friends. Hope to have a chance to return to India again in a few years, obviously with Allan & Kirsty!

We focused on wildlife and quiet destinations. We tried not to do too much internal travel so we could relax in fewer places and get to understand the local areas. My husband did not want to go to India, he came back saying how wonderful it was and what a fabulous experience it had been. I cannot praise Wildlife trails enough for creating a trip that gave us such a good insight into the real India.

Efficient, prompt and very friendly. Good at sending out information and links so that you can do further research into the holidays. Aslo sends out holiday hints which is very useful

In November 2017 we re-visited India - Pench & Kanha National Parks. We have been many times before though each drive in these parks provides a new experience. The terrain may be familiar but every visit is different as, when wildlife watching, every moment is different from the last. Evocative sounds promise surprises around every bend. This time there was the added bonus of seeing everything so green when we are mostly used to more parched summer scenery. This just adds to the thrill of seeing an almost unrecognisable view - almost different parks. We were lucky enough to see a tiger family in Pench & two beautiful tigresses in Kanha. Add to this wild dogs, leopard, all the prey animals and birds, much water in the lakes & rivers and we had a feast of wild life watching to add to our memories.

Wildlife Trails have been our preferred tour operator since 2003. Allan & Kirsty Blanchard feel like friends as we have spoken so often to them that they understand what we want from our holidays. And they deliver every time. Their operation is small & personal yet with a wealth of experience. Each time we discuss a planned trip it is a partnership of ideas so we feel very involved in the process.

We travelled through the Pantanal in Brazil. Our guide was fantastic. He met us at our hotel and accompanied us throughout. Transportation (4x4) with a driver was very comfortable, particularly as it was mainly mud roads! The first few days we spent at Pousada Alegre, Bird sightings were great, but also fox, monkey and tapir to name but a few. Majority of our trip was spent looking for Jaguar o the river. And we definitely were lucky! We had some amazing sightings, including a number of mum and cubs.

Allan's organisation of the trip was spot on. Everything worked like clockwork and the guide he chose spoke perfect English and went out of his way to ensure that we were always in the best places / positions to photograph the wildlife. We have used Allan on on several wildlife trips in the past and this one was up to his usual high standards. Allan takes the time to get to know you, your preferences and understand exactly what you wish to do / see and works with you to achieve the type of holiday you wish. Thanks again Allan - looking forward to Tanzania in February!

We visited two camps in South Luangwa, Mwamba Bush camp & Kaingo camp.Both brilliant for the wildlife and the photographic hides. Guides first rate, accommodation top class, camp staff helpful and friendly. We then moved down to the Lower Zambezi to Baines River Camp. Excellent accommodation,again staff friendly, only draw back was the forty minute boat trip to reach the national park. Again good wildlife sightings.

Allan at Wildlife Trails was very helpful, promptly answered any questions we had, everything went smoothly while in Zambia. The itinerary he suggested was perfect for our trip.

Very pleasant and tailormade tour in Africa.

Quick, friendly and professional.