5 Things You Must Remember for Planning a Wildlife Holiday

You could be a frequent wildlife traveller or planning for a wildlife vacation for the first time. It is always useful to keep some important things in mind while planning for your perfect wildlife holiday.

1. Wildlife holiday checklist

What you must carry on a wildlife vacation:

• Appropriate clothing: Choose colours that can camouflage with the jungle and are not so bright; such as, grey, brown, pale green.
• Medical kit: Carry essential medicines if you are on medication and other basic medicines for fever, headache etc.
• Camera: Don’t forget to carry your favourite camera with powerful lenses because animals are often far away in the wild.
• Binoculars: You can easily spot animals away from the safari with the help of binoculars.
• Baggage: Get a waterproof baggage which can protect from rains and dust.
• Shoes: Sneakers are usually comfortable for jungle safari rides.
• Sunscreen: Must carry a sunscreen lotion for protecting your skin from the sun and keeping it moisturised.
• Hat: Get a comfortable hat for keeping you cool and shady at the safari.
• Mosquito Repellent: Don’t forget to carry a mosquito repellent cream to avoid getting bitten by mosquitoes and insects.
• Bottle of water: Keep a bottle of drinking water with you when getting onto the safari. You will not find water to drink deep inside the forest.

2. Book accommodation closer to the national park gate

Most of the national parks in India allow jungle safaris in two shifts – morning and evening. Morning safaris begin as early as 5:30 am in some of the national parks. Don’t miss morning safaris if you want to make your holidays truly memorable.

3. Plan multiple safaris in a trip

Be patient if you really want to spot the king! It may happen that you spot many animals during one safari while in your next safari, you see only a few animals.

Remember, you are visiting a forest and not a zoo. Animals will not appear just because you paid for the safari.

Plan minimum two safaris or more at a stretch as it increases the likelihood of spotting a variety of wild animals.

4. Book forest visit permits in advance

All the national parks allow only a limited numbers of vehicles in the forest area at a time. Number of permits which can be issued to the tourists are fixed and wildlife authorities decide it.

Many popular national parks allow online advanced booking of the entry permit. In fact, some of the parks don’t have any provision to get permits offline.

5. Visit to buffer zone & night safaris

Buffer zone is peripheral area to the national park. Core and buffer zone divisions are meant for humans only and animals don’t understand such demarcations. Buffer zones are often quite rich in flora and fauna.

Many eye-catching wildlife sightings have been reported in the buffer area also. Night safaris may throw opportunities to capture some spectacular wildlife moments in your camera, but you can go for night safaris in the buffer area of the park only.

Over To You Now…

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