Bangladesh tiger safari holiday

From

£1995

Convert currency:

8 Days excluding flights

More info:From £1,995 (7 nights), all meals mentioned on the itinerary including a professional zoologist (where available) or naturalist escort and local guides, including 4 nights on our private chartered boat and the internal flight return to Dhaka - Jessore; excluding international flights. Price depends on your party size (couples and private solo tours can be arranged). Please contact us for a quote specific to your party size and requirements.

Tailor made

“Unique wildlife watching week in Sundarbans National Park featuring river cruising and tiger tracking in the company of local guides and experts.”

Highlights

Description of Bangladesh tiger safari holiday

This tailor made tour will take you deep into Sundarbans National Park, the world’s largest mangrove forest, home to the largest continuous population of tigers on the planet. This harsh and almost impenetrable forest features an estimated 500 tigers and due to the inhospitable conditions it has remained untouched by human settlements - an amazing feat when you think India and Bangladesh are two of the world’s most densely populated countries.

Whilst here we'll be searching not just for tigers but also other rare and elusive mammals, including: Ganges river dolphins, huge saltwater crocodiles, masked finfoot, chital, langurs, finless porpoises and freshwater turtles. Most of the tiger and wildlife watching will take place from small boats which we use to get deep into the narrow and well covered waterways or on the larger boat where we can spotlight well into the night from the safety of the deck.

We will also walk into the mangroves, meadows and beaches and track tigers on foot. We are able to run this unique and pioneering tour because our background is from a scientific and zoological perspective and so we have a great network of colleagues and contacts in Bangladesh, and beyond.

Why choose this Bangladesh tiger safari holiday:

All of our tiger safaris are guided by zoologists or naturalists as well as local gudies, drivers and, where possible, scientists or researchers. This not only gives you numerous sets of trained eyes to find the animals but also provides a unique opportunity to learn more about animal behaviour and habitats.
We are the first operator to offer nocturnal spotlighting tours in Bangladesh, which aim to see tigers when they are most active at night. We can also bring thermal imaging and night vision equipment (on request).
We use camera traps (where available) which increase chances of getting close up pictures and footage of tigers and other rare nocturnal animals.
In Bangladesh we offer the rare chance to track tigers on foot, this is an exhilarating experience and one that you will never ever forget.
By joining this tour you will visit a truly wild part of the world and one that very few foreign people have ever heard about. This means you'll get to enjoy some incredible tiger encounters without the crowds often associated with national park safaris in India.
We have explored all the areas we visit in depth and found the best and most conveniently located accommodation. This includes staying on your own chartered boat during the cruise of the Sunderbans with your own fully trained and experienced crew.
Unlike many tour operators we are willing to run this tour for individuals (on request).

Fitness Level:

Anyone capable of walking for around 2-3 hours will find this tour easy. The temperatures can be hot but there is lots of shade and the walks are never very long. Most of the wildlife watching is done from the small wooden boats or from the deck of the main vessel.

Minimum Age: 18 years

Travel Team

If you'd like to chat about this holiday or need help finding one we're very happy to help. The Travel Team.

01273 823 700 Calling from outside the UK? rosy@responsibletravel.com

Departure information

This trip can be tailor made throughout the year to suit your requirements

Vouchers

Accepted

Responsible tourism

As the pioneers of responsible tourism, we screen every trip so you can travel knowing your holiday will help support conservation and local people.

In Bangladesh we apply all the same ethics and principals set down by TOFT to all the tiger safaris. In Bangladesh and this is helping to establish a better code of practise for tiger safaris, as ecotourism is still in its infancy here. We aim to increase tourism here which will hopefully help local people find an alternative livelihood who would otherwise take to poaching or logging for a quick pay day will start to see the long term financial benefits of having the forest and the big cats alive and thriving. This is the basic model used throughout areas where poaching and deforestation has occurred elsewhere and we have no reason to believe that if this tour takes off the same principals would not apply.

Wildlife Promise:

The Bangladesh we help the wildlife by making sure that all tiger sightings are logged and passed on to the park authorities. This means that the park can better manage the localised tiger populations. We also help to educate other tour providers who specialise in taking Bangladeshi families to the Sunderbans; these tour groups tend to be less inclined to follow environmental practises and we aim to help increase the sustainability of the tours and improve the environmental awareness of the Bangladeshi public.

The Impacts of this Trip

In Bangladesh we help the local community by only employing local guides to each of the national parks we visit, this encourages the local people from close the national parks to pursuit eco training instead of the best guiding jobs going to graduates from Dhaka and other large cities. We are also in the process of training local naturalist guides to improve their livelihoods and increase their wages. We are also part of the Tour Operators for Tigers (TOFT) and while this initiative is based in India we bring their sustainable policies and community programme ideas to Bangladesh as well. By introducing these sustainable policies into Bangladesh now we aim to have them firmly established for when eco-tourism and wildlife watching becomes more mainstream in the region. We believe that by starting now we can ingrain the ethos in the local people and ground agents so that they never question the benefits of having locally driven and supported guides, accommodation and always use locally produced food and other products.

Environment

Community

The Impacts of this Trip

Climate

1 Reviews of Bangladesh tiger safari holiday

4 out of 5 stars

SHOW

Reviewed on 30 Dec 2019 by Yasmin Surani

1. What was the most memorable or exciting part of your holiday?

On day three we had a wonderful 10km hike in the National Park. On foot we were able to see many more animals, including deer, monkeys, wild boar, and many bird species.

2. What tips would you give other travellers booking this holiday?

Be prepared for cool weather, especially on the early morning silent boat trips. Also, the hot water for showers was provided in buckets, which we weren’t expecting.

3. Did you feel that your holiday benefited local people, reduced environmental impacts or supported conservation?

We lived simply, and learned about the conservation efforts in the Sundarbans. It was also positive to employ a local boat crew.

4. Finally, how would you rate your holiday overall?

We had delicious and varied food on board, with a very attentive guide Ibrahim. We were able to sleep early which made the early starts alright. One downside was the slight lack of English fluency of the guides, which sometimes meant we couldn’t get all our questions answered.