Siberian tiger and Amur leopard safaris

You might spend up to a week based in the hide to maximise your potential opportunities, with basic but comfortable facilities including a toilet and gas heater (and access to a forest hotel if you do fancy a change of scenery for a while). Meals are brought in or prepared in the hide, and rangers escort you in and out. After a week with the leopards you can take an internal flight to a private forest reserve south of Khabarovsk in Russia’s Far East, an area to which very few tourists venture, to spend a second week in search of another reclusive big cat: the mighty Siberian tiger.

Here you’re likely to rotate between several hides, an option recommended if you’re a photographer as this is where you’re most likely to see the tigers, or you can explore the forest by 4x4, on snowshoes, or snowmobile and even skis. The tigers’ presence in an area can be identified by their tracks, their scent markings and kills, and you may be accompanied by experienced zoologists, local naturalist guides and rangers, and possibly scientists and researchers too. Not only does that mean more pairs of eyes trained on the forest, but also superb levels of interpretation into the cats’ behaviours. On a tiger tracking tour you will be staying in a wooden lodge camp with a traditional Russian banya to keep you warm.

As of early 2019, there are at least five known Amur leopards around the hide in Kedrovaya Pad National Park, and some 22 tigers using the forest on a regular basis, so you stand a very good chance of seeing them here. During your stay, you may also visit the Kedrovaya Pad interpretation centre to learn about leopard conservation efforts; the Utyos rehabilitation centre, to see sick and injured tigers and other wildlife; or visit a local village. Throughout the tour you will be accompanied by park rangers with years of experience to the point that they can recognise some of the big cats by sight.

Beyond being able to cope with the cold and fairly basic conditions while overnighting in the hides (beds are provided of course) you don’t need to be especially fit for these trips. Very little physical exertion is required beyond walking the 1.5km to the hide over flat ground. Winter temperatures can drift between -5°C and -30°C, with heavy snowfall likely.

These tours are tailor made and can even be designed for just one person. Trips run throughout the winter months from November to March; snowfall makes tracking easier, and means food is scarcer so the cats are likely to be more active. You’ll be based in coastal locations where temperatures are not as severe as in other parts of the Russian Far East, though bringing several layers of warm clothing is essential.