Into The Wild This Holiday Season with Taj Hotels and Palaces

PHOTO: Taj Safaris

For thrill seekers this holiday season, eating turkey and buying holiday gifts certainly doesn’t fill up the adrenaline gauge. If heli-skiing in Chile isn’t your style, then consider the over 100 years of hospitality the Taj Hotels and Palaces bring to the table with their four wilderness Taj Safaris in the Indian jungle a la The Jungle Book.

PHOTO: Taj Safaris

Bandhavgarh National Park:

Situated in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh, Bandhavgarh National Park is a renowned cat reserve, densely populated with tigers and leopards. The landscape is dramatic: tropical forests and woodlands stretching as far at the eye can see and steep rocky hills with flat grasslands in the valleys below. Plus, with an ancient 2000 year old fort, a 10th century statue of Lord Vishnu, and the dense Sal jungle combined with the grasslands, this makes Bandhavgarh one of the most extraordinary parks in India.

PHOTO: Taj Safaris

Pench National Park:

While everyone is familiar with Mowgli from Rudyard Kipling's classic tale, The Jungle Book, not many are aware that the forest in The Jungle Book, home to Shere Khan, Kaa, bandar-log and many more characters, is Pench National Park. One of Central India's lesser known reserves, Pench National Park is situated in the Seoni and Chhindwara districts of Madhya Pradesh and is a birdwatcher' s paradise. Three hundred fascinating and beautiful species fill the skies with their calls. Parakeets, hornbills, kingfishers, barbets, minivets, orioles, wagtails and a host of majestic raptors, including the crested serpent eagle, crested hawk eagle and white-eyed buzzard.

PHOTO: Pashan Garh in Panna National Park

Madhya Pradesh, Panna National Park:

Situated in the Vindhya Hill range and spread over the Panna and Chhatarpur districts in the northern part of Madhya Pradesh, Panna National Park is the most important protected area in the north-central highlands of India. It is what links the eastern and western populations of wild animals through the Vindhya ranges. And the road crosses the Ken river, where some stretches have been declared a crocodile sanctuary famous for Ghariyal, a rare fish eating crocodile.

Kahna National Park:

In 1973, when Project Tiger was launched to save the tiger, Kanha was one of the nine reserves selected for the project and is famed for being a prime tiger country. Herds of animals inhabit the central parklands, where approximately 22 animal species are regularly spotted, including unique species such as the three-striped palm squirrel, common langur, jackal, wild pig and black buck.