Extended journeys
Beyond the Safari
01 / 04
Culture
The parks we work in sit in landscapes people have lived in for centuries: herders, painters, monks, farmers. An hour with them, hosted on their terms and paid fairly, often explains the wildlife better than a drive can. We keep it small, unhurried and by invitation.
Beyond the drive
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01
Gond painting, explained by painters
Gond painting grew from the wall and floor art of villages such as Patangarh in Madhya Pradesh. An artist-led session shows how forest, animals and myth carry into the work.
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02
Walking with Rabari herders
Around Jawai, Rabari herders share granite hills with leopards. A hosted walk with a herding family adds the human side of that coexistence.
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03
A Buddhist morning in Spiti
Key and Tabo are working monasteries, not museums. Visitors can sit quietly through morning prayers where the monastery allows it.
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04
The Corbett heritage trail
Residents of Chhoti Haldwani, the village Jim Corbett built near Kaladhungi, guide a walk of about 3.5 km past the Corbett Wall to his former home, now a museum.
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05
Mara conservancies, from the inside
Many Mara conservancies run on land leased from Maasai landowners. A conversation with a Maasai guide explains how lease income, grazing and wildlife fit together.
Paired with the parks
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Patangarh village (Gond painting)
Bandhavgarh
Widely described as the home of Gond painting, which received a GI tag in 2023.
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Bera and the Rabari herding villages
Jawai
Inside the Jawai leopard landscape, around the 1957 Jawai dam.
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Chhoti Haldwani and the Jim Corbett Museum
Corbett
Near Kaladhungi, on the southern side of the Corbett landscape.
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Key Monastery and Kibber village
Spiti
Key, the largest gompa in Spiti, is about 12 km from Kaza.
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Mysore Palace
Kabini
Roughly 1.5 to 2 hours by road from the Kabini side of Nagarhole.
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Mara community conservancies
Kenya
Conservancies across the Mara, many built from leased Maasai-owned land.
A sample day at Jawai
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06:00
Hills at first light
A morning drive through the granite outcrops at the hour leopards are most often seen moving. A sighting is never guaranteed.
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09:30
Breakfast and rest
A slow late morning. The day is long and the pace is yours.
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11:30
Ranakpur's marble halls
A short drive to the fifteenth-century Jain temple and its carved pillars.
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16:00
With a herding family
A hosted, paid visit with a Rabari family as the herds come in, at their invitation and their pace.
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19:30
Dinner and the day's frames
Your photographer goes through the day with the group.
Questions
They must not be. We do not book performances put on for visitors. Any visit is arranged with the hosts, paid to them directly, and kept to a small group. If a community would rather not host, we do not go.
Most visits are short and on level ground. The Corbett heritage trail is about 3.5 km over roughly two hours. Monastery visits in Spiti involve steps at high altitude.
Cover shoulders and knees, and take off shoes where asked. Walk clockwise around Buddhist stupas and prayer wheels. Some Jain temples do not allow leather.
The central and western Indian parks are usually visited from October to June. In Spiti, winter is snow leopard season. We confirm opening dates for your year when we plan.
02 / 04
Festival
Many of India's great festivals fall inside the safari season. Planned around the right week, a trip can add an evening of classical dance below Khajuraho's temples, a morning in the Holi crowds of Braj or a monastery courtyard in Ladakh in winter. Most follow the lunar calendar, so we confirm the dates for your year when we plan.
Beyond the drive
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01
Dance below the temples
The Khajuraho Dance Festival is a week of classical Indian dance, performed at night on an open-air stage in front of the Western Group of Temples. It is usually held in February.
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02
Holi in Braj
In the days before Holi, Barsana and Nandgaon hold Lathmar Holi: the women of one village drive back the men of the other with sticks, in clouds of color. It is crowded, loud and best seen with someone who knows it.
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03
Elephants through Mysuru
Mysuru Dasara ends on Vijayadashami with the Jamboo Savari, a procession of decorated elephants through the city. Each evening of the festival, Mysore Palace is lit with tens of thousands of bulbs.
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04
Masked dances in winter
Through the snow leopard months, monasteries near Leh hold cham, masked dance festivals in their courtyards, among them Spituk Gustor in January and Dosmoche in February.
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05
A fort festival near Jawai
Rajasthan Tourism's three-day Kumbhalgarh Festival brings folk music, dance and crafts to the fort walls, usually in early December.
Paired with the parks
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Khajuraho Dance Festival
Panna
Khajuraho is about 25 km from Panna's Madla gate. Usually in February.
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Lathmar Holi, Barsana and Nandgaon
Bharatpur
In the lunar month of Phalguna, usually February or March, the week before Holi.
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Mysuru Dasara
Kabini
Navaratri to Vijayadashami, usually September or October. Mysuru is about two hours from Kabini.
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Spituk Gustor and Dosmoche, Leh
Ladakh
January and February, in snow leopard season. Leh is about two to three hours from Ulley.
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Kumbhalgarh Festival
Jawai
Usually early December, at Kumbhalgarh Fort.
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Pushkar Camel Fair
Jawai
In the lunar month of Kartik, usually October or November. About five hours by road.
A sample festival day from Panna
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06:00
Morning drive
A safari in Panna, about the wildlife.
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10:00
Rest
Breakfast, a slow late morning, and the morning's frames.
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15:30
To Khajuraho
About 25 km, half an hour by road from the Madla side.
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16:30
The temples in late light
The Western Group of Temples before the performances begin.
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19:00
The dance festival
An evening of classical dance with the temples lit behind the stage.
Questions
Holi, Dasara, the Pushkar fair and the Ladakh monastery festivals follow the lunar calendar and move by weeks from one year to the next. We confirm the dates for your year before anything is booked.
The core zones of the central Indian tiger reserves, Panna and Bandhavgarh among them, are closed from July 1 to September 30. Most of the festivals here fall in the October to March season. We check both calendars against your dates.
Seal the camera in a plastic cover and keep your phone in a zip bag. Color gets everywhere. Wear old clothes that cover you, and oil your skin and hair so the color washes out.
Holi in Braj is very crowded. Stay with your group and your leader, keep to busy streets, and say no firmly to color you do not want.
03 / 04
Landscape photography
A wildlife photograph is only as good as its setting: granite, high desert, river gorge, open plain. Landscape sessions are led by photographers, timed around light rather than a checklist, and give the slower hours of a trip a purpose.
Beyond the drive
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01
Blue hour on Jawai granite
Rounded granite domes and the Jawai reservoir, before sunrise and after sunset, when the rock turns warm.
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02
Night sky over Spiti
Spiti's thin, dry air suits long exposures of the night sky. Frost and wind shape the plan.
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03
Monastery on the ridge
Key Monastery's white tiers above the Spiti river, a composition that changes hour by hour.
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04
Fort walls over forest
From Ranthambore Fort the view takes in lakes, ruins and dry forest, the setting behind the park's best-known tiger images.
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05
Plains and weather in the Mara
Open grassland, single trees and storm light: composing the animal inside its place.
Paired with the parks
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Chandratal lake
Spiti
A crescent lake at about 4,300 m over Kunzum Pass. Summer only; snowbound in the snow leopard months.
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Chicham bridge and the Kibber gorge
Spiti
A high suspension bridge between Kibber and Chicham.
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Jawai dam and the granite hills
Jawai
A 1957 reservoir among the leopard hills.
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Ranthambore Fort viewpoints
Ranthambore
Inside the park.
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The Ken river
Panna
Panna Tiger Reserve lies along the Ken.
A sample day in Spiti, from Kaza
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06:30
Key at sunrise
A short drive to frame the monastery as first light reaches the ridge.
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10:00
Rest and review
Warm up, eat, and edit the morning's frames. Rest is part of acclimatizing.
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13:00
Kibber and Chicham
Gorge and bridge compositions at around 4,200 m, taken slowly.
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17:00
Valley light
Low light across the Spiti riverbed from a roadside vantage.
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20:30
The night sky
A short session close to the homestay, weather permitting.
Questions
Plan not to fly. India regulates drones closely, and protected areas and monuments are generally off-limits. If you want aerial work, tell us early and we will check what is possible for your dates.
Kaza is about 3,800 m, and Key and Kibber are higher. We build in a gradual approach and at least two nights in Kaza before going higher. See your doctor before you travel.
A wide-to-standard zoom, a sturdy travel tripod and spare batteries. Batteries drain quickly in the cold.
04 / 04
People photography
Portraits come from time spent and permission given. We work with hosts who have agreed to be photographed, pay them for that time, and share the pictures back where we can. If someone says no, the camera goes down.
Beyond the drive
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01
Ask first, then wait
Every session opens with an introduction and a clear request, through an interpreter where needed. A camera is never raised before that.
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02
Herders at the day's end
Rabari herders around Jawai bring their animals home at dusk, photographed only with the family's consent.
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03
Homestay life in Kibber
Kibber's winter homestays and snow leopard spotters support many households. Portraits here come from staying, not passing through.
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04
Artists at work
Gond painters photographed at work, and credited by name whenever an image is published.
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05
Guides and rangers
In the Mara, Maasai guides and conservancy rangers, photographed for their work rather than for a costume.
Paired with the parks
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Bera and the Rabari villages
Jawai
Within the Jawai leopard landscape.
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Kibber village
Spiti
About 4,270 m, with a winter homestay and spotter economy built around snow leopard visitors.
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Chhoti Haldwani
Corbett
Its heritage trail is run by the village's own residents.
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Patangarh (Gond artists)
Bandhavgarh
Home of a well-known family of Gond painters.
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Mara conservancies
Kenya
With conservancy guides and rangers, not the high-volume cultural villages.
A sample day at Corbett
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06:00
Morning drive
A safari in the park, about the wildlife.
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10:30
To Kaladhungi
A drive to Chhoti Haldwani on the southern edge of the landscape.
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11:30
The heritage trail
A village guide leads the walk. Portraits happen only where people agree.
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13:30
Lunch
A slow lunch before heading back.
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17:00
Editing and sharing back
Choose frames to print or send to the people in them.
Questions
Hosts are paid for their time through the arrangement, not with cash handed over per picture. That habit turns portraits into transactions.
Only with a parent's clear consent, and never as the point of a visit.
Commercial use generally needs a signed release. Ask your leader before the session.
A short telephoto, around 85 to 135 mm, lets you work at a respectful distance without hiding behind a long lens.