National Parks in South Asia

Rajasthan’s most famous tiger reserve wraps its dry deciduous forest around a crumbling 10th-century hilltop fort, ruined pavilions and lily-covered lakes. The open terrain and habituated big cats make daytime tiger sightings among the most reliable anywhere in India.

This UNESCO-listed Assamese floodplain along the Brahmaputra shelters roughly two-thirds of the world’s greater one-horned rhinos, alongside wild elephants, swamp deer and a dense tiger population. Elephant-back safaris cross tall elephant-grass and seasonal marshes.

Nepal’s first national park protects sub-tropical Terai jungle where dugout-canoe trips, jungle walks and jeep drives track rhinos, sloth bears, gharial crocodiles and elusive tigers. Tharu villages on its fringes add cultural depth to any visit.

India’s oldest national park, founded in 1936, drapes across the Himalayan foothills where sal forests, grasslands and the Ramganga River sustain tigers, elephants and over 600 bird species. Its Dhikala zone is legendary among enthusiasts.

Once a princely hunting ground in Madhya Pradesh, this compact reserve boasts one of the densest tiger populations in India, plus ancient cave shrines and a hilltop fort. The rolling sal woodland delivers frequent, close encounters.

Sri Lanka’s premier wildlife park pairs coastal lagoons and monsoon scrub with the highest leopard density on earth, along with elephants, sloth bears and crocodiles. Ancient rock temples hidden within the reserve hint at its long human history.

The world’s largest mangrove forest straddles the Ganges delta, its tidal creeks patrolled by the famously elusive swimming tigers. Boat safaris through the labyrinth of channels reveal estuarine crocodiles, spotted deer and rich birdlife.

High in the cold desert of Ladakh, this vast Himalayan reserve is the best place on the planet to track wild snow leopards in winter, when they descend to hunt blue sheep. Guided trekking spotting expeditions run from January to March.

Set around a British-era reservoir in the Kerala hills, this reserve is best explored by boat, drifting past herds of elephants that come to drink. Spice-scented forests, guided nature walks and bamboo rafting round out the experience.

The lush sal forests and rolling meadows that inspired Kipling’s Jungle Book form one of India’s largest and best-managed tiger reserves. It also saved the rare barasingha swamp deer from extinction and offers superb photography.

Encircling the world’s highest peaks including Everest, this UNESCO reserve protects glaciers, deep gorges and rare fauna such as the Himalayan tahr and musk deer. It is trekking country above all, threaded by Sherpa villages and monasteries.

The last refuge of the Asiatic lion, this Gujarat reserve of dry teak forest and rocky hills shelters several hundred of the big cats found nowhere else on earth. Leopards, crocodiles and antelope share its scrubland.