KEEN to see tigers in their natural habitat? Then good news: a census released in July showed that the big cat’s numbers in India’s parks — where an estimated 70 per cent of the species reside — rose from 2,226 in 2014 to 2,967 in 2018.

All the more reason, then, to sign up for Hayes & Jarvis’s two-week In Search Of Tigers itinerary. Available privately on dates of your choice, it takes in three national parks and one dedicated tiger reserve in central India, and uses upmarket ecolodges.

Before any of that comes a dawn tour of India’s headline building. A mausoleum built by Shah Jahan in memory of his queen Mumtaz Mahal, the Taj Mahal is best experienced as sunrise paints its elegant marble columns pink.

Then come those parks, with at least a day and a half spent in each. Kanha, the largest, is dominated by grassy plains. At Bandhavgarh, dry, rocky outcrops enclose a 2,000-year-old fort. Pench features a reservoir, while least-visited Tadoba is densely forested.

With each park housing a large, similarly sized Bengal tiger population, your chances of sightings can hinge on the time of year. ‘Visibility is better between March and May when it’s hot and dry,’ says product manager Rowan Goldthorp. ‘There’s less undergrowth and the tigers must use waterholes.’

So why are tiger numbers rising? ‘There is excellent work being carried out by organisations such as Project Tiger,’ says Goldthorp.

With all four parks boasting distinct vegetation, each therefore features animals beyond the famous feline. Visitors to Kanha see bison and monkeys, while multicoloured pitta birds patrol Pench and you’ve good odds of spying leopards and sloth bears at Tadoba. There’s also time for an overnight train journey en route to Bandhavgarh.

‘This is more about the experience than any luxury,’ Goldthorp says. ‘Berths convert into beds and are in shared compartments so it’s a good chance to make some friends and experience the real India.’

Claws are out

Some scientists queried India’s tiger-census results after the recent one showed a 30 per cent population jump in four years. Conservation zoologist K Ullas Karanth criticised the statistical model used, adding that ‘estimated leaps of more than 100 per cent in just four years, reported for some states, are also not plausible’. India vigorously defends its findings.

■ From £3,699 pp B&B, including flights, all transfers, all-inclusive on safari and entry fees, hayesandjarvis.co.uk