India\’s Big Five. India is a place rich in culture, customs, and traditions. It is also a place with deep historical roots, and in many ways a very atypical place. If you love wildlife and wild beasts, especially cats, you should not miss India\’s national parks, which boast the so-called “Big Five” when visiting this country. India is home to a great variety of wild animals, of which the feline family is the most notable. India is home to five big cats: the Bengal tiger, Asiatic lion, snow leopard, panther, and Indian leopard, and more importantly, if you go to the right places, the odds of seeing them are quite high.
The best national parks for tiger sightings are Bandhavgarh, Ranthambore, Kanha, Pench, Satpura and Corbett.
Leopards are widely distributed throughout India and can be found in the north as well as the south. In the suburbs of Mumbai, they are often seen ransacking garbage dumps.
Snow leopards can also be found near Ladakh, high in the Indian Himalayas. If you visit this area in winter, you are more likely to see snow leopards coming down from the mountains in search of food. It is believed to be an evolutionary link between small cats and large cats. The Kanchenjunga Biosphere Reserve in Sikkim is one of the best places to see leopards.
India is particularly special because Gujrat is home to the last surviving Asiatic lion in the world. The lions are smaller and have thinner pelts than their larger relatives in Africa. The only place where they still live today is in Sasan-Gir National Park.