Suggestions for destinations in India? (1 Viewer)

This year I'm turning 30 and so planning to do some big trip somewhere, and after a bit of looking round at places I've wanted to go, India turned up as somewhere it was cheaper to get to than I had previous realised at certain airports to the point where they are within my budget.

This presumably makes the main options for a base as New Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Kochi or similar.

The problem is that India is of course a huge country and while there are a whole host of birds and other animals I'd love to see, they are not really in the same place.

So I guess the question is, if people were to recommend one area which

a) Preferably had the opportunity for some big charismatic animals like elephants/tigers/leopards etc
b) Wasn't a malaria risk zone to save money there
c) Had some cool birding (some specialties of India would be nice)

What would be places people have had good experiences with?

You can do North-West from Dehli, with Bharatpur, Chambal, Ranthambore and Corbett. This is many people's first overseas birding and plenty of trip reports exist on cloudbirders. Your costs would depend mostly from if you avoid being talked into hiring a car with a driver for all of the trip, and taking expensive hotels and restaurants. Indian touts are really persuasive, in a meek kind of way. Lots of spectacular birds and big mammals including tigers.

Alternatively you can do South-West from Kochi to Bangalore. I did it only with a tour guide Eldhose for 100EUR a day, if this is within your budget I highly recommend him. Smaller distances, little walking, fewer species but more endemics of India, less big mammals, but you will see wild elephants, axis deer and monkeys etc. You can wait to do it until you are 75.

There not much malaria in these regions of India in winter, it is best to ask locally if it is worth taking anti-malarial pills.

I went from Kochi to Trivandrum, around £25 for a driver and car including a good tip for most legs of the journey. We started at Hornbill camp and took in most of the good wildlife areas on the way down over 3 weeks. Didn’t cost much, malaria very low risk, no tout hassle in Kerala and lots of good birding. Tiger sounds difficult , we just saw footprints. Still in touch with a good man in Munnar who knows lots of off beaten track areas for birds and animals.

I would recommend something along the lines of Jurek's first suggestion with the addition of Jaisalmer and the Naini Tal area.