Our 200,000th traveller interview
Our lucky 200,000th customer, Karin Weston, saw an incredible 12 tigers on her wildlife holiday to Central India in December 2023. We caught up with Karin to hear more about her trip, and about what it’s like to travel solo as a retiree.
Image credit: Saurabh Agrawal
Thanks for being our 200,00th customer, Karin! Could you share some of the highlights of your trip to India?
The tigers. That was the whole point of the trip for me! I’ve been to India quite a few times, and I love cats, so I just wanted to see tigers on this trip. I didn’t want to see anything else.
You saw 12 tigers! That must have been an incredible experience.
Yes, the big excitement, the big joy was seeing so many tigers. It was fantastic. There was one – I think it was a three-year-old male – that was just lying there. The guides reckoned he’d just been eating something and you could just see the head, it was so big!
Later in the tour, in Satpura, we had to cross a river to get to the main reserve. The guide knew there was a tiger in the undergrowth. At first I couldn’t see it, but he said, “She’s there – she’s probably got her two cubs with her.” Then, all of a sudden, we saw this huge paw come up as if she was just waving and turning over.
Image credit: Kandukuru Nagarjun
Did you see any other wildlife during the trip?
We saw lots of spotted deer because, of course, they’re tiger food. Towards the end, we saw two sloth bears together. I wasn’t expecting to see sloth bears at all because all the information said they were so rare. We stayed with them for about 45 minutes. There was nobody else – we were the only 4x4 there, just following them slowly. It was very special.
Did travelling with a local guide give you more insight into the reserves and conservation?
Without a doubt. The owner and local guides were very knowledgeable. I learnt that in the five reserves I visited no more than 20 percent of each reserve is open to visitors; 80 percent is left for all the wildlife.
The Project Tiger conservation programme has been very successful in breeding tigers in India. They were talking about transferring tigers to other reserves because they were running out of space to support more tigers. It was interesting to hear all about it.
You joined the trip as a solo traveller. Do you have advice for anyone who wants to travel now that they’re retired?
I would say choose a small group tour and go for it! If you’re looking to travel with people who are like-minded, interested in where you’re going, or in whatever it is you're seeing, then don’t hesitate.
People often say to me, “Oh, I don’t know how you can travel on your own.” But I pick tours where the people joining me are all there because we want to be there. We all have the same interest, so of course we’re going to get on.
You mention that the trip felt very respectful of local communities and the reserves you visited.
Towards the end of the trip I asked Saurabh, the owner, why he’d called the holiday company Chinkara, and he explained that a chinkara is a small Indian gazelle with a very small footprint. That appealed to me.
Then I asked him how he’d chosen the lodges because they were all very pleasant, the people were very nice, and were all run by or employed local people. Saurabh said these were some of the things he was looking for in accommodation.
The other thing he looked for was how they were recycling and disposing of waste. They were all recycling organic waste in some way or another, usually making compost for local farmers.
Is there anything else you’d like to add?
All I would say is go as soon as you can!
When I retired, some of the best advice I had was to do all the energetic trips first. You can save the cruising until later!
As a thank you for being our 200,000th customer and sharing her story with us, Karin receives a voucher for £500 off her next holiday through Responsible Travel. She says Mongolia is calling…
» Read more about Karin's India wildlife tour.
Thanks for being our 200,00th customer, Karin! Could you share some of the highlights of your trip to India?
The tigers. That was the whole point of the trip for me! I’ve been to India quite a few times, and I love cats, so I just wanted to see tigers on this trip. I didn’t want to see anything else.
You saw 12 tigers! That must have been an incredible experience.
Yes, the big excitement, the big joy was seeing so many tigers. It was fantastic. There was one – I think it was a three-year-old male – that was just lying there. The guides reckoned he’d just been eating something and you could just see the head, it was so big!
Later in the tour, in Satpura, we had to cross a river to get to the main reserve. The guide knew there was a tiger in the undergrowth. At first I couldn’t see it, but he said, “She’s there – she’s probably got her two cubs with her.” Then, all of a sudden, we saw this huge paw come up as if she was just waving and turning over.
Did you see any other wildlife during the trip?
We saw lots of spotted deer because, of course, they’re tiger food. Towards the end, we saw two sloth bears together. I wasn’t expecting to see sloth bears at all because all the information said they were so rare. We stayed with them for about 45 minutes. There was nobody else – we were the only 4x4 there, just following them slowly. It was very special.
Did travelling with a local guide give you more insight into the reserves and conservation?
Without a doubt. The owner and local guides were very knowledgeable. I learnt that in the five reserves I visited no more than 20 percent of each reserve is open to visitors; 80 percent is left for all the wildlife.
The Project Tiger conservation programme has been very successful in breeding tigers in India. They were talking about transferring tigers to other reserves because they were running out of space to support more tigers. It was interesting to hear all about it.
You joined the trip as a solo traveller. Do you have advice for anyone who wants to travel now that they’re retired?
I would say choose a small group tour and go for it! If you’re looking to travel with people who are like-minded, interested in where you’re going, or in whatever it is you're seeing, then don’t hesitate.
People often say to me, “Oh, I don’t know how you can travel on your own.” But I pick tours where the people joining me are all there because we want to be there. We all have the same interest, so of course we’re going to get on.
You mention that the trip felt very respectful of local communities and the reserves you visited.
Towards the end of the trip I asked Saurabh, the owner, why he’d called the holiday company Chinkara, and he explained that a chinkara is a small Indian gazelle with a very small footprint. That appealed to me.
Then I asked him how he’d chosen the lodges because they were all very pleasant, the people were very nice, and were all run by or employed local people. Saurabh said these were some of the things he was looking for in accommodation.
The other thing he looked for was how they were recycling and disposing of waste. They were all recycling organic waste in some way or another, usually making compost for local farmers.
Is there anything else you’d like to add?
All I would say is go as soon as you can!
When I retired, some of the best advice I had was to do all the energetic trips first. You can save the cruising until later!
As a thank you for being our 200,000th customer and sharing her story with us, Karin receives a voucher for £500 off her next holiday through Responsible Travel. She says Mongolia is calling…
» Read more about Karin's India wildlife tour.
