Observing India’s Royal Bengals in their natural surroundings is a coveted experience, but habitat degradation and illegal poaching continue to threaten regional tiger populations. Project Tiger, the country’s first government-led conservation venture, has dramatically increased the number of reserves for this endangered big cat subspecies—found exclusively in the Indian subcontinent—from nine to 57 since the 1970s. One of the best places to experience the decades-in-the-making development is the 593-square-mile Bandhavgarh National Park in Madhya Pradesh, a protected reserve that is home to the world’s largest concentration of majestic Bengals, plus dozens of other mammals (sloth bears, leopards, barking deer). Making it ever more attractive to the high-rolling safari set, the park now rubs elbows with the new 21-acre Oberoi Vindhyavilas Wildlife Resort. 

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