Night Safari in Tadoba and Pench: What’s Allowed in 2026–27

The short answer

Is there a night safari in Tadoba or Pench?

Until 2025, some buffer areas of Tadoba and Pench ran evening-to-night drives with spotlights, mostly in buffer zones. These are the drives that older blog posts and some booking sites still advertise.

On 17 November 2025, in the case known as In Re: Corbett, the Supreme Court held that a complete ban on night tourism must be implemented in tiger reserves, approving the National Tiger Conservation Authority’s position against night tourism. States were directed to frame rules to implement the judgment. Tadoba-Andhari and Pench (both the Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra sides) are notified tiger reserves, so the ban applies to them.

The official Tadoba portal lists only daytime slots: morning, a buffer noon slot and afternoon. We are not booking night safaris at either park, and we suggest you treat any 2026–27 offer of one inside a tiger reserve as a red flag unless the operator can show a current written forest-department permission.

For context

What a night safari in Tadoba and Pench used to be

Night drives ran after the regular evening slot in selected buffer areas, in a Gypsy with a guide and a handheld spotlight. They were short, a few vehicles at most, and focused on animals that are active after dark.

Common sightings included Indian civets, jungle cats, nightjars, owls, hares, porcupines, sambar and occasionally a leopard or tiger on a road. They were popular with photographers and families, but they also disturbed animals during their main hunting hours, which is the reason conservation bodies pushed to end them.

The reasoning

Why night tourism was stopped

• Many predators and prey animals are most active at night; vehicles and lights interfere with hunting and movement.
• Spotlights can temporarily blind animals and birds and make them vulnerable.
• Night traffic increases the risk of road kills; the Court also called for dusk-to-dawn closure of roads through core areas, except emergencies.
• Night tourism is harder to monitor for rule-breaking, from speeding to off-track driving.
• The judgment sits alongside other limits in the same order: no mobile phones in core tourism zones and tourism that “cannot resemble mass tourism”.

What you can still do

Former night safari vs the legal alternatives

How we would plan it

How to see nocturnal wildlife without a night safari

1. 1

   Book evening slots in late spring

   From May, Tadoba’s evening slot runs 3:00–7:00 pm, the latest legal window of the year. Light falls fast after 6:30 pm, and animals start moving.

2. 2

   Choose buffer gates near water and villages

   Leopards, jackals and jungle cats use the buffer edge. Our best buffer zones in Tadoba guide covers which ones.

3. 3

   Take the first morning slot

   The first hour after the gate opens catches animals still active from the night, and the clearest pugmarks.

4. 4

   Pick a lodge with a quiet, dark campus

   Many lodges near the forest edge have owls, nightjars and frogs on their grounds after dinner. Stay on lit paths and follow lodge rules; no spotlighting.

5. 5

   Bring the right kit

   A fast lens and a camera that handles high ISO, plus binoculars. Flash on wildlife is not allowed.

The legal windows

Tadoba safari timings (core) by season

Source: Tadoba-Andhari Tiger Reserve official portal, checked October 2026. Pench timings differ between the MP and Maharashtra sides; see Pench safari timings and rules.

Who comes out as the light fades

Nocturnal and dusk animals of Tadoba and Pench

“Chance” is our field judgement for the final hour of a legal evening drive, not a promise. Animals that are strictly nocturnal are rarely seen before the gate closes.

The night shift you can still see

Owls and nightjars: the best of the dark

Central India’s forests hold several owls that show up at dusk: the Indian eagle owl on rocks and banks, the brown fish owl near rivers and lakes, and the small spotted owlet and jungle owlet, which often call from bare branches in the last light. Nightjars rise off the tracks as the sun goes down.

Many forest-edge lodges have owls and nightjars on their own grounds after dinner. Ask your naturalist to listen with you on a lit path; no spotlights, no playback calls.

For photographers

Photographing in the last legal light

• Use your fastest lens (f/2.8–f/4) and accept ISO 6400 or more.
• Switch the engine off when the animal is still, to stop vibration.
• Shoot short bursts; low shutter speeds blur moving animals.
• Do not use flash on wildlife. It is not allowed and it ruins the frame.
• Leave enough time to reach the exit gate before closing; late exits are penalised.

If a night drive matters to you

What about night safaris elsewhere in India?

The Supreme Court’s night-tourism ban applies to tiger reserves. Night drives may still exist in some zoo-style safari parks and places outside tiger reserves, but these are controlled environments, not wild forest. We do not sell them as wildlife safaris.

If an operator advertises a “night jungle safari” near a tiger reserve, ask three questions: is the area inside the reserve or its buffer, which order permits it, and who issues the permit? A legitimate activity has clear answers to all three.