Rajaji National Park, Chilla

The tiger reserve begins directly across the river from the ghats. Chilla is the zone nearest Haridwar, with jeep loops of 30–35 km inside 820 square kilometres of Shivalik forest; the morning drive leaves around 6:30 and the afternoon one around 13:30, each lasting two to two and a half hours. Above all this is elephant country: wild herds, more than three hundred bird species, leopards and a growing tiger population. The season runs 15 November to 15 June, elephant-back safaris returned in December 2025 after a seven-year pause, and in the winter peak jeeps want booking two or three days ahead.

Wild elephants and Shivalik forest twenty minutes from the ghats, mid-November to mid-June