Sri Lanka Minneriya National Park, Sri lanka

This is a nature reserve, less famous and more disciplined than Yala (drivers don't race around the place) but still packed with birds and animals including elephant herds. The diversity and density is surprising; we saw crocodiles, giant hornets nests, peacocks, eagles with nests, buffalo and them elephants all within 20 minutes of starting out.

Telephoto lens with image stabilization is strongly advised. You're typically shooting from the back of a specially designed Land-rover or Truck

Actually, we we collected from Colombo airport by a photographic tour guide. We planned where we wanted to go, how long for and where to stay and he just took us there. At places like this reserve, he phoned in advance so that we didn't queue.