Denali National Park is beautiful and a must visit for anyone who is visiting Alaska. Unfortunately we had some bad experiences which we want to share for future travelers.

Firstly in 2024, the park is open to public access only till mile 43 due to recent landslides and you cannot drive for more than first 15 miles in a private vehicle. Post 15th mile you will need to take the bus. We took the narrated bus tour which departed at 6.30 AM in the morning and we were back to bus depot before noon. We took the very first ride under the impression that we would have more opportunities to see wildlife. Initially for the first two hours or so, we didn't see any wildlife, but later once we passed 10 or so miles into the park, we were able to see some Dall sheep and Caribou which were too far from the road and lived far away at the top of the mountains. You could only see them and take good pictures only if you had a great camera and good telephoto lens. Our tour guide kept stressing more on just taking it in and not just focus on the pictures. Well!! we are here to do both. Unfortunately not everyone can afford those expensive lenses.

Our tour guide was good and knowledgeable and gave a good commentary about do's and don'ts and provided good information about the park. One thing we definitely recommend them is to have a radio communication so that they can communicate with other tour buses in case if someone spot any wildlife. But when we asked, driver said they don't prefer to use the radio because it will disturb wildlife. The reason why we visit these parks is for wildlife. If our bus had reached the spot just two mins late, we would have missed a great opportunity to see a Grizzly bear and basically our tour would have been a complete waste of time and money.

I don't understand why the drivers cannot communicate with each other if someone spots a wildlife? You cannot give justification of radio communication disturbing wildlife because the moment the buses enter the park, you are already disturbing the wildlife. If you are that concerned, better not have the tour buses at the first place. Just close the park to the public once and for all. People travel around the country and spend thousands of dollars to visit these parks and they are not here to just hear some commentary about the park and wildlife. We could get an audio guide and do it from home for that.

Advice to future travelers: Do not book this bus tour unless you have a great camera with good telephoto lens. Reason being unless the wildlife is next to your tour bus, you will not be able to take any good pictures because most of them live way too far from the road and going by bus tour is not helpful at all.