On his first trip to India (from 24 November, 1927, till 20 April, 1928), Mannerheim hunted in the neighbourhood of the Indian and Nepalese border, with Colonel Faunthorpe as his host. Elephants were used in the difficult terrain of the jungle. Mannerheim never managed to shoot a tiger. There was another hunting ground in Seon, about 700 kilometres south of Delhi. The chief of the district, Mr Bourne, acted as Mannerheim’s host this time. Eventually his hunting trips extended to Burma in Farther India, but the hunting of a rare species of deer was not successful.

On his second trip to India (from November 1936 till April 1937), Mannerheim’s hunting host was Colonel Bailey. A greater number of elephants were now available, and two tigers were surrounded. The next host was the Maharadja of Nepal, who had 200 elephants at his disposal. Mannerheim shot a tiger, 323 centimetres in length. After this event he once more managed to shoot a tiger, his fourth, in the company of Colonel Bailey.