Ranthambhore National Park in Rajasthan has the highest concentration of the remaining Bengal tigers in India.
The British Raj was the epitome of
colonialism as the British took rule of India. During their time in India, the
Raj committed many atrocities against the people, the environment, and the
wildlife.
While Ranthambhore National Park is
now a reserve for the protection of animal, it was one of the bastion of
English excess as the British hosted hunts without accountability.
Today, the park is a tourist
attraction for those who want to see the protected Bengal tigers. Located near
Sawai Madhopur, Rajasthan, the park attracts thousands each year to the forest
and the ruins of the old fort.
Ranthambhore Fort
Ranthambhore Fort sits atop the national park.
If you are in passable shape, you should be able to climb the stairs
up to the fort. There are some interesting architectural features on the way up
like a hallway that goes nowhere.
Guides say that the reason for the
design was to fool marauding enemies. Because the fort is build on higher
ground, attacking armies would charge the stairs. When they got to the hallway
platform, if they continued forward in the hallway they were in for a fatal
surprise of a 200-foot dead drop into the ravine below.
Today, the fort ruins is home to
several temples and shrines to many of Hinduism’s gods, tourist shops, and
restaurants. One of the shrines is to the monkey god Hanuman. Ironically, the
shrine is overrun by monkeys who often take liberties with the tourists such as
stealing water bottles or cameras. I was leaning against the wall and felt a
hand push me. It was a monkey who wanted to get past me.
The hunting lodge
Langoor monkeys have taken up a homebase at Ranthambhore Fort’s Hanuman shrine.
We stayed at the Vivanta by Taj Sawai Madhopur hotel which is a converted lodge from the Raj era. The reading room is covered with artefacts, photographs, and other trinkets from that era.
Each day, guests are taken for a
pre-dawn and mid-afternoon safari to see the wildlife in the park. The tours
are at 6 a.m. and 3 p.m. and are timed to get you back to the lodge in time for
breakfast and dinner.
Remember to bring a light jacket or
a long-sleeved shirt on the morning safari because under the forest foliage it
can be quite cold. Temperatures in the morning can be as low as 10 to 12C. But
the moment you leave the park you are back in the 30-plus-degree weather that
is normal in India.
There is an air of authenticity on
the pre-dawn trek where you meet at 5:30 a.m. in the main area of the hotel for
biscuits and tea. It genuinely feels like you are about to go on a hunt,
except, instead of guns, you are armed with cameras.
Unfortunately, we didn’t see any
tigers on our four treks into the forest, but we saw lots of other wildlife
such as blue ox, deer, monkeys, and several bird species.
The guesthouse, mausoleum, and mosque make up the complex of the Taj Mahal in Agra.
One of the world’s greatest sights
has made the Indian city of Agra a major destination. The Taj Mahal was commissioned
in 1632 by Shah Jahan as a tribute to his wife Mumtaz Mahal.
The Taj was constructed on 17
hectares of land which also houses a mosque and a guest house. Emporer Shah
Jahan had the mausoleum built as a tribute to his favourite wife who died in
childbirth.
What makes the Taj Mahal a
spectacular feat of architecture is the attention to detail. When you walk
closer to the main building, you realise the four minarets that surround the
main building are leaning.
The reason for this is because Agra
lies on a tectonic plate and if there were to be an earthquake, the minarets
would fall away from the main building instead of crushing it.
Another thing that is interesting
about the entire complex is its linearity with the exception of one thing.
Everything about the Taj Mahal is
meant to represent a linear theme. The main structure is the in the centre of
the complex The gardens are meant to be the same dimensions on either side of
the courtyard and Mumtaz Mahal’s body lies in the exact centre of the complex.
However, the imperfection is that
Shah Jahan’s body lies next to hers, throwing off the symmetry of the Taj
Mahal.
The reason or this is that Shah
Jahan had commissioned a second Taj, the Black Taj, to be constructed on the
opposite bank of the Yamuna River.
In 1657, as Shah Jahan fell ill, his
four sons waged a war to decide the successor which was Aurangzab who promptly
imprisoned his father in Agra Fort where he remained in prison until his death
in 1666. Shah Jahan requested that his jailers place mirrors in strategic
positions to allow him to see the Taj Mahal from his prison cell.
Where to stay:
We stayed at the Taj Gateway Agra which is about a 15-minute drive
from the Taj Mahal. This large hotel has great gardens with Rajasthani
musicians performing concerts in the evening. Some rooms have a view of the Taj
Mahal, but conditions must be ideal to see it which they rarely are because of
the air pollution and smog.
If you ever wanted to splurge on a
hotel, try the Oberoi Amarvilas which is about 100 yards from the Taj Mahal and
every room has an excellent view of the Taj Mahal. Prices can range from £400
per night in the low to season to £800 per night in the high season. But if you
look at hotel resellers sometimes you can find a deal. I saw one for a July
stay that was £250 per night which is a downright bargaining considering the
normal price.
Getting there:
Agra is one of the points of India’s Golden Triangle with Delhi and
Jaipur which means excellent options for transportation. Oddly, there isn’t an
airport at Agra. There is a military air base but not an airport for commercial
travel. However, there are early developments to build an airport due to the popularity
of the city.
The two most likely ways you will
arrive in Agra will either be by road or rail. The drive takes about three to
four hours and the train slightly shorter, but both are popular means of
getting to Agra from Delhi. We got there on the Shatabdi Express from Bhopal to
Delhi by joining the train at Jhansi.
Safety:
For all intents and purposes, Agra is quite safe. But you still must
be alert to pickpockets and petty criminals. You will be harassed by touts,
beggars, and people trying to sell you souvenirs. Always make sure you that you
do not leave any valuables in some hotel rooms. Ensure that you never pay for
anything upfront such as taxis. Some merchants play a bait and switch game when
it comes to buying larger souvenirs. What they sell you isn’t necessarily what
you will get when you get home if you choose for them to post it to you. It is
best to take your souvenirs with you.
With more than 1.5 billion people,
it would be pretty hard to find somewhere off the beaten track and very quiet
in India, but these places do exist.
Ramathra Fort is a 350-year-old fort
with six rooms in a building and six tents on the courtyard for guests.
One such place is Ramathra Fort in
Karauli, Rajasthan. The fort is located about 200 km south of the Agra to
Jaipur Highway. It is not an easy drive. While you do start off on somewhat tarmacked
roads, you end up on gravel roads and then on single-lane roads where your
driver has to negotiate his way around oncoming traffic, often trucks with just
enough space to fit both vehicles.
But, they say the best places are
hardest to get to because people don’t want to be inconvenienced. The 200-km
trip takes about five hours, which at times will make you question your sanity
for adding this place to your trip. But don’t worry, it is well worth it.
After a five-hour car ride over
every bump and hole in the road, you emerge in the shadow of a fort jutting out
of the side of the Karauli hills. You vehicle pulls into the double gate where
you are met by the owners of the Fort. The Fort has been converted into a hotel
with luxury suites, deluxe rooms, and luxury tents on the courtyard.
That time driving and questioning
yourself becomes all worthwhile when you take your sour lemon drink and climb
up on the rampart and look out at the mustard fields in the farms below and see
and hear nothing. You just take in the peace and quiet and watch the odd wildlife
meander around the fields all the while thinking: “Is this India?”
Just north of you is the Golden
Triangle of Delhi, Agra, and Jaipur with a population of almost 20 million. Add
in tens of thousands of tourists and you have a chaotic mess of people, yet,
here you sit on this rampart wall, not far from the maddening crowds and it is
peaceful.
After several weeks in India, you
will come to treasure these times when you can escape the chaos of the cities.
There isn’t much to do you at the
Fort other than exploration. The owners work in conjunction with the families
in the nearby Ramathra Village by buying food from them and employing some of
them to work at the Fort.
One of the nicest activities is a
guided walk through the village accompanied by a worker who lives there. It is
a truly intimate journey into village life in India. The villagers are
welcoming and friendly and many will be curious about your and willing to take
photographs.
Chances are you will be able to
sample peanuts which are harvested in the villages, a nice snack during your
walk.
You can also have a rowboat on Lake
Karauli or go bird watching. The row, bird watching, and village walk are all
included in the cost of your room. There are also wilderness drives, picnics,
camel rides, and massages on offer for a nominal fee.
Ramathra Fort was a place suggested
to me by a tour organiser and one that I would never have thought to visit. It
is a highly recommended stop and one that will be much-needed after the chaos
of the cities.
Cost: £160 to £260 per
night depending on the season. Price includes all meals, room, village walk,
rowboat ride, and bird watching.
Tip: If you want a short
break, two nights is a good amount of time to book here. Your driver will bring
you here in the mid-afternoon in time to head out for a row on Lake Karauli and
back for dinner. The next day you can do the three-hour village trip in the
morning, relax in the afternoon, and do a bit of bird watching.
The sun rises over the horizon in Varanasi as people enjoy a boat cruise on the Ganges.
Varanasi, the holiest city for
Hindus, is one of the longest inhabited cities in the world, dating back to
1100 BCE. It is a must-see sight on any northern Indian travel itinerary.
The Ganges River flows through
Varanasi from its source high atop the Himalayas at the Gangotri Glacier to the
canal waters of West Bengal that flow into the Bay of Bengal.
It is a place where devout Hindus
come to worship and bathe in the waters of the holy river. It is also a place
where Hindus want to be cremated when they die.
For the non-Hindus, your day in
Varanasi starts very early, as in, 4 a.m. early because you want to be up and
out of your hotel before sunrise. Most days out in Varanasi begin with a
sunrise cruise on the Ganges as you pass by thousands of devotees bathing in
the river, purifying their souls.
Now, for the non-morning people,
there are sunset cruises but why would you want to do that? When the sunrises
are as majestic as they are over Varanasi, it’s worth getting up early to see a
blood-red sun rising over the horizon.
Also at that early hour, it is a
surreal experience to wander around the narrow alleys of Varanasi in which
virtually every building is some sort of shrine or temple. You can see people
receiving their blessings for the day, people making offerings to the gods, and
the odd cow or so having free reign over the city.
But be careful to move to the side
when told as many funeral processions pass through the streets of Varanasi as
mourners take their loved ones to the river to prepare for the evening’s
cremation ceremonies.
Another sight to see in the area is
Sarnath which is sacred for Buddhists because this is the first place Buddha
spoke after achieving enlightenment. It is about 10 km from Varanasi and
accessible through your tour guide or even tuktuk.
Getting in:
The airport is primarily for domestic flights with the exception of
a few daily flights to Nepal and Thailand. Varanasi Junction, Manduadih, and
Mughal Serai Junction are the three main train stations serving Varanasi and
are reachable from major cities around the country.
Getting around:
Certain parts of the city are only accessible by foot such as the
ghats at the Ganges and the labyrinthine alleyways leading to the ghats.
Normally, your tour van will pull up along one of the outer roads and you will
walk to the river.
Where we stayed:
There are a wide range of hotels and other types of accommodations
across Varanasi. On our trip we stayed at the Gateway Varanasi which is part of
the Taj group. It is a very large hotel on 40 acres of gardens complete with
peacocks strutting about the laneways. In tune with the religious nature, the
hotels are in the shape of a swastika, the extremely sacred symbol of Hinduism which
is not to be confused with the sign of hate by the ignorant far right that
hijacked it.
Safety:
Varanasi is a very safe city. There are a few scams about which you
should be aware such as the rickshaw and cremation ghat scams. In the post
about scams, I wrote about the taxi scam which is also the tuktuk scam and
the rickshaw scam. The driver will attempt to con you into believing that the
hotel, sight, restaurant, etc., you want to visit is closed down/burned in a
fire and try to take you somewhere else where they earn a commission for
bringing in people. The ghat scam occurs when people will attempt to tell you
that they are cremators, will explain the process, and take you to areas that
afford you unique views of the area. In return they will ask you for 500 rupees
to pay for wood for the poor.
Harassment:
As a tourist city and a religious city, Varanasi attracts thousands
of visitors everyday which means that you are fair game for touts and beggars.
If you don’t want to spend money or give to beggars don’t say no, don’t even
look at them, and don’t acknowledge their existence. When we visited the ghats,
a man selling necklaces approached our group and our family friend said “maybe
later” to his offer. We took a 45-minute boat ride which dropped us about 1.5
kilometres from where we started and the same man was standing there trying to
sell her the necklaces. He walked 1.5 km to find us and continue his sales
pitch. He followed us through the alleyway, which which time we had somehow
attracted the attention of three other touts and several beggars. They are
relentless and will not leave you alone until you get back into your tour
vehicle and leave. Even if the vehicle waits there, they continue to inundate
you with offers. I think our friend relented and bought one of his necklaces
for about 80 rupees. Talk about the world’s worst salesman, 3 hours to make an
80-rupee sale in a place where tens of thousands of people pass through in a
day.
Respect:
For non-Hindu tourists, always remember Varanasi is a holy city and
a place for pilgrimages and funerals. If you see a funeral in progress, have
some decency and don’t go threading around them to get Instagram moments. It is
extremely rude. How would you feel if you are mourning at a loved one’s funeral
and someone came in for a selfie?
Tips:
There is a lot of mud, cow manure, and water around Varanasi. Also,
you will go into and out of many temples in the city. As such, consider wearing
flip flops because you will have to take them off all the time and they are easy
to clean.
The Victoria Memorial is a remnant of the British Raj. When the British ruled India, Kolkata was a capital city.
You will experience some form of
culture shock when you enter India. We arrived in Kolkata on a red-eye flight
from Dubai at about 8 a.m. Our family friend arrived the evening before and
told us about the hundreds and hundreds of people she saw sleeping on the
pavements of the streets as she was drive to the hotel.
We only saw anecdotal evidence of
homeless people as people were putting their homes away and getting ready for
the day. One of the toughest things is to be in your hotel room and look down
to see children, women, and men asleep beneath your hotel window.
After a short rest, we went on a
boat ride on the Hooghly River which was probably the best thing to do in a jet
lag stupor when you don’t really want to do too much. A relaxing boat ride
provides you a glimpse into the life in Kolkata.
We had just missed the Durga Pooja
based on the evidence of statues and floats being broken down along the
riverside. Durga is a Hindu festival in Kolkata held in October to honour the
goddess Durga. The pooja is a four-day event. The celebrations include pomp and
ceremony and parades to the most powerful form of the Mother Goddess.
On our way back to the hotel, we
drove by Eden Garden, one of the iconic and largest cricket stadia in the
world. It conveys a very tribal atmosphere underpinned by the need to put up a
cross link fence between the stands and the cricket pitch.
We made a stop at Mother Teresa’s
Mission which sits at the opening of one of India’s largest slums. The nuns
continue to provide for the poor partly financed by donations you make at the
museum on the mission’s grounds which includes the tomb of Mother Teresa. It is
a truly spiritual place as many people come to pay tribute to the humanitarian,
some even lie prone in deference.
Our full day in Kolkata the next day
included crossing the Howrah bridge which separates Howrah from Kolkata over the
Hooghly River. Howrah is a somewhat sleepier place compared to the hustle and
bustle of Kolkata.
The Kalighat is one of the major spiritual sights to see in Kolkata.
A trip to Kolkata is not complete
without a visit to the Kalighat and the Kali temples. Kali is the Goddess of
Destruction and has a very large group of worshippers among Hindus. There are
many other spiritual journeys to take in Kolkata such as the Fire Temples of
the Parsi and the Jain Temples that lie along the Hooghly River.
For food, we had to try Fleury’s
which is a Kolkata institution serving tea and pastries since 1927. The other
foods that are must-tries in Kolkata are the Bengali fish curry and the Hakka
Chinese dishes that are extremely popular in the Greater Toronto Area. Dishes
such as chili chicken and Hakka chowmein started in Kolkata and cost a fraction
of what they cost in the west. Bengali fish curry is one of the amazing dishes
of north-eastern India.
Recommended hotel:
We stayed for two nights with early check in at the Oberoi Grand
Hotel. This five-star hotel is in the middle of Kolkata offers a step back to
the days when the British Raj used Kolkata as its capital. The old world hotel
is well appointed including a swimming pool in the middle of the complex from
which you cannot hear the outside world. The hotel is sight of the
threesixtythree restaurant with all day dining and a Thai restaurant called
Baan Thai. In the offseason, a two-night stay is about £250 while the price is
£360 in the high season for two nights.
If you are on a backpacking trip,
most of the hostels can be found around Sudder Street. There are still
British-era clubs in existence such as the Tollygunge Club, Calcutta Club, and
Saturday Club where it is possible to rent a very lavish Raj-era room. However,
you can only do so through a member.
Getting in by air
Fights to Kolkata land at Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International
Airport. The airport is served by all Indian domestic carriers as well as Air
Asia, Biman Bangladesh, Bhutan Airlines, Cathay Dragon, China Eastern, Druk
Air, Emirates, Etihad, Qatar, Singapore Airlines, Sirlankan, and Thai Airways.
By rail:
There are three main stations in Kolkata: Howrah Junction, Sealdah,
and Kolkata. While Howrah Junction is technically not in Kolkata as it is in
Howrah, it is the largest railway station in India with 26 platforms accommodating
600 trains every day. Most of the long distance trains from the west such as
the Delhi trains will stop at Howrah.
Safety
By western standards, Kolkata is a relatively safe city. There are
areas such as Sudder Street where drug dealers tend to do business, but they
tend to keep to themselves. Bag snatchings are rare but they occur so make sure
your belongings are safe.
The Taj Mahal is the most iconic sight in India. Located in Agra, hundreds of millions of people visit the tomb every day.
One of the most visited countries in
the world is India. It offers mystery, folklore, ancient civilisations,
cuisine, and so much more. For my next blog series, I will focus on India as a
traveller’s dream.
I will go from the perspective of
creating a bespoke holiday because, unless you are a very savvy traveller, you
will need help navigating India’s bustling streets, overflowing infrastructure,
and the culture shock.
This is based on my Indian journey in
2011 which I took with my parents and a family friend. At the time, I was still
living in Canada when I planned this journey.
Best time to go
We decided the best time to go would be in October around the
Canadian Thanksgiving. It was not quite high season in India which meant prices
would be a bit cheaper than a few weeks later. The high season in India tends
to be late October to mid-March when the temperatures begin to rise into the
40s. This is when most people will visit India when it is “pleasant” in the
30s.
Air travel
I had been reading all about how great Emirates Airlines were back
in those days. They had made air travel great again (wink, wink). At the time,
they were beginning to roll out their superjumbo Airbus A380 on several routes,
but they were still flying the Boeing 777 to Toronto. So, we decided to fly
with them though Manchester and to include a short visit with my sister and see
the babies Jasmine and Oscar.
We decided to fly business class on
this flight which, at the time, was very reasonable. This was when Emirates was
undercutting the competition by offering fares competitors couldn’t match. Now,
they offer high fares and their service suffers greatly. A perk of flying
Emirates business class is the chauffeur drive programme where they send a car
to pick you up. In the Manchester area, it is a 50-mile radius which meant
Sheffield was well within the zone.
Entry into India
For this one, I did a lot of homework at night to try and understand
how the optimise our time in India. The vast majority of people who go to India
will need a visa. So I started looking into the process which required filling
out an online form, printing it, taking it and your passport to an office and
getting your passport and visa back in about two weeks. Today, it is much
simpler with an e-Visa where you buy the visa online, print the PDF, and carry
it with you. It usually takes a few hours to get an e-Visa.
Researching
Based on my research, I knew that India was way too big to see in a
three-week trip and that I would have to limit it to a region or two. With
life, we have no guarantees which means seeing the most iconic areas on your
first trip. That meant including the Golden Triangle (Delhi, Agra, and Jaipur)
on this trip. The vast majority of people who visit India will visit this
region first. What you do beyond that makes your trip special.
I also felt that we should visit the
former colonial capital of Kolkata, as well as the northern Islamic city of
Lucknow on our trip. Because my grandfather was a practising Hindu, we felt
Varanasi should be put on the trip.
So now with Delhi, Agra, Jaipur,
Kolkata, Lucknow, and Varanasi in mind, we had the skeleton of a trip and I started
to look at suggested itineraries that people have posted on Lonely Planet,
Tripadvisor, and other travel websites. I kept seeing people talk about certain
travel companies that specialise in Indian tours that will put together a
formal trip with hotels and internal transportation. I chose the British-based
company Cox
and Kings for advice on the trip. Other companies that are very reputable
that would provide similar services include Greaves India, an American and
British-based company that we used on our second trip to India; Kuoni, a British agency with offices
across the country, and; Wild
Frontiers, based in London.
These operators have people who are
experts on the areas you are interested in visiting who work exclusively with
Indian tour operators, are very familiar with India, and will ensure that your
holiday is exactly what you wanted.
Basically, I worked with a dedicated
tour agent to fill in the blanks on my skeleton plant. He advised four
additional places that would help create a smooth transition especialy because
this trip was from the east to central Indian. He added in Khajuraho, Orchha,
Ranthambhore National Park, and Ramathra Fort.
Khajuraho is the site of several
ancient temples similar to what you would see at Angkor Wat in Cambodia. It is
a very small village that is only known for the temples which means an
overnight stay is all you need. We flew into Khajuraho from Varanasi and made
our way through the rest of the trip by van from Khajuraho.
Orchha is a medieval town in Madhya
Pradesh. It is best known for for its fort. We stayed for two nights at the
Amar Mahal, a small hotel laid out like an Indian palace with views overlooking
the town below.
The medieval town of Orchha is known for palaces and forts and takes you back in time.
Ranthambhore National Park is in
Sawai Madhopur in Rajasthan and a tiger reserve. It is one of the few places in
the world where you can view Bengal tigers in the wild — if they are out. They
tend to hide away in the foliage. We stayed at the Vivanta by Taj Sawai
Madhopur which is a five-star hotel that used to be a hunting lodge. Getting up
at 5 a.m. having a snack of biscuits and tea or coffee before climbing on board
a jeep and trekking into the forests transports you back to the days of the Raj
and gives you an idea of what it might have been like to be in that era.
My favourite was Ramathra Fort. It
is a place that, unless you know about it, you probably won’t even know it’s
there. Ramathra Fort is in Karauli, Rajasthan, about 200 km south of the Agra
to Jaipur highway. The further off the beaten track you get the more rugged the
drive until you come to a part where one gravel lane serves two directions of
traffic. Imagine a heavy goods truck and a small van trying to get by each
other with 20-foot dead drops on their side of the road. But the journey is is
worth it when you arrive at the Fort which is a hotel with two suites and eight
luxury tents, when you climb up on the rampart wall, look out at the mustard
fields and see no one. Other than the sounds of animals around you, it is peace
and quiet which is even more amazing when you consider that just north of you
is that Golden Triangle with millions and millions of people, bustling traffic,
and non-stop activity.
Tips for planning India
India is one of the places I
would recommend you do not cut costs;
Five-star hotels in India are
not that expensive. You can find great hotels in the five-star range from less
than £100 per night.
Northern India is very
different from Southern India which I will get to in the next post. Where the
south is more laid back, you will be inundated by beggars and touts in the
north and they are relentless. In fact, when they approach you, you shouldn’t even
look at them much less say anything. “No or no thank you” does not work with
them.
A combination of transport
types will allow you to experience India in dfferent ways. We did flights,
train, and road travel.
Always remember to drink
bottled water. You should use it to brush your teeth as well. Caution is a good
thing.
Remember to consult a travel
clinic before you leave to make sure you have your inoculations.
Go vegetarian for the first few
days of your trip to ease the Delhi belly.
Avoid street food as much as
you can. See previous point.
Accept that your tour operator
in India, tour guide, tour manager, driver, etc., make a fixed small wage and
top up their pay with commissions. This means you will be taken to clothing
shops, souvenir shops, perfumeries, etc. to buy things. Every purchase you make
means a commission for them.
Tipping can be almost as
expensive as your journey when you consider that you will have to tip your tour
manager, tour guide, driver, and driver’s assistant. Rule of thumb is that the
tour manager gets about £10 to £20, your tour guide gets about £8 per day per
adult on the tour, £10 per adult per day goes to your driver, and £2 per adult
per day to your driver’s assistant.
In Part 2, I will outline the
planning for the second journey to India which I did in 2013. Subsequent parts
of the series will outline various places I visited and which are highly
recommended.
Taking the road best travelled 