Travellers Tales
An intoxicating medley of colours and cultures, art and architecture, languages and landscapes, wherever you go in India and whatever you want to experience, a journey here is guaranteed to leave an indelible mark on you.
1. Please specify where you have visited in India?
We love India and have travelled extensively around the country visiting Darjeeling, Shimla, Chennai, Bangalore, Kerala, Hyderabad, Rajasthan, Madyha Pradesh, Mumbai, Kolkata and lastly Delhi
2. What made you decide on this particular tour of India?
We love Mumbai and it makes a great beginning and end to a trip. When we go away we like to visit a few places we have seen before as well as new places for a totally new experience, such as Bandhavgarh and Kanha. When we go back to somewhere we have been before we don’t simply visit the same monuments or buildings, instead we look at something new, for example, we went to the Raj Bhawan on our last trip to Kolkata and this time, for the first time, we did a walking tour of Delhi.
3. You visited Khajuraho – can you tell us a little about your visit to the temple complex and the site? Were some of the carvings a little risqué?
Khajuraho was really enjoyable but it was a little bit more touristy than we thought it would be. The temples are magnificent but they are more like museums and the interaction with the locals that you get in working temples gives a different feel to the site. The carvings are a little bit risqué, after all this is the home of the Kamasutra.
4. Having visited Bandhavgarh and Kanha National Parks – can you tell me a little about the difference between the two parks?
Is viewing wildlife in India a different experience from an African safari? An Indian and African safari are extremely different beasts. The African set up works extremely well and has a much more established infrastructure – lodges are more luxurious and the National Park operators have learn’t to cut the bureaucracy to a minimum so that the visitor experience is paramount. In India you have to wait to be assigned routes in the coldness of pre-dawn, which can be a little tedious. Once out on safari viewing a tiger is by no means guaranteed, they are shy and can be extremely elusive, when we were there only a few people staying at the lodge managed to see a tiger, and it was probably the same one again and again. You have to go with an open mind and be prepared to deal with the bureaucracy that India is famous for.
5. Viewing tigers is an essential part of any trip to India and must be an amazing experience. But what other animals did you see, and did anything come close to seeing tigers?
Tigers are simply magnificent and there isn’t anything comparable to see out there. We aren’t bird watchers but some of our fellow guests were and they loved the exotic birdlife on offer. There are deers and wild boar about but they simply don’t have a patch on a tiger.
6. You stayed at two lovely properties – the Mahua Kothi Lodge and the Banjaar Tola Lodge – can you tell us a little bit about what made these safari lodges so good?
The lodges were both shaped more in the African mould – the Indians have adapted the African model to suit their own needs. We preferred the Banjaar Tola Lodge, it had a beautiful river nearby and was well managed.
7. You also visited a selection of old colonial towns and historical sites around Kolkata. Had these been preserved well and did the history come across well in a different era?
We visited the town of Serampore, where we had a great guide, and spent a day looking at everything on offer, However, the highlight for us was seeing the beautifully preserved Flagstaff House in Barrackpore. Originally the home of the Military Secretary of the Governor General who constructed a very English and colonial building in the early 19th century.
8. During the trip you visited three of India’s most important cities – Delhi, Kolkata and Mumbai – which did you prefer and was there a marked difference between them all?
Delhi, Kolkata and Mumbai are very different – the Taj Palace Hotel in Mumbai is an amazing hotel – it is on the pricey side, but extremely luxurious and very worth it. Kolkata we love and have been there many times, and are returning in a couple of months for a week to see some friends. We stayed in the Delhi Imperial, which while great seemed to attrach more of a tour group crowd, we are slightly more used to individual properties that don’t attract big groups.
9. If one experience will stick in your mind from your holiday to India, which would it be?
Dawn. Both in the Falaknuma Hyderabad and the Taj Palace Mumbai, where we got up at 5.30am and sat in the peaceful courtyard listening to the city waking up.
10. Would you be happy to recommend Greaves to a friend and if so, why?
We always tell our friends about Greaves, we don’t know how you do it but you manage to cut through all the bureaucracy without getting flustered and deliver a seamless experience to your customers. The last trip went off without a hitch and even when we wanted to make some last minute amendments Greaves did it with the minimum of fuss.
For more details and how to book visit Greaves India or telephone 020 7487 9111
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