Tigers and India are the image of the Raj and romantic India. Unfortunately the reality is that tigers are now rare and endangered in India with only around 1400 left in the country. So to see tigers, in their natural habitat is not an easy quest, which is why so many wildlife enthusiasts come to Rathambore National Park, in Rajasthan.

Tiger, Rathambore National Park, India

Rathambore is a unique sanctuary for wild tigers, adjacent to the ancient town and fort of the same name, which dates from 944. The park has always has been home to tigers for a 1000 years,  Before the tigers were protected, Rathambore was a hunting ground for the ruling royal family. These days the only hunting allowed is with a very long telephoto lens. Only 3.5 hours by private car from Jaipur and its bustling streets Rathambore is a world away.

The National Park is a walled off area which includes ancient monuments and temples. The tigers don’t have it all to themselves though, there are also leopards, stripped hyenas, sambar deer, peacock, monkeys, sloths, bears and even some Egyptian crocodiles, imported when a local Maharajah liked the look of them!

Accommodation in the park is camping - but this is glamour camping (glamping) on a scale the even the Australian upmarket camps look decidedly middle-class . The camp, Aman-i-Khas is created anew after each monsoon which only the concrete pads of the tents remain for. I use the term “tent” in the Maharaja sense of the word. This is tent with four rooms including ensuite and enclosed verandah. Hot water and top-of-the-range toiletries are to hand of course as is room service. Air-conditioning too! The only thing not available is a TV - there’s one in the library-tent dear the dining-tent. A spa tent offering Indian massages to smooth away all those aches and pains from riding in the back of an Indian jeep. This is most definitely 5-star luxury camping.
Pre-dinner drinks are offering around the roaring fire and there is even a temple-like swimming pool to cool off in. Aman-i-Khas is approximately 3.5 hours south of Jaipur which has international connections or is a quick 1/2 hour flight from New Delhi. Guests can travel accompanied, in First Class train comfort: always an interesting way to see India. Alternatively a car and driver will take around the same time or helicopter transfers are available.

Once you are through “roughing it” in the “camp”, you may want to extend your stay a few hours north at Aman Resorts sister property Amanbagh, set in a a secluded valley between New Delhi and Jaipur but again about a million miles away from them in terms of landscape and atmosphere. Here the property is permanent - 24 Haveli suits and 16 pavilions set in what was once a Moghul hunting staging post. Around 200 staff look after the guests and manicured grounds. Mirrored pools suites larger than some people’s homes fantastic cuisine. Here the excursions are not to see the wildlife but to explore the local colourful rural communities.

Whether you stay at both or one of these wonderful resorts you will have a fantastic time in India!

India is not so much a country as a sub-continent most visitors will focus on Rajasthan in the north included the famed Taj Mahal. Southern India offers an entirely different culture and experience, far more authentically Indian as few invaders got this far, but is also far less developed as a luxury destination. What the British gave to India was just not just a meeting of the minds on how to run a society based on rank and hierarchy, bureaucracy and one of the world’s most extensive railway networks. India was literally built on the railway so its appropriate the Karnataka State Government is partnering with the Ministry of Railways to launch the Golden Chariot luxury train.

Appropriate because its a uniquely Indian way to take on the obvious potential of combining trains and a country with a chaotic road service. Long, slow distances are covered at night. Elsewhere luxury trains such as the modern Ghan train across Australia or the the luxury train to Machu Picchu are run by private operators specialised in luxury travel. Here the local government has put together a very attractive package which, in their own words, is:

“The latest Indian Maharaja Train Tour, “Golden Chariot” offers an insight into treasure trove of archaeological wealth, abundant bounty for wildlife seekers and a kaleidoscope of culture for it’s esteemed guests. It offers a mix of heritage, culture, eco-tourism and beach life. Recline & relax as the magnificent scenery unfolds outside your window with luxury on the inside, thus far reserved for royalty.
The Eight -days sojourn Departs from Bangalore every Monday evening & takes the travellers through Mysore (covering Srirangapatnam, Nagarhole Wildlife Sanctuary), Hassan (Belur, Halebid, Shravanabelagola), Hospet (Hampi), Gadag (Aihole, Badami, Pattadakkal) and Goa; before returning to Bangalore next Monday morning.”

The copy writing has the definite feel of Indian English and the journey certainly is a cultural experience. India is one of the few distinctly non-Western countries where there is no language barrier for the English speaker. Even taking a regular first-class rail journey means that you will be able to fluently speak to your local travelling companions. So there will be no language barriers on the Golden Chariot, which will make the cultural immersion even more interesting. Although marketed internationally you will certainly be travelling with locals as well as overseas visitors.

The journey begins in Bengaluru, which everyone still calls Bangalore. Bangalore is in the centre of India’s high tech boom and has business and luxury hotels to match Check in for the Golden Chariot is at the 5-star luxury Leela Palace Hotel where is well worth checking into a few days early to recover from the jet lag and the heat and humidity of southern India. We particularly like the sound of the Club Floor: an exclusive hotel within a hotel which includes a “propaha” English breakfast, a Cigar Room complete with Havana cigars and jazz and the Billiards and Sports Lounge. Sounds more English than most London Hotels!

Leela Palace Hotel, Bangalore

However dragging yourself away from the delights of Bangalore is well worth effort particularly if you are interested in the 1600 years of culture, cuisine, history, religion, politics, architecture and wildlife. The Golden Chariot tour begins with Mysore famed for the Rajas who subscribed to the “more is more” style of over-the-top design especially when it came to palaces. Hampi on the other hand boasts the ancient city of Vinyanagar which flourished from the 1336 to 1655 and is now a UNESCO world heritage site. A coach follows the train, meeting it every day to take travellers to the sights. This means that visitors can experience sites off the main railway including the famous Bandipu National Park where there is an overnight stop and the chance to see elephants, spotted deer and wild peacocks. Even the elusive tiger if you are lucky.

The Golden Chariot’s package includes all excursions and meals except for alcohol. There are both Indian and Western options: but the Indian is probably better, and even an avid meat eater may be swayed to the other side by the remarkably varied and tasty southern Indian vegetarian thalis.

The last stop on the tour is Goa, the tiny beach town which for 500 years was a Portuguese outpost in India. Now known for its fantastic beach and seafood Goa is worth more than the 1/2 day given it on the tour. Instead of staying with the tour for the over-night journey back to Bangalore - break free and check into the Leela Kempinsiki Goa. Goa is only approximately 1 hour’s flight south of Bombay (Mumbai) which makes for an easy international connection to most of the world

In their own words:

Dotting the 75 acres of lush gardens and sparkling lagoons that we call The Leela Kempinski Goa are a 185 plush rooms and suites. All rooms are spacious, elegantly furnished and come with central air conditioning, colour TV with satellite channels, DVD players and CD players, wi-fi internet connectivity and private balconies so that you can enjoy a relaxing breakfast or a romantic dinner. All rooms also have a lagoon view except the Royal Villas and Presidential Suite, which face the ocean and overlook the golf course.

Leela Kempinski, Goa

Rajasthan, India really has an awful lot of very good hotels. You can choose a new one such as Jaipur’s Oberoi Rajvilas or one of the classics such as the Taj Lake Palace Hotel, in Lake Pichola, Udaipur.

Taj Lake Palace Hotel

Photo Credits

Taj Lake Palace is the hotel in the lake a short gondola ride from the centre of town. Although original this hotel as all the mod cons: complete with a swimming pool in the central courtyard. Although most guests rave about it, remember this is still India: you wouldn’t want to swim in Lake Pochola, and the lake center location can mean that mosquitoes are a problem. The opposite problems occurs too: during the dry season the lake sometimes drys up which means the gondola ride is replaced with a much more prosaic jeep trip!

Shiv Niwas within the City Palace, in the center of town, although still an operating royal residence, the City Palace also features a museum, well worth a look, and not one but two luxurious hotel. The Shiv Niwas has hosted such as Queen Elizabeth and the Kennedys but these days the standards have slipped a bit and you will find better options in town.

Saving the best to last is the Oberoi Udaivilas. A similar level of luxury to its sister hotel, Oberoi’s Rajvilas in Jaipur this new hotel is on the site of the maharajah’s former hunting grounds and therefore enjoys an expansive 12ha estate. Although a new property the Oberoi Udaivilas are constructed in traditional style featuring shiny white marble complete with domes and colonnades. All rooms drip more white marble and gold embellishments. In the style of a golden-domed Rajasthani palaces many rooms give uninterrupted views over the Lake Pichola to the dramatic City Palace. A number of the suites also include a private dining pavilion and a semi-private infinity edge swimming pool. The landscaped gardens include two large swimming pools or you can enjoy soothing aromatherapies at the spa overlooking the lake.

Udaipur is definitely one of the most charming cities in the whole of India. Make sure you make the effort to check out the town’s colorful bazaar and the 300-year-old Jagdish Temple, the largest Hindu temple in India. Not to mention the Palaces that you aren’t staying at!

Rajasthan’s history is all about class, great wealth and deep poverty. Rajasthan, India has never got with the communist agenda: or even the modern welfare state as practiced in Western Europe. No Rajasthan was always a princely state and the Princes in some cases still live in the Palaces or more often part of them and rent out the rest as luxury hotels

Now the next generation of princes have moved in: in the form off top-notch hotel companies and now new destinations are being added to the old ones. You see somewhere like the new Oberoi Rajvilas just outside Jaipur, isn’t a hotel it’s a destination in itself. You are not going to Jaipur, you are going to the Oberoi Rajvilas. Just like Hotel California: you can never leave - well that’s what management hopes for anyway! On arrival guests are greeted with trumpets, elephants and dancers. Then they are escorted by a liveried manservant past the water garden and sculpted elephants at the hotel entrance to the cool reception hall and are garlanded with necklaces of marigold blossom and offered watermelon juice. Just like being a guest of the old-style Marajarah’s! But with of course all the mod-cons of a international standard 5 star hotel.

Now I have nothing against a fantastically comfortable and luxurious hotel, which is what the Oberoi Rajvilas is. But don’t miss the opportunity to actually go to Jaipur, while you are in the neighbourhood. The hotel will arrange a driver for the 15km trip into town. Jaipur is a fantastic living, breathing Indian town. It is therefore not five star: its grubby, its dusty, its full of beggars and crazy drivers. Check out Nahargarh Palace on top of the hill with awesome views of the town. It was the palace of one Jai Singh II who planned and built the town of Jaipur in the 18th century.

Also get out to the monkey temple, as Galta temple is known as. Not because the temple is sacred to the monkey god Hanuman, but because the monkeys run wild. Just make sure you keep tight hold on to all your belongings the thieves are very quick: that’s the monkeys of course: they will steal your glasses off your face if you are not careful! Be warned though you might be the only tourist there and only find local devotees. Make sure you leave a donation too.

After all the heat, and dust and drama which is India and Jaipur though: returning to the Oberoi would be delightful. Especially if you have booked the best room in the house which in their own words is:

The jewel in the Udaipur crown is the Kohinoor Suite, 2,650sq ft of palatial comfort. With its fountained courtyards, massive private pool, sitting room with real fireplaces, and master suite with its own wooden sauna, this suite if fit for Royalty.
It offers breath taking views of the City Palace and the Aravali Hills overlooking Lake Pichola. It features a spacious living room and dining area, a luxurious 20 meter private pool, garden terraces and two bedrooms. The suite also has a small pantry and an additional bedroom.