Wednesday March 7
First full day in Delhi - after breakfast Dieter had a word with the front desk about our room (we were not happy with the view and the blind in the bathroom was broken) so at 10:30am they moved us to a new, much nicer room.
At 1pm we met with Vivek Wadhawan (our contact from Elegant Journeys) who handed over our travel documents and introduced us to driver for next 13 days, Mr Dev, and our guide for Delhi, Sanjev. Vivek also advised us that we had been upgraded to a “Plus” room which gave us lounge access with complimentary drinks from 6-8pm which was a real bonus considering the price of alcohol in India particularly 5* hotels.
We then had a tour of Delhi visiting the Gurudwara Bangla Sahib, the gold domed Sikh temple, various government buildings including the presidents residence and finally the Lodhi Garden and Safdarjung’s tomb.
We got back to the hotel at 4:30pm, showered had a couple of drinks in the lounge and a very light dinner in the hotel. We were in bed by 9pm - still jet lagged.
Thursday March 8
The day started off with another minor disaster - our toilet conked out so they moved us to another new room - a suite this time - could have been the Presidential suite but the French president was arriving the next day - they also comped us dinner that night - amazing service recovery.
A full day touring around Delhi …..
We had a late lunch at Grappa at the Shangri-La Hotel before heading back to. our hotel for the usual - rest, showers, fives’es and dinner and another early night.
Friday March 9
Up early and off to Agra and the Taj Mahal today - it’s a 4 hour drive on a good expressway. We arrived at the Oberoi Amarvilas - another luxury property - this one overlooking the Taj. We were upgraded to a balcony room which was a nice touch.
We had lunch at the hotel and a rest. Since the Taj is closed on Friday our afternoon tour consisted of a visit to the red fort then sunset viewing of the TM from the gardens at the rear (and a horse drawn carriage ride). We drove through the old town and saw some of the real India amazing - oxen sitting everywhere even blocking traffic.
We had fives’es sitting on our balcony watching an amazing sunset and some transitional dancer show put on by the hotel. This was followed by dinner at the hotel - OK but not really better than an average Indian restaurant in Sydney.
Saturday March 10
A big day today - starting with a sunrise tour of the TM at 6am followed by breakfast at the hotel. Then at 9:30am we were off again for a 1 hour drive to a fort (Fatehpur Sikri, the deserted city) where we spent and hour. We dropped off our guide then drove to Ranthambore National Park / Oberoi Vanyavilas - a 4+ hour drive.
We finally arrived at 5pm totally exhausted - after a lengthly check-in and briefing we finally made it to our luxury text - totally amazing - best ever. We relaxed on our terrace with a beer and G&T. We had dinner at the hotel.
Sunday March 11
Up very early for a 6:30 am departure for our first safari into Ranthambore National Park looking for tigers. We were very fortunate as we only had 4 people in our jeep instead of the usual 6 - an upgrade organised by Elegant Journeys. We were unsuccessful in finding any tigers but saw lots of other wildlife - in particular some kingfishers, monkeys, and various antelopes, large and small. Back at the hotel we had a bang-up late breakfast/brunch - excellent, then it was resting time.
Our afternoon safari left at 2:30p - by now very hot. We were most successful - we saw a tiger up close (say 50m) resting near a water hole - after about 30 minutes 2 antelope came down to the water to drink and the tiger stalked and pounced - but she missed.
Back at our tent - we had sundowners and dinner.
Monday March 12
Up early again - 2 more safaris - the morning was unsuccessful on the tiger front (a total fog-dam) but in the afternoon we finally spotted 2 tigers (mother and juvenile) off in the distance. We were 3 minutes late leaving the park (6pm deadline) and copped abuse from the gate warden - all in Hindi so who knows what was said but there was a heated exchange between the warden and our guide. The drive to a different park entrance was most exciting - the town we passed through was so much the real India it could be a movie set. Our jeep driver (the same as the previous day) was a real ‘Fangio’ - he hit a cow (not fatally as far as we could tell) and looked a bit shaken.
Tuesday March 13 Ranthambore / Jaipur
Up at a more leisurely time for breakfast then off to Jaipur, a 4+ hour drive. We made good time and arrived at the Oberoi Rajvilas around 2pm. We had a lite bite to eat then settled into our hotel for a quiet afternoon. We had dinner at the hotel.
Wednesday March 14 - Jaipur
After breakfast we met our guide (and driver of course) at 9am. We toured the Amber Fort and City Palace then returned to our hotel at 1:30pm - we could have taken all day to do these things but we felt that 4 hours of guided touring was sufficient for one day. We had a late lite bite for lunch, rested and spent an hour or so at the pool. Then we transitioned into sundowners and dinner.
Thursday March 15 - Jaipur to Nimaj
We left for the 4 hour drive to Nimaj at 8:30am making it in good time. our accomodation was Chhatra Sagar - a luxury tented camp on the edge of a dam making it a twitchers’ paradise. We were all checked in by 12:30 and lunch was scheduled for 1:30pm. Lunch was excellent - we spent the rest of the afternoon lazing in our tent ⛺️ which was pretty hot in spite of 2 fans (and no air-conditioning). At 4:45pm we set out with one of the owners of the camp which includes 1000 acres of land for some birdwatching - we saw many local and migratory species including a pied kingfisher and a woodpecker. The bird watching walk ended with sundowners overlooking the water - then back to the camp for showers and dinner. The meal was again wonderful and to our surprise it was fully inclusive.
Friday March 16 - Nimaj to Jodhpur
We were up before 7am for early coffee which was delivered to our tent - while sitting on our deck we spotted a peacock with his tail feathers in full display and a large antelope drinking by the dam side.
After breakfast we went on a guided village walk which was very interesting. After lunch (also included) we drove to Jodhpur and our hotel Raas (which was not an Oberoi). On check-in we were most dis-satisfied with our room - something of a dungeon - in spite of vigorous complaints we were told the hotel was full so no other room was available.
We relaxed for the rest of the afternoon - going for a swim and relaxing around the pool. We had a pre-dinner drink at the hotel’s roof top bar then dinner at the hotel in one of the 2 open air restaurants looking at the fort which is lighted at night.
Saturday March 17 - St Patrick’s Day in Jodhpur
We had breakfast then confirmed that our room was to be changed so we packed up before setting out for our morning tour - first the majestic Meherangarh Fort then the mausoleum and finally the Palace. After lunch and afternoon siesta and swim we did a guided old city walk. Our new room was a major improvement over the first one. We stayed at the hotel for dinner.
Sunday March 18 - Jodhpur to Jawai
We left our hotel at 9am for the 4 hour drive to Jawai - Sujan Luxury Camp (a Relais and Chateaux property). We arrived in time for lunch - the camp seems to be in the middle of nowhere but is in fact surrounded by farm and grazing land and small villages. It is very luxurious and all inclusive (except for beverages, even soft drinks) - we were greeted with a glass of French Champagne however. After a late lunch, rest and swim we set-out on the first game drive at 4:30pm in search of leopards. We found one - which was great but her 3 cubs did not put in an appearance. The drive only returned to the camp at 8pm - far too late in our opinion as the last hour was dark. We then rushed to dinner without even taking a shower. We started with drinks around the campfire then dinner under the stars. The food was a bit underwhelming given that this camp is the most expensive of our whole trip. Then it was off to bed after a quick shower as we had an early start in the morning.
Monday March 19 - Jawai to Udaipur
The morning drive started at 6:15am and was most disappointing as we did not spot any leopards. Back by 9:30am - we had breakfast then got ready to depart for Udaipur.
On the way we stopped to visit the largest Jain temple in India - it was very impressive We reached our hotel, the Oberoi Udaivilas in Udaipur around 4pm. It is situated on one of the many lakes in and around the city and is certainly the most elegant and luxurious hotel we’ve ever stayed in. We were even showered by rose petals from a balcony at the entry (just like the Raj’s of olden days).
We relaxed and had a dip in our semi-private pool as we had been upgraded to a lake-view pool room - totally over the top. Then it was five’es on our terrace followed by dinner at the hotel’s outdoor restaurant overlooking the lake.
Tuesday March 20 - Udaipur
After an early morning Nespresso on our terrace - we had breakfast, then at 9am commenced our tour for the day. We visited the palace then had a boat tour on the lake followed by a short walk through the old town then a visit to the gardens. We were back at the hotel in time for lunch.
The rest of the afternoon was spent lazing, swimming, photo loading, blogging and so on. We finished off with dinner at the hotel - outside by the lake with live entertainment - traditional music and dancing.
