A superb trip! Our tour leader, Inder was lovely, amazingly knowledgable and an incredible birdwatcher! He was always smiling, happy to answer any questions at any time of day however repetitive they were and went out of his way to make sure we were all enjoying our holiday. The trip ran very smoothly despite doing a lot in the busy itinery. It included visiting a great variety of things: tombs, forts, palaces, a camel ride, busy markets, temples, a boat trip a long the Ganges, tiger safari and wildlife/bird watching in Chambal nature reserve. We learnt a lot about Indian culture and different religions.
There was only one hiccup in the itinery. Our sleeper train from Agra to Varanesi was cancelled at short notice due to an accident between 2 freight trains. A completely unavoidable cancellation. Despite this Inder calmly and professionally sorted out an alternative for us (an extra night in a hotel and a coach trip the next day to Varenasi). Despite this we didn’t miss out anything in our busy itinery.
About 4 of the group of 12 were keen birdwatchers. Even though it was not an official birdwatching holiday Inder made sure we saw a huge variety of birds from babblers and flycatchers to an oreole, storks, Ibis, 3 different species of owl and the impressive indian skimmer. All in all we saw 87 different species of birds in India which was amazing! Binoculars are useful if you have them.
Thought i would say a few words about logistics on the trip. I had ben a bit worried about how we would have to keep buying bottled water to have on the trip (tap water is not safe to drink). I didn’t need to worry. A large container of water was brought paid for out of the tips money and we just accessed it throughout the trip whenever we had run out of water.
There were plenty of ATMs in all the towns and cities and generally we were excorted to them if we needed one. Most of the restaurants in the evenings (a group meal was organised every night for those who wanted it) took cash, credit cards or debit cards. It was useful having a bit of cash for lunch/coffee stops. Yes there were coffee stops! Some of the coach journeys were very long. There were plenty of stops to use the washrooms about every 2.5-3.5 hours or you just needed to say if you needed to stop. It was useful stocking up each morning with toilet paper in your pocket from each hotel as a lot of public toilets were out of toilet paper! Sorry my partner is saying I am giving too much information here!
It was a fun, jam packed holiday and Inder and the great group of people that we had helped to make it fantastic. This was our fifth explore holiday. They have all been good but this was our best yet! Can’t wait to go on our next Explore holiday! If you are thinking of going to India. just do it. You won’t be disappointed!
