Since my last tour of Rajasthan in 1982 we found the infrastructure had unrecognisably improved.
During December 2023-January 2024, my husband and I took a road trip around Rajasthan, expertly organised by Nico Kostich of Yonder in London. We were extremely tired and the stay on arrival in the gorgeous Aravalli hills was refreshing. Our first observation was the marvellous quality and reach of the tarmac roads, hitherto rural villages off the beaten track would have been only accessed by dirt roads.
We ventured on foot into rural Meena villages and tidy family compounds, with several branches of a family living in neat houses with goats and buffalo in the yard around.
Nowadays the Meenas work is mostly in tourism, dairy farming and agriculture. The crops range from mustard, lentils, tobacco to rice. Depending on the village the homes were built of brick or a clay/hay and cow dung mix, the brick built homes possessed toilets, part of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s 2014 toilet revolution.
The Aravalli mountains are said to be the oldest in the world, originating millions of years ago as the Indian tectonic plate separated from the Eurasian plate. They run nearly 700 km northwest from Delhi to Gujarat; in many places we met other travellers who have seen leopards in the gloaming or at dawn. Alas, the leopards eluded us.
We hoped to be luckier with our tiger safari. On arrival in Sawai Madhopur it was clear hundreds of others had the same optimism. It has always been my Kenyan husband’s dream to see a tiger. We stayed at Sujan Sher Bagh, which offers the most authentic camp experience; India is an expert at canvas tenting and has inspired and supplied many African lodges with wonderful tents. Our tent was spacious, elegant and characterful. The management at Sher Bagh leaves no stone unturned for your comfort or enjoyment. Other than the prospect of tigers, the highlight was the cuisine under the direction of master chef Rakesh. Your writer is a foodie and obsessed with Indian vegetarian food, hence incomparably delicious specialities were prepared for every meal and a tour of the kitchen and vegetable garden was permitted.
The tiger sanctuary at Ranthambore is divided into zones; tigers only favour some zones and not all zones that are open every day. Thus you need a clued-up guide to plan your zones to have the best chance of a sighting. We were lucky to have Yadvendra Singh as our guide. Quite early on, from our open jeep we spotted a big male tiger, a mother tigress and her three cubs through the dawn mist; majestic is a humble word for the presence of such felines, we gazed in awe until the unmitigated presence of other voyeurs prompted us to explore the lakes and forest. Overcrowding is something the authorities could think about regulating, as they do in Kenya. Although we were part of the crowd we were conscious it became too much of a zoo and intimidating for the stripey family; besides the rest of the zones are wondrously beautiful in landscape and abundant in wild and bird life.
We travelled from Sawai Madhopur to Jaipur by punctilious train, never taking our eyes off the horizon of the hill forts atop the rugged Aravalli. Our first port of call in a new city is always the vegetable and flower market. We walked along the central street and admired all the old mansions, some still inhabited by their original families. In Jaipur, one must follow the yellow brick road of tourism, the City Palace and its brilliantly informative museum and the Jantar Mantar’s incredibly advanced monumental astronomical instruments built in the early C18th according to ancient Sanskrit formulas, and the spectacular Amer Fort and its blindingly beautiful Sheesh Mahal. Here elephants do the job of minibuses circumnavigating the perimeter of the fort with excited passengers on board.
We were informed these trips are highly regulated so the elephants do not get bored or distressed. After the overwhelming dose of culture one is at leisure to discover why Jaipur is the textile capital of India. Shops and factories are everywhere, the fashions and the textiles for home in a myriad of designs and colours are irresistible. We managed to clock up our full weight allowance of shopping in an afternoon.
From here we drove a long way over impressive new roads via Pushkar to Narlai, a C15th town full of sacred temples and a wonderful old royal hunting lodge which is now a Relais and Châteaux hotel, the Rawla Narlai. Here the management are superbly professional and the hotel is charming beyond words; all the team are local and full of anecdotes. An innovation they introduced some years ago to entertain the US ambassador has now become a weekly feature: the dinner beneath the stars beside the Maharaja’s stepwell is lit by 1,000 diyas, the approach by bullock cart is nothing less than magical, the dinner is very a traditional scrumptious Rajasthani thali accompanied by a sadhu chanting in Sanskrit. The ambassador encouraged the hotel to carry on this unique event and thus even if you are one guest or 40 guests the dinner goes ahead. The seamlessly executed service and obeisance to tradition are laudable.
My husband is an equestrian and he had arranged with Captain Ajit Singh to ride a Marwari horse around the neighbouring countryside. The Captain arrived in his turban and slippers on a stallion leading a horse for my husband, off they went for a bush breakfast and horseback gossip, it seems they had acquaintances and politics in common. At the stables an amazing display of historic armour and munitions was under cover, it seems battle scenes are often filmed here. The riders returned after four hours delighted with their adventure.
Christmas Day was spent in Jodphur, beginning with a visit to the Shila temple for some prayers for our daughter, who died of cancer in June 2022. Onwards to the stunning Mehrangarh Fort from whence you can hear the trumpets as you climb up the ramparts. Mehrangarh’s position is similar to the Acropolis in Athens, it dominates the city; Jodhpur city is full of gourmet restaurants and shopping galore, tourism through the fascinating Brahmin blue quarter is best done on foot.
Finally we drove across the Thar desert to Jaisalmer. Your writer was last here in 1982, all that had changed was the quality of accommodation, as before we stayed way up in the sandstone walls of the fort in the Killa Bhawan guesthouse, eyeball to eyeball with kites, with wings and on strings.
Most people stay out of town as the centre of Jaisalmer is alcohol free but looking down on the intricate havelis, Jain temples and crowded streets from our terrace on top of the world was memorable. The hospitality and information extended by our hotelier was exceptional, top tip is to get up early to sightsee and enjoy a late brunch to avoid the crowds.
Since my last tour of Rajasthan in 1982 we found the infrastructure had unrecognisably improved, tourism is easy and clean. People were optimistic and excited about the election.
Regarding PM Modi we heard over and over again “we couldn’t manage without him, all this development would be wasted”.