Rajasthan – World Travel

Western Rajasthan Rajasthan India Travel

WorldTravelDB.com — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 08:01:03 +0000

This is the western reach of India’s most touristed state, and it’s worth the trek. Azure Jodhpur will give you the blues in a completely new way, but it’s nothing a camel trek to fairytale Jaisalmer won’t cure.

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Udaipur Rajasthan India Travel

WorldTravelDB.com — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 09:01:24 +0000

Watermarked by whimsy and splendour, the Venice of the East holds stage as one of India’s truly seductive cities. Udaipur is an international destination unto itself, with splendid Lake Pichola lapping against shimmering white buildings, and the Aravalli hills closing in to savour the view.

The centrepiece of the city is the floating Lake Palace – brash enough for a Bond film (parts of Octopussy were filmed here), yet refined enough for his majesty’s pleasure. Packed with princeliness and passion, Udaipur is raw Rajput dreaming, with palaces, havelis and temples at every turn.

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Southern Rajasthan Rajasthan India Travel

WorldTravelDB.com — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 09:01:46 +0000

More relaxed than its eastern counterpart, Southern Rajasthan is no less packed with temples, crumbling forts and spectacularly hued cities and villages. The big tickets on a southern itinerary here are Udaipur and Chittorgarh.

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Shekhawati Rajasthan India Travel

WorldTravelDB.com — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 09:01:13 +0000

Shekhawati is a semiarid dreamscape of dazzling fields, fluttering fabrics and open-air picture galleries. A short skip from Jaipur, the region is crisscrossed by narrow near-country roads that lead to half-forgotten villages and wholly hidden havelis. Each stop on the hop-along highways offers secret treasures (some slowly sinking in the sand) lacquered in rich and varied hues.

Shekhawati was formerly a wealthy but lawless land on the trade route between the ports of the Arabian Sea and the fertile Ganges Valley. The Shekhawat thakurs (noblemen), who once were noted for their indulgence in quarrelling among themselves, began to flourish in the mid-18th-century British East India Company when merchants imposed some semblance of order. A century later the British used the skills of local merchants or Marwaris (they’d long since left Marwar, today’s Jodhpur) to improve trade. While the Marwaris settled in the new coastal cities, they built havelis for their families back home.

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Sariska Reserve And National Park Rajasthan India Travel

WorldTravelDB.com — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 09:01:19 +0000

Lying in a wooded valley, a tangle of greenery against red clay, Sariska Reserve & National Park (Indian/foreigner Rs 25/200, jeep Rs 125, video Rs 200; 7am-4pm Oct-Mar, 6am-4.30pm Apr-Sep) has been at the centre of controversy since 2005 when the WWF produced a damning report that suggested that the tigers had been poached – a sad indictment of Project Tiger (who’ve been in charge here since 1979) and the sanctuary.

The sanctuary is still worth visiting though – the 800 sq km (including a core area of 498 sq km) is home to sambars (deer), chitals (spotted deer), wild boars and lots of birdlife. It also has some fascinating, beautiful sights within and around its boundaries, including the spectacular hilltop Kankwari Fort (22km from the Forest Reception Office), and Bhangarh, a deserted, well-preserved 17th-century city that’s famously haunted. If you take a longer tour then you can ask to visit one of these sights, or Bhangarh can be reached by a bus that runs through the sanctuary to nearby Golaka village (Rs 25).

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Ranthambore National Park Rajasthan India Travel

WorldTravelDB.com — Sun, 28 Dec 2008 09:01:30 +0000

Infamous, spectacular Ranthambore National Park (Indian/foreigner Rs 25/200; Oct-Jun) is 1334 sq km of wild jungle scrub hemmed in by rocky ridges. At its centre is the 10th-century Ranthambore Fort, and scattered nearby are ancient temples and mosques, crocodile-filled lakes, chhatris (cenotaphs) and hides. The park was a maharajas’ hunting ground till 1970 – a curious 15 years after it had become a sanctuary.

Ranthambore is the only place to spot wild tigers in Rajasthan, but each year the odds are reduced by mismanagement and poaching. Project Tiger has been in charge of the animals’ welfare since 1979, but the project’s difficulties were thrown into sharp relief when government officials were again implicated in poaching in 2005. Getting an accurate figure on the number of tigers comes down to who you believe – an April 2006 report in the Indian journal Frontline estimated the figure to be as low as 15.

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Rajasthan India Travel

WorldTravelDB.com — Sun, 21 Dec 2008 09:01:37 +0000

From the cackle of its colour-charged cities to the luminous splendour of its sun-kissed desert, Rajasthan is romantic India wrapped in gaudy royal robes. Here the fearsome Rajput warrior clans ruled with gilt-edged swords, plundered wealth and blood-thick chivalrous codes.

A vast and wonder-laced state with treasures more sublime than those of fable, the Land of the Kings paints a bold image. Compiling a must-see list in Rajasthan can cripple the fussy traveller: Meherangarh looming over bright blue Jodhpur, the giant gold sandcastle at Jaisalmer, the palaces and pageantry of Udaipur, Pushkar’s reverent yet carnival charm, the storybook whimsy of Bundi and the havelis (traditional, ornately decorated residences) sprinkled through Shekhawati – see them all, and you’ll see a month fly by faster than the express bound for Pakistan. Like a microcosm of Mother India, there’s also abundant wildlife and warm people, glitz and camels, soulful music, glittering saris, tottering turbans and a surprisingly rich cuisine.

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Pushkar Rajasthan India Travel

WorldTravelDB.com — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 09:01:42 +0000

Brahma dropped a lotus flower on the earth – so say the epics – and Pushkar floated to the surface. This pond-sized Hindu pilgrimage town is a magical desert-edged place, with one of the world’s few Brahma temples. Rows of sacred ghats front a mystically magnetic lake, where hundreds of milky-coloured temples and weather-touched domes sit beneath a shifting, pale grey sky.

Smooth operators abound though, as dodgy priests try to outwit pious pilgrims who areintoxicated by God or bhang (marijuana) but are either way enchanted by this much feted low-rent paradise. Try to play the part in Pushkar – no booze, meat, eggs or kissing – or risk offending what you came here to admire.

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Mt Abu Rajasthan India Travel

WorldTravelDB.com — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 08:01:47 +0000

Mt Abu rises high above southern Rajasthan, cool on the heels of the baking desert plains. It’s a welcome hill station retreat, nestled along pedolo-filled Nakki Lake, which attracts hordes of weekenders from neighbouring Gujarat. The tremendous wooded valleys that line the winding drive to the summit lend some longed-for Alpine beauty to a Rajasthan excursion, and house wildlife including bears, wild boars, langoors (wild donkeys), Indian civets, hyenas and sambars. There are also plenty of botanical delights on offer, most notably a number of rare orchids, and excellent trekking opportunities for all levels of fitness.

Mt Abu is more widely known as a pilgrimage centre, particularly for Jains, and the clusters of once stately summer retreats – and damp brick hotels – are often filled with the seasonally devout. The extraordinary Jain Dilwara temples rival most in India though, and the humble presence of Brahma Kumaris followers gives Mt Abu its place in the eternal sun.

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Kota Rajasthan India Travel

WorldTravelDB.com — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 08:01:39 +0000

Once a city of huge strategic importance, Kota has found its stride in modern Rajasthan as a major industrial and chemical centre, and so remains refreshingly free from tourist hustle. Still, it has a spectacular palace with an excellent museum and lovely murals. The revitalising Chambal River, filled with small crocodiles and plied by boats of all sizes, is the state’s only permanent river, and sustains a wealth of mostly unexplored terrain. Kota is also famous for kota doria, exquisite saris woven with golden thread in the nearby village of Kaithoon.

Following Rajput conquest of this area in the 12th century AD, Bundi became its capital, with Kota going to the ruler’s eldest son. In 1624, Kota became a separate state, remaining so until it was integrated into Rajasthan after Independence.

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