To the south-east of Agra, in the city of Allahabad, a mass protest had begun about pollution of the Yamuna River. For years, industrial waste and sewage has been discharged into this river, the largest tributary of the sacred Ganges, from drains on the outskirts of Delhi far away to the north. It has become officially 'dead' by the time it runs beside the Taj Mahal in Agra. Now the masses were heading up to Delhi on foot to voice their concerns to parliament and doubtless to Delhi's Chief Minister herself, the appropriately-named Mrs Sheila Dikshit. By 'masses' I do mean masses! What had started off as 10,000 farmers, sadhus, union activists and members of religious and social groups had already swelled to many times that number. Yesterday morning, they blocked the Agra-Delhi highway with parked ... read more

A week into our wildlife adventure and we still had another three days to go. What I'd hoped would be a leisurely ten days had so far turned out to be anything but! It had been a hive of activity, involving chilly early mornings and hot, sunny days in the open-air, with much hurtling around in jeeps or bumping along on cycle rickshaws. It had been exhausting, educational and exhilarating in almost equal quantities. Okay, I did get one lazy morning - but, boy, did I need it! Although a veteran of many places on our itinerary, the last two animal sanctuaries, Ranthambore () and Keoladeo (), were entirely new to me. While I won't hurry back to one of these, the other was fantastic! Now, we were off to a third, the Chambal National Sanctuary, ... read more

Warning! This blog contains negative comments! But first, here are some positive ones: We'd had a great time in , but were now on our way to ten days of tranquil wildlife safaris and bird-watching, starting with the well-known tiger reserve of Ranthambore (that's the negative bit, which comes later). On the way, we called in at the Monkey Temple, Galtaji, about 10 kilometres from Jaipur on the road towards Agra. This is not a well-trodden tourist site like most other places hereabouts. You'll be asked to make a tiny donation if you plan to use a camera and, for a few Rupees, you can buy some peanuts to feed the monkeys from the man at the entrance; he'll put them into little bags that he makes from old newspapers. You might find a snake charmer ... read more

I didn't spend 35 years in the travel industry to plan a five-week tour of an interesting country that only includes things every other tourist goes there to see, did I? That's why, when I realised that our journey from Roopangarh to Jaipur would pass within a few miles of the largest salt lake in India and that this was also home to some prolific bird-life, I knew I had to take the 'Grey haired nomads' and their binoculars to see it. Anyway, I was curious to find out how the powdery white stuff I sprinkle on my fish and chips was produced. So it was that we wound our way along dusty roads, passing occasional herds of goats on the way to their day's grazing, and through villages with little owls dozing in ancient trees, ... read more

Camels are not cute. They're not even pretty. In fact, some might say they're downright ugly. They're cantankerous. They regurgitate their food and chew it with protruding teeth, sideways. And they don't smell good either. Nevertheless, we thought Nagaur, home at this time of year to the second-largest livestock fair in India, would be a good place to break our journey north from Jodhpur. So, our itinerary included a brief stop to see the camels, cows and horses and to find lunch before driving another few hours to our pre-booked night-stop at Roopangarh. What we didn't know until we met Devendra at the Maharani Bagh in Ranakpur (see: ) was that her father, Karan Singh Bhati, was in charge of the Royal Tents - a fabulous tented hotel currently pitched, especially to cater for visitors to ... read more