Horseback Riding Vacation in India
The exotic Equitours horseback riding safari in India is one of my all time favorites and I am so pleased to be returning now for the 8th time with a group of old clients. 15 years ago I went for the first time and there were plenty of bugs in the beginning. We got lost and arrived in camp after midnight one night and the horses were not appropriate, but I could see the tremendous potential this country has for vacations on horseback. The ancient culture, which long predates that of Europe, has a rich complexity very different from our own. The architecture is some of the most beautiful in the world and enormous castles and palaces dwarf those of Europe. The world’s largest democracy with over a billion people is finally shaking loose from the enterprise killing socialism which bound it for decades and is now going through a period of rapid economic expansion of 7% or so a year. If that continues, it will soon make India an important player on the world stage. As one begins to understand the tremendous size and potential strength of the country it seems incredible that the British could have dominated the subcontinent for so many years. Of course the reason is that tiny Britain could only accomplish it because when they arrived India had fallen into a chaotic state of division which allowed the British to play one group against another. Two centuries earlier a united India would have been many times more powerful than Great Britain.
This riding vacation was timed to coincide with the Nagaur Camel Fair where 20 or 30 thousand camels are brought from hundreds of miles around for sale each year. This is not a tourist event like the Pushkar Fair and very few foreigners ever visit it, so that only camping accommodations are available. Here is our itinerary day by day:
Day 1 – My wife, Mel, and I arrived in Delhi after an overnight flight from London to be met by Arun, who has masterminded these trips from the start, at the airport and taken to the sumptuous Imperial Hotel. It is certainly one of the best hotels in the world with superb service, classy restaurants, luxurious rooms and a pervasive charm which takes one back to the glory days of the Raj. The buffets often have 50 or 60 choices of different kinds of food, both Indian and European. For those who prefer European food there is also an excellent Italian restaurant. There is a broad choice of shops nearby and our guests spend far more on shopping in India than on any other trip we handle. We spent the rest of the morning resting and the afternoon checking out the stalls and shops near the hotel. Most of the other guests had arrived in time to join us for cocktails and a fabulous dinner.
. . . More itinerary to follow