RAJASTHAN TOURISM INDIA

Commendations

-----Original Message-----
Guest Name(s): Jennifer & Jasper
Year: 2004

Dear Durjay and the staff at Compass,

I hope that you are all well in India!

So, we arrived back safely from our trip, and as predicted, we had an excellent trip, thoroughly enjoyable holiday!!!

I am already trying to think of a good reason to return!! I am sure I will think of something in the near future.

Thank you to you and all your staff, you did a good job!

Now, for positive things!! The trip:

Name: Jennifer & Jasper Samaras, Tanzania

Jan 30th - Feb 20th 2004 Delhi-Kanha-Bandavgarh-Khajuraho-Agra-Ranthambore-Delhi-Corbett-Delhi.

On Hotels:

Delhi: The Oberoi Maidens.

First class rooms beautifully decorated, good service, friendly and helpful staff, good facilities. Highly recommended.

Kanha: Wild Chalet Resort. Friendly staff, excellent service, excellent food, great guides, very good location, clean rooms (quite basic) but no heating and it were freezing!! Highly recommended

Bandavgarh: Royal Tiger resort. Excellent rooms, very luxurious feel, good food, beautiful grounds, great location (next to park gate) but not such a good feel to the place and no one staying there. Not recommended

Khajuraho: Taj Chandela. Very friendly staff, good food, nice rooms, good location, nice shops. Well recommended.

Agra: Jaypee Palace. Unfriendly, unhelpful and rude staff, Indian food was terrible that the European not bad, rooms ok. Not recommended.

Ranthambore: Sher Bagh Tented Camp. Excellent food, friendly and helpful staff, good location, the rooms were superb, beautifully decorated with natural materials, very relaxing environment! Very highly recommended!!

Delhi: The Park. Nice rooms, good location, friendly staff, excellent food. Recommended.

Corbett: Claridges Hideaway Resort. Beautiful location, beautiful grounds, very nice cottages, very good food, service and staff: not bad. Well recommended.

On Transport: Cars: Some of the cars were a little uncomfortable. Trains: Tickets well organized by Compass, good way to travel, good cheap food, excellent coffee!!

On Drivers: Excellent overall, fast but safe, helpful, but didn't speak English (may be a problem for some?)

On Guides/escorts: Compass staff: All very friendly and very helpful, quite knowledgeable, good ambassadors for the company especially Arvind and Naka.

Government guides: Very knowledgeable, but tell you the info without too much enthusiasm a bit like a tape recording. Take you to expensive shops where they get commission!!

On prices: Not bad value for money, of course you can do it cheaper but it's worth the money for peace of mind and security.

Overall Tour Company handling; Very good overall, all guides, hotels, jeep safaris etc were pre-booked, and hotels were expecting us.

Tips and comments :The national parks were wonderful, great country, although most of the tourist's and the guides had 'Tiger fever'!!! Most visitors are only interested in seeing Tigers and don't seem to bothered with all the other wonderful wildlife (but for the record, we saw 11 Tigers!!) Khajuraho was lovely, very relaxed town with friendly people, the temples were beautiful and lovely to see. Agra was hectic and not really a good example of India or Indians, very touristy. Overall everyone was friendly and helpful, very welcoming people.

Be prepared for fairly expensive video camera fees in the Parks: $5 per day ($5 per park visit in Ranthambore = $10 per day). Barter well in the shops, half of the asking price is a good guide, pretending to walk away helps!

We had a wonderful time and look forward to returning again some day!! Best advice: Enjoy, have fun, relax and be patient!

Jennifer Samaras
Feb 2004