Join RV Kindat Pandaw on this 21-day Upper Ganges and Brahmaputra Rivers cruise from Guwahati to Varanasi. Uncover the charms of Assami city as you visit the Nilachi Hill temple and the Commonwealth Graves. Explore the intricately adorned portals of the De Parbatia temple and admire the medieval carvings at Cole Park, showcasing a diverse collection from the region. Experience a thrilling jeep safari to Kaziranga, a UNESCO World Heritage, home to the Indian One-Horned Rhinoceros and Indian Wild Water Buffalo. Visit the Tea Gardens and Sualkuchi Silk Village, then take your flight to Kolkata and continue your expedition down the Hooghly River. Stroll along the riverside, explore an 18th-century church, and trace the history of Dupleix's House, once the residence of the Governor-General of French India.
Highlights
Explore the Nameri National Park & take a float trip down Jia-Bhoreli River
Visit the UNESCO World Heritage site of Kaziranga National Park
Experience the vast ISKCON temple in Mayapur, hub for Krishna devotees
Discover the home of Jim Corbett, a naturalist & protector of Indian tigers
Involves minimal physical effort and is typically associated with leisurely activities. Activities are low-intensity or last less than a few hours each day.
Transfer to the ship from the airport and explore this pleasant Assami city visiting the Nilachai Hill temple and Commonwealth Graves. Late afternoon cast off upriver.
Exploring the town by trishaw you visit the De Parbatia temple with its richly carved portals and Cole Park with its collection of medieval carvings collected from across the region.
After an early breakfast, drive for some two hours to the Nameri National Park at the foot of the blue hills of Arunachal Pradesh, the old North East Frontier Agency. Here, you take a float trip of around two hours down the Jia-Bhoreli River through the park. There are excellent birdwatching opportunities here (look out for the great Hornbills) and, perhaps, the chance of sighting wild elephants. After lunch, take a village walk before returning to the ship. Continue upstream, passing below a seemingly endless new bridge across the vast width of the riverbed, to moor at Silghat.
Jeep safari to Kaziranga an area of approximately 430 sq km, this UNESCO World Heritage is home to the world’s largest population of the Indian One-Horned Rhinoceros as well as the Indian Wild Water Buffalo. It has the highest density of Royal Bengal Tigers with one every five sq. km. The park is an incredibly rich biodiversity hotspot with its marshy swamps and thickets of elephant grass, this park supports large populations of Indian elephants, Indian bison, swamp deer, and capped langurs. Besides wildlife, Kaziranga National Park is also a birding paradise. A few of the bird species found here are the oriental honey buzzard, black-shouldered kite, white-tailed eagle, himalayan griffon to mention a few.
Return downstream to visit a tea estate and historic plantation house on the way. Learn about the tea production process from start to finish in this idyllic setting.
Sailing down past Guwhati moor here in the afternoon to see silk production from the cocoon to spinning and weaving to make the typical saree worn by Assami women.
Day 8: Guwahati | Disembark | Fly to Kolkata
1 Breakfast
Disembark in the morning and transfer to the airport for your flight to Kolkata. Overnight in a hotel in Kolkata.
Transfer from your hotel or airport in Kolkata to embark on your Pandaw ship. Set sail down the Hooghly River, an important distributor of the Ganga to Chandernagore, a French possession until 1950. Stroll along the riverside promenade, and visit the 18th-century church and Dupleix's House, the erstwhile Governor-General of French India. Return to the ship and continue upstream past the old Dutch settlement of Chinsura and the Portuguese settlement of Bandel.
Land at the country town of Kalna and take rickshaws to see a group of some of Bengal’s most attractive terracotta temples, as well as the unique Shiva temple with concentric rings made up of 108 lesser shrines. On the way back to the ship explore the colorful local market full of fruit sellers and fish mongers. Continue sailing towards Mayapur to explore the vast new ISKCON (International Society for Krishna Consciousness) temple which dominates the skyline. As the headquarters of ISKCON or the Hare Krishna movement, the temple receives over a million singing and dancing devotees a year from around the world.
Set off to discover the brass-working village of Matiari. Interact with the local artisans and learn how these skilled craftsmen all specialize in a different process – from beating the metal to etching the designs. Witness the whole process involved to create brass water pots, trays, and other vessels Later, cruise on past the battlefield of Plassey where, in 1757, Robert Clive, the Commander-in-Chief of British India, defeated Siraj-ud-Daulah, the last independent Nawab of Bengal.
Take an early morning walk to the Khushbagh, a peaceful Mughal-style garden that encloses the tombs of Siraj-ud-Daulah – the last independent Nawab of Bengal – and his family. Continue cruising towards Murshidabad where the great Hazarduari Palace dominates the waterfront. Explore the city, a hidden architectural gem along the river with dramatic, whitewashed, colonial-era structures including Katra Mosque and Katgola palaces.
Cross from the Lower Ganges or Hooghly River to the Ganges itself through the Farraka canal and lock, which was constructed in 1963-75. Passing into the great river the great Farraka barrage is visible just downstream. This effectively dams the Ganges and strategically controls the flow of water into neighboring Bangladesh. Enter a section of river rich in bird life, before stopping at Samtaghat, otherwise known as Raj Mahal.
Passing the confluence of the Kosi river that flows down from Nepal, moor at the pretty town of Bateshwarsthan to uncover the 8th-century Buddhist site of Vikramshila, one of the two most important centers of learning in India during the Pala Empire, along with Nalanda.
Sailing along this stretch of the river provides an opportunity to spot the rare Gangeatic dolphins. Land at Bhaglapur, a center of silk production, and visit the 18th-century mansion of the Collector, Augustus Cleveland.
Continue to Jahanigra Island, a place of pilgrimage with many rock carvings in high relief dating from the eighth century depicting aspects of Siva and Vishnu. In the evening moor off Sultanganj, with its pair of great granite rocks, one crowned with a mosque and the other a small temple dating from the 16th century.
Munger is now a large and industrialized city but has an interesting history. In 1762, Mir Qasim, the Nawab of Bengal, shifted his capital from Murshidabad to Munger and established a firearms manufacturing center here. Explore the Mughal fort, and East India Company cemetery and step inside the Bihar School of Yoga founded in 1964 by Satyananda Saraswati. One of the leading yoga schools in the country. The institution has developed yogic techniques through a synthesis of traditional yogic, vedantic, and tantric practices and contemporary health science.
Stop at Mokama, once home to Jim Corbett the naturalist and protector of the Indian tigers. Surrounded by farmlands, Mokama has the second hightest production of lentils in the country. Learn about the freedom fighters from Mokama such as Lalldin Saheb, whose during the freedom struggle was sentenced to jail during the British rule.
Enjoy a city tour of Patna, the capital of Bihar state including a visit to The Golghar, a large stupa-styled granary built in 1786. Farewell dinner with your crew.
Day 21: Patna | Disembark | Train to Varanasi
1 Breakfast
Disembark your Pandaw vessel ready and transfer to Patna station for your 1st class train to Varanasi. Upon arrival to Varanasi, transfer to your hotel or the airport.
Apologies for the inconvenience. Prices for not yet published. Below per person rate based on previous season. Contact us to confirm upcoming season pricing.
Prices for are estimated based on inflation. Contact us to confirm pricing and availability for your desired departure date.
$11,2742-3 travelers
Rates are dynamic and fluctuate based on capacity. Contact us for a specific quote.
Select a Date
Pandaw Stateroom
Bedroom: 12' x 10'
Bathroom: 6' x 4'
Showeroom: 2'8" x 3'4"
Single Bed: 6'7" x 3'3"
Initial deposit is 20%, and most travelers will call our office and pay the deposit with a credit card.
Final payment is due 61 days prior to departure by Credit Card, Wire/bank Transfer. All final payments by credit card may be subject to a surcharge and maximum of $20,000.00 charge
Our guide and driver were very good with their knowledge and were very helpful with our questions. It was a very pleasant visit that would have been impossible to do on our own. Hotels and restaurants were fantastic. The special places we got to go to, like the kitchens, were great. Enjoyed the entire trip!
Meyer Smolen
TrustScore 4.8 | 176 reviews
TrustScore 4.8 of 5
Based on 176 reviews on
9 hours ago
Adventure Life is always an excellent choice when planning complicated, extreme, or exotic vacations or expeditions. They provide friendly professional services and advice and are enthusiastic and encouraging in helping us to prepare and thoroughly enjoy our trip. They handle all the details which greatly reduces the stress of planning a difficult trip. I'm very impressed with Adventure Life and definitely recommend them to friends and family.
Scott Trochim
2 days ago
The response from Adventure Life to my first inquiry was prompt and promising. I worked with Jamie Broeckel, Trip Planner, via text, email, and phone calls- always extremely responsive and thorough with information and explaining the process to arrange a private tour for me to Malaysia Borneo. Within about week, the booking was complete and I made decisions because of Jamie's great customer service , friendly manner, and overall competence on behalf of the company's travel expertise. Now I have an itinerary, additional Trip Planner Assistants, several links for vital information for traveling to Maylasia, etc. Still many details for Sept. trip, but now the heavy lifting is done and I can enjoy the rest of the anticipation and research!! Thanks Jamie- you are amazing!!!!
Susan Campo
4 days ago
The trip was not only memorable for the amount of animals we saw but also for the people and accommodations at the two camps where we stayed. Our first guide, BK, was a wealth of information about the animals, landscape and down to the plants and what they were used for. Everyday out was a learning experience with him. All the people at the camps were gracious and the food was excellent.
Our second camp in the Okavanga was just as good as the first as far as the staff, accommodations, food and animals. After our experience at the first camp we amazed that the high quality remained the same. Our guide, G, made sure we were able to enjoy every experience including a rush through the bush to witness a cheetah and an ensuing hunt that he heard over his radio.
In both camps there were enough guides out that if they saw something the other guides were informed which helped in seeing as much as possible. It was also nice that the concessions were large enough that we did not have vehicles following each other throughout the day.
Normally there is always something in a trip of this length that we think could be improved upon but this is the rare case where we cannot think of anything. From the time we left the States to when we returned it was one of the most hassle free vacations we took.
Perhaps emphasizing the use of the laundry facilities at the camps would be useful because of the luggage restrictions would be the only thing I can think of as an improvement to future clients.
Kenneth Dropek
5 days ago
Mary was so pleasant and professional. She made sure all of our questions were answered.
