Next, we head to visit the City Palace and the observatory next door. The palace is still actively used today by the king's family. When British rule took over, many maharajas decided to cooperate and were able to keep loving their palaces. The royal family still lives there today. We go inside to spy out a few rooms still open to the public: the silver room (or reflecting room), the gold room, and the cloud room across from the temple he had built. Next, we walk over to the observatory and learn about the great lengths he went to in order to learn about cosmology from all over the world. So much so that the world's largest sundial is built here, accurately down to every 2 mins of Tom during daylight hours.
After the City Palace, we then travel to Dera Mandawa, a local aristocratic home for Mr. Durga Singh, who now operates the property as half residence, and half guesthouse for tourists. He shares with us the story of his great-grandfather and his coming to participate in court for the Maharaja and choosing to stay and build this great Haveli. He invites us to come to learn to cook some authentic Indian recipes, and shows us how a few dishes are completed, including paneer, chicken garam masala, and rice. We watch him roast chicken over a fire started by cow dung, and over a low-load fire on the coals. After some time interacting and learning from him, we return back to our hotel where we head in for massages from the local hotel staff, and then call it a day.
TrustScore 4.8 | 174 reviews
TrustScore 4.8 of 5
Based on 174 reviews on
1 day 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.
2 days ago
Mary was so pleasant and professional. She made sure all of our questions were answered.
3 days ago
Rapid response.
3 days ago
Jess and her non pushy salesmanship!!!!!
3 days ago
Mary Curry. And AL’s discount policy.
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