India Beat Travel Blog
The Daily Mail works with India Beat
India Beat produced several fashion shoots for the Daily Mail around Rajasthan, here are some of the pictures. They used locations around Jaipur and Udaipur including some of our favorite heritage hotels like Samode Palace, Rambagh Palace and the Lake Palace. Photographer Kevin Foord worked with stylist Alex Longmore and make up artist Victoria Barnes on the week long trip. For more information about shooting in India contact us here.
India Beat loves Honorine Jewels
Designed by long term Jaipur resident Fanny Boucher, Honorine Jewels is our favourite place to pick up gorgeous gemstones. We love her tormuline earrings, aquamarine gobstopper rings and particularly the evil eye pendants set with amethyst and citrine. Fanny works in the Pink City trawling the gem stone markets for the best and the brightest, her workshop-come-studio is like an Aladdin’s cave and is where every girl’s jewellery dream’s come true. Her latest designs are inspired by life in Paris and her experience of the intense colours of Jaipur – delicate gold settings enclose vibrantly coloured stones. We can’t wait to see what Honorine Jewels will make next, work has already begun on the new collection and India Beat will keep you posted.
Fanny also takes private commissions, to enquire about her designs or talk about a custom made piece contact her here.
Mahua Kothi at Bandhavgarh National Park
Mahua Kothi in Bandhavgarh National Park is our favorite place to stay at while on tiger safari in Madhya Pradesh. Not only does the park have the highest concentration of tigers anywhere in the world but the hotel is out of this world as well. A collaboration between Taj Hotels and &Beyond, one of the world’s best safari lodge operators, the rooms are stunning and each has it’s own courtyard surrounded by thick jungle. We loved sitting on the veranda at sunset sipping cocktails discussing the day’s tiger sighting. That morning we had heard a porcupine tussling with a young male tiger in the bushes, suddenly the porcupine bolted across the track closely followed by the inquisitive tiger. A couple of minutes later we caught up with the tiger who stared at us intensely, pawing the ground, for several minutes before strolling off in to the bamboo thickets. Arriving back at the hotel after the game drives was also heavenly, a hot bath had been run in our room with a cold beer on the side, seriously decadent! Whilst the hotel was wonderfully spoiling the park was simply magnificent, one morning we hired an elephant to go on a safari trek for a couple of hours. You can also be taken by elephant right up to a tiger that has been tracked by the forest guards but this seemed far too forced as the elephants literally had to queue up to see the tiger. The relaxing ride was definitely the better option. As well as the abundant wildlife the park is also home to some fascinating cave temples and a vast reclining Vishnu sculpture where we stopped for tea while on safari in the park.
So if you are looking for the ultimate tiger experience this is definitely for you. Contact India Beat for adventurous and exciting holidays in Madhya Pradesh and to book your stay at the luxurious Mahua Kothi in Bandhavgarh National Park.
Onam: Kerala’s Biggest Festival
Onam is a festival celebrated all over Kerala which marks the return of the legendary King Mahabali. This year Onam is on the 2nd of September and will continue for 10 days. Dating from the 9th century the festival is one of the highlights of the year in Kerala. Breathtaking snake boat races between the villages along the backwaters are an extraordinary sight, the huge canoes can hold more than a hundred competitors and competition is fierce. In the evenings Kathakali dancers perform for huge crowds reenacting the legends and folk stories of Kerala. This is also the season for harvest in Kerala so everything looks even more wonderfully lush than usual. To visit Kerala for Onam contact India Beat.
Help in Suffering at Pushkar Camel Fair 2009
Help in Suffering is a charity that protects animals in India and educates their owners to ensure their future health. This year India Beat will be helping promote the work of Help In Suffering at the Pushkar Camel Fair to raise funds and awareness of their tireless work in the field of animal welfare. Dr Jack and Dr Sunil, who are world renowned animal welfare experts, will be at the camel fair with several other H.I.S. vets treating animals and educating their owners at the Help in Suffering stand. In the evenings Bertie and Victoria Dyer, founders of India Beat, will join the H.I.S. vets touring the tented camps talking to visitors about Help in Suffering’s work and fund raising. For more information or to volunteer at the event contact India Beat.
The Serai: New Hotel
Opening this month, The Serai just outside Jaisalmer is a new tented camp that brings six star luxury to an area usually associated with camel herders and mud huts. Jaisal Singh founder of Sher Bagh and director of Aman-i-Khas in Ranthambhore National Park has built 21 huge tents on a 100 acre estate. It’s about 30km away from Jaisalmer’s beautiful golden fort and is the perfect place to take camel rides out into the Thar Desert. The spa by world renowned Raison d’Etre is also a major attraction so we ‘ll be heading out there soon to try it out and will let you know all about it on this blog. To visit The Serai as part of your holiday to India contact India Beat.
Killa Bhawan Dune Camp: New Hotel
Killa Bhawan is one of our favorite hotels in Jaisalmer, they have now opened the Killa Bhawan Dune Camp in the Thar Desert an hour away from Jaislamer. It will be a great place to stay overnight when you are on camel safari, there are just 8 tents and 6 traditional huts set at the foot of towering sand dunes. We are waiting for pictures of the camp and will publish them here as soon as possible. To include a camel safari in your holiday to Rajasthan contact India Beat.
Ganesh’s Birthday
Today is one of the biggest Hindu festivats of the year, Ganesh’s birthday known as Ganesh Darshan. Across India millions of devotees flock to Ganesh temples to worship and get blessings for the coming year. Ganesh is the Hindu God of beginnings and good luck, so is often refered to as the Lord of Beginnings and the Remover of Obstacles.
The Ganeshji Temple next door to the India Beat office is one of the most famous in Rajasthan and will receive more than 100000 people for prayers today.
Ganesh is the son of Shiva and Parvati, when his mother was pregnant with him his father left home to meditate. He returned years later to find the boy guarding the entrance to his house as his mother was taking a bath. When the young boy stopped his father entering the house he flew into a rage and cut off Ganesh’s head. Parvati then came out and was devastated to see her son lying dead and explained to Shiva that the boy was his son. The distraught parents asked Bramha, the creator god, to save him, he replied that they could only replace his head with that of the first animal they saw when they left their house. By chance an elephant happened to be there so they chopped of it’s head and attached it to the decapitated body of Ganesh. This is why Ganesh is always depicted with the body of a man and the head of an elephant.
Happy Ganesh Darshan!
Ramathra Fort: New Rooms
Ramathra Fort is a heritage hotel set deep in rural Rajasthan, it’s one of our favorite places in India and is run by Ravi Rajpal and his wife Geetanjali. Ramathra remains completely untouched by the outside world and the surrounding countryside is thick, wild forest. Originally set up as a tented camp inside the boundary wall of the 17th Century fort, a section of the main palace has now been renovated as extra guest rooms.
We loved Ramathura Fort because of the amazing walks through the countryside, visiting temples and villages along the way. Ravi has a brilliant knowledge of the area, it’s people and it’s abundant wildlife. One day he led us through the forest to a gorge with a wonderful temple built into the cliffs, we followed the river at the bottom downstream to a spectacular thundering waterfall.
Back at Ramathra Fort we had drinks by the open fires followed by a hearty Rajput dinner of lall mass, a kind of lamb curry, which was great fun and absolutely delicious. We can’t wait to return to see the new rooms shown in the picture below.
To include a stay at Ramathra Fort in your holiday to Rajasthan contact India Beat.
Shahpura Bagh: New Infinity Pool
India Beat loves the new pool at Shahpura Bagh, we visited this gorgeous heritage hotel last year and had a fantastic time with Sat, one of the brothers who owns the place. He showed us round the family farm and took us up to their ancestral fort for drinks as the sunset. The traditional rajasthani food, served in the palace and eaten with the family was always delicious. The hotel is set in lovely gardens and a huge lake, one of hundreds in the area, was swarming with birdlife. Over 180 species are know to live around Shahpura Bagh, many of them migrating from the north for the winter months from November to March.
The huge gardens were missing just one thing, a swimming pool, and now it’s finished. The infinity pool has lots of space to lounge in the sun as well as some pretty pavilions to seek shade under when you want to have lunch. The hotel is ideally situated between Jaipur and Udaipur and is the perfect place to spend a couple of days in rural rajasthan.
To include a few nights at Shahpura Bagh on your holiday around Rajasthan contact India Beat.
