I had reservations about taking my two children, aged eight and nine, on a rail tour of Rajasthan. Their most adventurous holiday until then had been a fortnight on a Greek beach. But as it turned out, I needn't have worried, said Kate Maxwell in the Financial Times.
They found India's "cacophonous, kaleidoscopic" cities and pristine wilds "magical"; and I had no use for the Imodium I had packed in case of stomach upsets. In fact, the only real health hazard we faced was a rampaging bull that interrupted our rickshaw tour of Delhi, soon after our arrival. I was glad that we'd elected to travel on ordinary trains, which allowed for lots of conversations with local people, and we enjoyed further social encounters during the "bespoke" activities organised by our tour operator, Original Travel, including a game of cricket at a school near Jaipur.
From Delhi, we headed for Agra and the Taj Mahal (which was "spellbinding" in the rosy light of dawn). Next came the Ranthambore National Park, where we failed to spot a tiger, but did see mongoose, sambar deer and wild peacocks. The nearby hotel where we stayed, Six Senses Fort Barwara, occupies an "exquisite" 14th-century fort, and our digs in Jaipur – the Samode Haveli – were no less distinguished (we even met the aristocratic Samode family's dachshunds on their daily spin around the grounds). We were amazed by the many kites "swinging high" above Jaipur's rooftops (in preparation for the city's kite festival), and our daughter loved taking part in a fabric-printing session in the nearby town of Bagru.
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The Mehrangarh fort in Jodhpur had "the best arsenal" of the trip ("Arms & Weapons" signs turn out to be "catnip" to eight-year-olds) – but still more fearsome sights awaited at our last stop, Suján Jawai. Thanks to rewilding efforts around this "spectacularly beautiful" camp, the local leopard population has flourished, and we enjoyed close-up sightings of the magnificent beasts on both of the days we spent there.
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