Spice trails, jungles and waterways of South India | 18 days

India has a split personality: worlds away from the hustle and bustle of the busy north, the south offers you the most serene of experiences. Life here is extremely relaxed amid a landscape of lush green palms and paddies which thrive on plentiful rain. No sojourn in India is complete without a visit to a tea garden and a national park. You visit both, roving north to Nagarhole National Park, which borders Kerala and once encompassed forest reserved for the Maharajah, and climb steep hair-pin bends to the old British capital at Ooty before embarking on a private rice boat journey in Kerala’s backwaters.

Day 1: Fly to Chennai (Madras)

Day 2: Chennai

Day 3: Tour the 7th century shore temples at Mahabalipuram

Day 4: Visit Kanchipuram, the golden city of a thousand temples

Day 5: Fly to Bangalore and drive to Mysore

Day 6: Visit Mysore, the city of sandalwood and incense

Day 7: Drive to Nagarhole National Park

Days 8-9: Game drives in the national park to look for elephant, tiger, jackal, langur, spotted deer, wild dog, sloth bear and leopard.

Day 10: Drive to Ooty, a typical old British hill station

Day 11: Tour Ooty and take a local train ride

Day 12: Full day drive to Cochin through rubber plantations

Day 13: Enjoy the smell of exotic spices in the old trading port of Cochin

Day 14: Join the Rice Boat

Day 15: Cruise the ‘Backwaters’ in your own private Keralan houseboat

Day 16: Drive to Kumarakom

Day 17: Fly to Mumbai

Day 18: Fly to London

Guide price : please ask for a quotation