I would like to thank Wild World India for the great support, perfect organization and best guides during our tiger-shooting safari in India. Daisy Gilardini, Switzerland
For centuries, India has been the fabled land of spiritual, cultural and material wealth. Lured by stories of its vast hoards of gold, ivory, spices, silk and other riches, it was always an invader's paradise and a perpetual curiosity for travelers from across the globe. It was the mystical land of kings, the land of philosophers and saints, the land of holy rivers, the land of elephants, snake charmers and rope tricks, and yet India always outgrew each epithet that tried to capture its essence. Its natural isolation beyond lofty mountain passes, mighty rivers and the seven seas only added to its mystique. More than the lure of discovery, traveling to India or 'Going East' was like a journey into oneself. Over the years it became a meeting ground between the East and the West, while its magnetic religions allowed it to adapt to the various alien cultures that shaped it. Little wonder that Mark Twain called India the cradle of the human race, the birthplace of human speech, the mother of history, the grandmother of legend and the great grand mother of tradition.
It was on the banks of the mighty Indus that Alexander's great advance through Central Asia and high passes came to a halt as his troops refused to cross the river and venture beyond into the vast open plains that stretched to the Ganges. Even today, a remote village in the Himalayas bears ancestry from remnants of the Greek army. The love affair with India that began with Greek ambassador Megasthenes continued through the visits of Arabian travelers like Al Beruni & Ibn Batuta, Chinese pilgrims like Fa Hien & Huien Tsang, Portuguese historians like Nunez & Paes right until German scholar Max Mueller, among others. Not only did they take back with them influences that shaped their own cultures, in this span they observed different dynasties spawn legacies of art and architecture and the birth of diverse religions. India became the cradle of Buddhism, Jainism and several other cults, sects and beliefs. The earliest Jews sailed here over 2000 years ago while both Islam and Christianity docked on India's shores in the days of their infancy. The Zoroastrians brought along their sacred fire from ancient Persia, the Siddis trace their ancestry to the Abyssinians of Africa and India became a foster home for one of the ten lost tribes of Israel. Like a sponge it absorbed different influences - Greek, Persian, Turkish, Mongol, Chinese, Arab, Dutch, Portuguese, French and British. Yet India always remained too vast, too complex and too culturally subtle to let any one empire or school of thought dominate it for long.
As a country that has one sixth of the entire human population on roughly 2.2% of the earth's total landmass, India is certainly a populous land. Understandably, it has to its credit various records with regard to size. India is the largest democracy in the world. It has 16 main languages and over 3,000 dialects. The largest employer in the world happens to be Indian Railways. Every year, the Indian film industry churns out more movies than any other country. At 100,000 stanzas, the Mahabharata is the longest epic in the world. The largest congregation of any kind - the Maha Kumbh Mela - takes place here. The world's largest cattle fair takes place in Sonepur, Bihar. The list of conquests goes on with cities, palaces, forts, temples, churches, mosques and other structures claiming some distinction or the other. Wild World India's Culture Tours are perhaps the best way to experience the colours, sights, sounds and aromas of this amazing country.
The country's capital Delhi, lying on the ruins of seven older cities spread across several millennia, is the perfect place to start your explorations. Together with Jaipur and Agra, this proverbial Golden Triangle offers the best of cultural heritage of North India. The Heart of India tour takes you to Central India, to the erotic sculptures and temples of Khajuraho along with the Hindu heartland of Varanasi, the world's oldest living city on the banks of India's holiest river, the Ganges. Rajasthan by Road not only offers a royal exploration of the desert state dotted with forts and palaces, it also offers an insight into the proud Rajput way of life. Kerala's Spice Coast Tour displays its rich amalgam of cultures along with its own heady mix of backwaters, beaches and Ayurveda. The Brahmaputa Boat Cruise takes you afloat on the country's mightiest river while a visit to Gir & the Rann of Kutch offers a chance to see rare endemics. The Corbett Legacy Tour takes you to India's oldest national park and the historic sites linked with India's most famous hunter-turned-conservationist. However, Wild World India's most unique offering is the 1857 Mutiny Tour, the bloodiest insurrection in the history of the British Empire. In the 150th anniversary year you visit historic sites linked with the Sepoy mutiny as well as famous relics of the British Raj.
