Few regions in India are more interesting than Madhya Pradesh, in the heart of India. Intersected by rivers and dotted by hills and lakes, the state has a varied setting of great beauty. This tour visits the great Buddhist stupa of Sanchi and the romantic ghost-town of Mandu. There are also the interesting temple towns at Maheshwar and Omkareshwar.

This tour visits two outstanding sanctuaries of Bandhavgarh and Kanha in central India. Bandhavgarh is famous for its tigers but it also has a wide range of other game including nilgai (blue bull), jungle cats, wild boar and hyenas. Kanha also offers good chances of spotting the majestic Indian tiger. Other wildlife includes leopards, Indian bison, deer and blackbuck.

Sasangir sanctuary is home of the last remaining Asiatic lions. Apart from the lions the sanctuary is also inhabited by bears, hyenas, foxes and a number of species of deer and antelope and the occasional tribal villager. You also visit the magnificent Jain hilltop temples at Palitana. You have to climb up to the top of Shatrunjaya hill but the reward is a superb view and the extraordinary sight of the temples themselves.

Kutch has a rich variety of semi-nomadic pastoral communities whose life-styles have remained virtually unchanged for centuries. Their dress is colourful and ornate and the women are often laden with jewelry. Their unique and beautiful mud houses have walls decorated with interesting textured patterns.

About two hours drive from Ahmedabad is the Little Rann of Kutch, a vast expanse of hard, dry mud in the north of Gujarat. You stay in a rustic camp arranged like a traditional village. Here you can go on a jeep safari through the vast expanse of the Rann to track the shy Indian Wild Ass. You also see here a variety of migratory birds, including flamingo breeding colonies.

Ahmedabad is the cultural capital of Gujarat and a major textile and crafts center of India. The city is also packed with a diversity of architectural styles, with over fifty mosques and tombs, as well as Hindu and Jain temples and grand step-wells which often display beautiful carvings. The old part of town has a maze of narrow winding alleys with carved wooden house fronts and thriving bazaars.