Travel News Europe - #88 - November 2008 - (Page 17)

INDIA / destination n ing, skydiving and ballooning, jeep, camel, elephant or horse safaris, skiing, heliskiing, biking, bungee jumping and caving, amongst others. India’s remote & untouched beaches Andaman & Nicobar, India’s unique Island State, is a collection of 572 islands (38 of them permanently inhabited) in the Indian Ocean, in the southern reaches of the Bay of Bengal, near Indonesia. The union territory boasts many isolated, unspoilt beaches and coastal areas. The clean environment, greenery and unpolluted fresh air attract nature lovers and those looking for the ultimate ‘get away’. The tropical rain forests and waters are home to a vast collection of plant, animal and marine life. The islands are hilly in places, fringed with coconut palm, covered with tropical jungle and interspersed with flat stretches of crescent shaped beaches. The sandy beaches of these islands are famous for turtle nesting. Trekking, island camping, snorkelling and scuba diving are the main attractions. There are not many beach resorts on these tropical islands, which, for many, is precisely their appeal. Tours of the islands and coastal areas, ranging from 3 – 8 days, depart from Port Blair (the capital of Andaman & Nicobar). Islands visited on the tours include Jolly Buoy, an island in Mahatma Gandhi National Park, which offers breathtaking underwater views of corals and marine life - ideal for snorkeling, swimming and basking on the sun-kissed beach. Cinque Island also boasts underwater coral islands and unspoilt beaches, particularly on a sandbar connecting 2 islands. Havelock Island is about 38kms from Port Blair and provides an idyllic resort in the lap of a virgin beach. A camping facility is available near Radhanagar beach and a Tourism Department guesthouse ‘Dolphin Resort’ is also available for accommodation. Other islands include Barren Island - India’s only active volcano, Ross Island - once the seat of power and capital of these islands, and Viper Island - where the British used to imprison and execute convicts. Corbyn’s Cove Tourism Complex is one of the most picturesque beaches and boasts a restaurant and some tourist accommodations. Port Blair is reached from mainland India by flights from Chennai and Kolkata. Cultural Festivals & Fairs exhibition displays everything connected with the elephant – ornaments, textiles, howdahs and carriages, paintings, medicines and food. Tourists are encouraged to join in the dances, mount the elephants and play Holi. For 3 days and nights in February, the legendary King Momo takes over Goa and the streets come alive with colour. The Goa Carnival has a Portuguese flavour with continuous singing, dancing, lively music, lots to eat, floats and processions. The week-long festivities mark the period before the beginning of the austerities of Christian Lent. The ruins of the magnificent city of Hampi (353 km from Bangalore), Karnataka, once the capital of the Vijayanagar Empire (one of India’s greatest empires) and now a UNESCO World Heritage site, comes alive during the Hampi Festival extravaganza, held in the first week of November. Dance, drama, music, fireworks, puppet shows and spectacular processions all combine to recreate the grandeur of a bygone era. The ruins of stone temples, elephant stables, barracks and palaces offer a fascinating glimpse into the lives of the people who once resided there. Rishikesh, the ‘yoga capital of the world’, situated on the banks of the holy Ganges river in the Himalayan foothills, is the appropriate setting for the annual ‘International Yoga Week’. Every February, yoga masters come from all over the world to give lectures, demonstrate and explore the major traditions of yoga (Hatha, Raja, Karma, Bhakti, Jnana). The town has several yoga schools and ashrams and most of these offer packages for 7/10/14 days, covering meditation, pranayamas (breathing techniques), aasana (postures) and Hindu philosophy. Medical Tourism hard facts What’s New Incredible India now has an ‘India Channel’ on video sharing website YouTube, on which 42 video clips depicting various tourism themes and life generally in India are posted for viewing. Viewer feedback is welcomed. www.youtube.com/user/india When to sell Generally, India has hot, tropical weather, but due to its large geographic scale and varied topography, weather conditions and temperatures vary region to region. India has 4 seasons: winter (January and February), summer (March to May), monsoon (rainy) season (June to September) and post monsoon period (October to December). Temperatures are warmest in May or June, immediately prior to the cooling downpours of the southwest summer monsoon, a 4-month period when convective thunderstorms dominate India’s weather and Earth’s most significant wet season. Monsoonal and other weather conditions in India can be unstable; sporadic droughts, floods and cyclones can occur. India can be explored in all seasons, however, visitors are advised to be selective about their destination. Getting there Visitors from Europe generally fly into one of India’s 5 main international airports: Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Bangalore or Kolkata. European airlines with direct flights to India include: Aeroflot, Air France, Alitalia, Austrian Airlines, British Airways, KLM, Lauda Air, Lufthansa, Swiss International Airlines and Virgin Atlantic. Air India (the national carrier) has direct flights from London, Paris, Zurich, Vienna, Frankfurt and Moscow. Other busy international airports receiving flights from around the world include: Kochi, Thiruvananthapuram and Hyderabad. Hyderabad International, opened in March 2008, is India’s largest airport. The new Bangalore airport, Bengaluru International Airport, started operations in May 2008. India is home to a colourful myriad of cultural and religious festivals and celebrations. India’s native Asian elephants are the centre of attention at the Elephant Festival held every Holi (also known as ‘the festival of colours’, a popular Hindu spring festival), in Jaipur, Rajasthan. They stride majestically, parading their decorated trunks and tusks. The festival begins with a procession of elephants, camels and horses, painted and gaily decorated with glittering ornaments and embroidered velvets. The elephants greet visitors, offer garlands to guests and walk past a jury of experts and tourists, vying for the ‘best decorated elephant’ shield. The animals are followed by lively folk dancers. Elephant races and elephant polo matches are special attractions. The highlight of the festivals is a hilarious tug of war between the elephants and men. The Gaj Shringar India can provide a complete balance of physical, mental and emotional health with its state-of-the-art private healthcare infrastructure complemented with the ancient arts of yoga, ayurveda and meditation. Medicare, encompassing cardiac operations, joint replacements, preventative health care, cosmetic and dental surgeries, amongst other treatments, is one of the latest reasons to travel to India: over 60,000 cardiac surgeries are carried out every year with outcomes on a par with international standards, multi-organ transplants are successfully performed at a tenth of the cost of the same treatments in western countries and with no waiting lists. India also has one of the largest pharmaceutical industries in the world and exports drugs to more than 180 countries. Many patients arrange package deals that include flights, transfers, hotels, treatments and often a post-operative holiday. Useful Contacts www.incredibleindia.org www.youtube.com/user/india www.indiastat.com/india www.pib.nic.in www.indmount.com (Indian Mountaineering Foundation) www.yhaindia.org (Youth Hostel Association of India) www.medicaltourismguide.org/india www.tourism.andaman.nic.in www.andamanisland.com http://www.youtube.com/user/india http://www.incredibleindia.org http://www.youtube.com/user/india http://www.indiastat.com/india http://www.pib.nic.in http://www.indmount.com http://www.yhaindia.org http://www.medicaltourismguide.org/india http://www.tourism.andaman.nic.in http://www.andamanisland.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Travel News Europe - #88 - November 2008

Cover&Contents
NEWS
WTM News Pages
DESTINATIONS - Tanzania
DESTINATIONS - India
BUSINESS - Winter Holidays
BUSINESS - Exhibitions

Travel News Europe - #88 - November 2008