India Trip Review: Fort Agra, National Parks, Safari, 12-Night Tour

Review by traveler

Susana N.

4.18.2023

General Info

Traveler Review

Which Country (Countries) did you visit on this trip?

India

Your overall comments on the trip and the travel company:

When first planning this trip my sister and I felt that this travel company was most in tune with what we were after for our vacation. We had been very happy working with Jay at the travel agency. Communication by phone and email was easy and hassle free.

What were the most enjoyable or memorable parts of your trip?

We most enjoyed getting to the national parks and being on safari, which was our purpose for going to India. An extra bonus was Fort Agra which we enjoyed immensely.

If you could take your trip again, what would you do differently?

This is a very difficult question for me as out of 12+ countries I have visited, this has been my least favorite. I suppose I would do more of my own research and rely less on the travel company. Many times, throughout the trip we felt as though we were being racially profiled (while traveling through airports) our travel team did mention that "random screening could occur" but it happened every single time to me, and as I look at the other people, all were non-Indian people, every time we traveled.
I was not clear on how the safaris were to run. I suppose I was too used to African safaris, but this felt very disorganized to me and there were "hidden" charges involved.

Travel Company Comments:

Dear Susana,
Namaste!
We thank you for sharing your detailed feedback.
First of all, we would like to apologize for all the inconvenience caused to you at the airports and Nagarhole National Park.
We are so sorry to know that your baggage was screened multiple times at the airports. Please note that we have hundreds of foreign guests traveling to India and have never faced such situation with Indigo Airlines. It may be a mere coincidence that your baggage was screened. It is really unfortunate that your bags were screened all the times. While we understand that this may be of great inconvenience but the airport screening rules are out of our control. We regret the inconvenience caused because of this.
Safaris: We are so sorry to know that the safari did not meet your expectations. Please note that in “India Travel Guidelines” document (page 8) shared on 21 Mar, we had mentioned that in India the safaris are completely controlled by the forest department. The selection of guides, safaris, etc is completely managed by them. We as a tour operator have no control on that. This is unlike Africa where private lodges/ tour operators have their own say in safaris. So, the safaris are more personalized and customized. We also informed about the fluency of guide/ language issue etc in the advisory document so that the guests have the expectations set. We regret the inconvenience caused because of this.
Discomfort in Nagarhole hotel: We are so sorry to know that you faced a lot of inconvenience at the resort. We have taken a note of all the issues mentioned by you and discussed with their management. Please find answers to these issues below:
Stay at Tented Cottage: While the trip included the stay at Tented Cottage, the hotel upgraded your stay to Viceroy room with compliments. The reason for this is that there were lot of domestic guests in the hotel and stay in tented cottage would have caused a lot of discomfort due to noise that the local guests generally create while staying in a group. Tented cottages are located close to each other. So, for your comfort they upgraded the stay for you. We are sorry to know that the hotel did not inform you that it is an upgrade.
Hidden Charges being levied: Please note that there are no hidden charges being levied by us. When we came to know that you were charged about USD 12 for camera, we refunded the entire sum to you after the trip. Sincere apologies for this. We have informed the hotel not to levy this on our guests in the future.
We suggested this lodge because this is owned by Government and safari preference is given to guests who stay in this resort. There are other luxury resorts in Nagarhole but we have received complaints regarding safari in those resorts. I have personally stayed in this resort twice and never faced any issue. Had you called us during your stay, we would have resolved and answered all the above queries.
Regarding photograph requests from locals: We are so sorry that you were not comfortable with people taking pictures with you. We inform all the guides to take care of such situations. As you have raised this issue, we have modified and mentioned about this in India Travel Advisory document so that our travelers know about this in advance and know what is to be expected. Please note that the locals ask for taking photographs because many domestic Indian tourists have little or no contact with foreigners where they’re from. Perhaps they’re from a very small city/ town where no foreign traveller ventures. Domestic Indian tourists go on holiday to a big city like Delhi to see the sites. Meeting a foreigner and having photographic proof is a good story for them to take home. Imagine if the West wasn’t so multicultural, we too would be interested in a photo and conversation with people from different ethnic groups. It would be new and exciting for us also. But, we understand the privacy of the guests is most important and know how inconvenient it may get.
Hope we covered all the points. We again regret all the inconvenience faced. Please note that our intention is never to put our guests in inconvenience but hope you understand at time certain extraneous elements impact the trip. It was a learning experience for us as well and we assure that we shall improve further. Sincere apologies to you and Heather for this trip being not a very happy experience.
Steps to be taken by us to improve:
1. Already started to mention about occasional pictures being taken issue in India Travel Advisory Document
2. Already started to mention about safari advisory in proposal and not in India Travel Advisory document
Please stay safe and healthy
Regards
Jay