Brahmaputra River Cruise


Why Join This Cruise:

• A unique chance to explore the stillness and beauty of one of the world's greatest and least-known rivers


• These are the only cruise boats to navigate this watery wilderness, which have virtually no other shipping.


• Wonderful wildlife opportunities, with visits to a number of National Parks on or close to the river including, including Kaziranga National Park and Orang National park


• Safaris' planned in Kaziranga National Park, India's finest national park, which boasts most of the world's population of Asian one-horned rhino, as well as wild elephant, wild buffalo, sambar, hog and swamp deer and tiger!


• A genuine expeditionary cruise, as the river changes its course constantly ensuring each departure is unique
  
• Travel in style aboard these two small, intimate and comfortable boats, accommodating a maximum of just 24 guests, ensuring a very personalised experience


• Spacious, well-appointed cabins with private en-suite bathrooms and air-conditioned


• A world of calm and solitude in total contrast to virtually any other Indian holiday experience you are likely to experience


• Daily land excursions by jeep and on foot to parks, tribal villages and other place of interest, accompanied by your onboard naturalist guide


• Local English-speaking West Bengal guide accompanies all cruises, as does a trained naturalist


• Plenty of opportunity to relax and take it rural life as you leisurely slide down river


• A very attentive and charming crew

Trip Overview
This 7-night cruise starts at Guwahati and terminates at Silghat near Tezpur and Kaziranga. Highlights are Orang and Kaziranga National Parks, and temples in Tezpur


Daily Itinerary

Day 1 Embarkation in Guwahati/ Kurua
Met at Guwahati airport and taken on a short sightseeing tour of the city. Drive up Nilachal Hill to see the holy Kamakhya temple. With its tantric rites and animal sacrifice, the more squeamish may prefer to content themselves with the exterior. Visit the poignant Commonwealth War Graves cemetery. Finally walk through a local market before embarking on your cruise vessel. We set sail and cruise for about an hour and a half upstream to Kurua on the north bank.

Day 2 Kurua/ Ganesh Pahar
The day is spent cruising upstream, with hills rising on either side. Battling against strong currents, we reach an idyllic stop at Ganesh Pahar, where we can explore a delightfully serene hinterland lying under jungle-covered slopes.

Day 3 Cruising Upstream
Leaving the hills behind, we enjoy our first taste of the wilderness experience, sand banks like icebergs on either side. We may make a short stop to visit a bankside village, creating a sensation as we do. We moor for the night in a lunar landscape of sand islands, with hopefully the Himalayas in view and providing a contrasting backdrop in the distance.

Day 4 Orang National Park/ Singri Ghat
Rising early, we take to our country boat for another cruise up a side stream, this time into the Orang National Park. Here in this rarely visited park we mount elephants and ride through forest and grassland looking for rhino, deer and other wildlife. Returning to Charaidew, we cruise upstream to the little trading settlement of Singri Ghat, its main street running alongside a tea garden.

Day 5 Singri Ghat/ Tezpur
We cruise on this morning to Tezpur, and drive out to the 6th century Da Parbatia temple ruins with a beautifully carved portal, then explore the town by cycle rickshaw, stopping at Cole Park with medieval stone carvings saved from sites all over the region and perhaps penetrating the bungalow once lived in by Alexander Bruce, pioneer of the tea industry.

Day 6 Tezpur/ Kaziranga
We continue upstream, passing below a seemingly endless new bridge across the vast width of the river bed, to moor at Steemer Ghat (sic), a lovely beach backed by jungle-covered hills. In the afternoon we drive to Kaziranga's Western Range for a jeep safari and to scan the wilderness from an observation tower. Kaziranga is a World Heritage site and with a population of well over 1000 rhinoceros is the best place in the world to see these beasts. There are also good populations of tiger, wild elephant, sambar, swamp deer, hog deer, wild pig and many other species.

Day 7 Kaziranga
Disembark pre-dawn and drive to Kaziranga's Central Range for an early morning elephant ride, the best way to get really close to the rhino and other animals. After breakfast at a lodge, we walk through terraced tea gardens and past a Karbi tribal village, then drive to a Mising tribal village, with their distinctive houses raised on piles. After lunch either take a jeep safari in the little visited Eastern Range before returning to the boat, or if preferred return directly to Steemer Ghat, visit a delightful Assamese village nearby and walk along a path alive with butterflies to a solitary temple on the river bank.

Day 8 Disembark/ Onward travel
An early start for the 4 hour drive back to Guwahati airport, or alternatively we can arrange 40 minute transfer to Tezpur airport.

**Itinerary dependent on river conditions. Elephant rides subject to availability**

This itinerary is just one of a wide choices of Brahmaputra river cruises available from 4 - 7 nights in duration. Each with a slightly different itinerary and flavour, which can be tied into a longer tour of the sub-continent. For details of the other cruises and to check availability, please call Alex.


The Boats
The following boat operates this particular cruise:

RV Charaidew & RV Sukapha

Cruise dates for 2008

29th Nov - 6th Dec (Charaidew)
29th Nov - 6th Dec (Sukapha)

Cruise dates for 2009

22nd - 29th Jan (Sukapha)
24th - 31st Jan (Charaidew)
19th - 26th Feb (Sukapha) - Currently waitlisted
21st - 28th Feb (Charaidew)
19th - 26th Mar (Sukapha) - Currently waitlisted
21st - 28th Mar (Charaidew)
14th - 21st Apr (Charaidew)

Guide Price

£1,330.00 per person + 3.09% tax based on 2 people sharing a cabin

Single occupancy supplement: £750.00 + 3.09% tax

What's included?

• 7 night/ 8 day cruise on full board basis


• Accommodation in a double cabin with private ensuite bathroom


• All guided excursions


• Airport Transfers at the beginning and end of the cruise

What's not included?

• All flights and travel arrangements getting to and from the points of embarkation/ disembarkation


• Any additional accommodation, excursions or services pre or post cruise


• Beverages on board


• Laundry


• Camera fees at monuments


• Gratuities

Pre/ post Cruise Extensions
For those wishing to extend their stay in India and explore more of the sub-continent, we can certainly help you with these arrangements.

Please Click here for extension ideas or contact our India specialists for details of pre and post cruise extensions.

To discuss this trip, for further details or to check boat availability, please either:

Call 01285 880981
Email voyages@steppestravel.co.uk

Steppes Travel cruise destinations include: Alaska, Amazon, Antarctica, Arctic, Baja Mexico, Galapagos.