[predatorwheelz]

Day 7 (Continued)

Let me take you into the Durbar hall.



A large hall, now used partly as a store room and partly to exhibit some items of royal use.



Books, lots of books.



An elephant howdha for the King's royal outings.





And a howdha for when the King wants to rest.



Told you.



These large holes are probably for ventilation, for when air-conditioning did not exist.



Some simple rooms behind the durbar. Probably for the queen maids.



Is that a pea-hen feather?



The rear of the unused wing. Could do with some maintenance.



Every locked door whispers a story.





And let me take you up the stairs, to one of the Zenana Mahal rooms you can stay in.



The exclusive balcony of your room sire, complete with a swing.



Every room is named after a queen or king of the dynasty. Here's the room I'll take you into.



The queen's bed.



A small seating area.



Another bed in an almost invisible antechamber within the room.



The modern kitted out bathroom.



A luggage rack.



Every old building has these accessory staircases and doors that lead into tunnels.



To avoid confusion, such accessory doors are locked.



Now I take you to the right wing of the building, the Raja Mahal. Here's the main courtyard.



That fountain has seen better days.



So has this little frog-pond.



Quite unbelievably, you are looking at all the hotel rooms in the Raja Mahal.



What an exquisite "Chhatri".



The walls could do with some cleaning.



The temple of the "kul-devta" is here. This is the view from the balcony of the temple.

[predatorwheelz]

Day 7 (Continued)

This is the actual temple.



And I walk you into the Raja Mahal.



On the first floor is the King's durbar hall (now the dining hall of the hotel) and a terrace. In the middle of the terrace is this Gazebo, where Royal Courtesans once danced.



The King's vantage point.



And seating for the less fortunate.





Above the terrace is this lovely Jharokha, for the 2nd floor occupants to enjoy the show.



The 1st floor has only one room, and this is its exclusive balcony.



A chair from ancient times.



Let me walk you to the 2nd floor, to the biggest room I have ever stayed in. The entire 2nd floor actually.



You are first greeted by this lovely balcony, with its huge recliner chairs.



A cradle for your baby?



Not quite. The cradle is 138 years old!



As I said before, all the rooms are named after a King/Queen from the dynasty. This is our room.



Seating area inside the room.



The room is huge. This is the last corridor which stretches from bedroom to bathroom. One can barely see the other end.



Does your highness wish to survey what goes on below?



His higness' study table.



The bedroom. We're still inside the room, in case you're wondering.



A nice painting on the wall.



I was intrigued by this closed chamber next to our room. With permission, I opened the door to find another ancient wonder.



A sheesh mahal, as impressive as the one in Udaipur palace, but entirely in ruins!



That floor needs a polish.



Exquisite carvings. Some glass, some plaster.



Some paintings have faded badly.



Some not so.



Wonder how beautiful this glass collage must have been?



And this one.



As said before, the Ghanerao dynasty played a role of strategic allegiance between the Mewar and Marwar kingdoms. This is why the Sheesh Mahal carries the image of the Udaipur palace on one wall.



And the Jodhpur palace on the other.

[1100D]

Originally Posted by predatorwheelz

The lake palace of Rani Padmini, the queen of Rawal Ratan Singh renowned for her beauty.

It was here that Alauddin Khilji got a glimpse of the queen's beauty, and his madness in trying to possess her led to the first siege of Chittor.

Thank God, Alauddin did not know that Padmini was a rebadged 1100D.

Poor on though.

Excellent Narration Boy! Though still going through it.

[predatorwheelz]

Day 7 (Continued)

One last image from the Sheesh Mahal.



The walls of the dining hall are littered with pictures from old times. Just a few for your viewing pleasure.









Let me introduce you to Shera, the resident dog of the property and the gentlest Rottweiler we've ever met.



The Ghanerao Forest Lodge

The Ghanerao Forest Lodge (also known as Bagha ka Bagh) was originally the hunting lodge of the dynasty. Just 7 kms from the Rawala, the lodge is inside the Kumbhalgarh Wildlife Sanctuary. We had decided to spend one of our 2 nights in the lodge. So after wishing everybody at the Rawla a hearty goodbye, we set off for the Lodge.

The initial road is through the narrow roads of Ghanerao Village.







This gate marks the end of the village, and the road towards the forest.



Initially the vegetation along the road is sparse.



Then it gets a little dense.



And denser.



And really dense.



Till you reach a wall with an iron gate, and the signboard denoting the lodge.



No one at the gate, so the narrator acts as the gateman.



The 600m jungle trail has a raised centre (I guess marked by tyres of SUVs). I gingerly drive Chhotu all the way so that the suspension doesn't bottom out anywhere.





And then, in the middle of nowhere, we sight the lodge.



Inside the campus is a badminton court.



A fireplace.



With a seating area. There's also a covered gazebo behind, as you can see.



The bungalow of the manager, Mr Manoj Chhaya. The dogs are his. They await their owner with forlorn, cute faces.



The lodge is managed by a man called Bhura, a tribal who has been in service for 35 years. He tells us of a water reservoir in the forest, barely 3 kms away. Apparently the forest department wants to make it a crocodile reserve and has released live crocodiles there. Its also a spot for bird watching.

Since we have enough time, we set off on a trek to the water reservoir.





We sight 2 temples from a vantage point. The left one is Muchhal Mahavir. The right one (on top of the hillock) is that of a tribal godess.



The silhouette of the fort you see is none other than Fort Kumbhalgarh. Bhura tells us that while Kumbhalgarh is 65 kms by road, a trek through the forest can get you there in just 13 kms!



We sight this tiny stream, where we meet a hoard of domestic goats out for a stroll.



Some village ladies cross our path. They look at us and ask Bhura "Saheb ya Desi Saheb?". I reply "Desi Saheb". They blush and run ahead.



The terrain is tougher than it looks. We struggle with our expensive boots, while for Bhura and his simple "keds" shoes, its a walk in the park.

[predatorwheelz]

Day 7 (Continued)

A bigger stream which feeds into the reservoir. There's not much water in winter.



We sight some birds here. I'm no expert. Is this the Indian Spotted eagle?



I don't know what this bird is.



We sight a pair of painted storks, but they fly away before I ready my camera.

We continue along the trail. The reservoir is just 1 km from here.



A woodpecker at work.



Another bird I request identification of.



A sharp incline for the last 100 metres.



And we are at the reservoir.



For 30 mins we just stand there while Bhura works out where the crocs are. Just when I'm thinking its all a hoax, Bhura points me to 2 large examples basking in the sun on the opposite bank.

The pictures you see are taken at full zoom, since it was impossible to get to the other bank without falling into the water.





We spend another 15 mins walking around the reservoir. While walking back, we sight the Pied Kingfisher.



And another woodpecker.



These yellow flowers are spread over the entire forest. Probably these are the Ganda Babul the outlook traveller article spoke of.



Back at the lodge, we go about clicking the interiors. While the Ghanerao Palace is all about history, the Forest Lodge is all modern.



The dining area.



The TV Lounge. Tata Sky!





The corridor to our room.



A canoe in the front hall. You would have noticed that all doors and windows have grilles to keep out bears and leopards.



Night fell, and with that the oppressing silence only a jungle can provide. We were the only boarders at the lodge that night. At our request, Bhura lit a bonfire outside. Mr Manoj Chhaya, the manager - an amicable, soft-spoken Gujarati gentleman, accompanied us. We discussed good old days in "Apnu Amdavad". The chat session ran into the night, till the fire ran out.

Day 8 - The return to Delhi

We woke up to a crisp sunrise, and packed quickly for the 590 km journey. We were a little delayed by a flat tyre, which the locals replaced in a jiffy. 2 pics.

Chhotu standing next to Mr Chhaya's Gypsy.



Bhura, the 50 year old Caretaker, and Mangi Ram, a teenaged ever-smiling boy who works here.



We had a marvelous time at Ghanerao. In case you want to arrange a trip to either properties, you can contact Mr Manoj Chhaya (9829784035) or Shakti at the below coordinates.



We made good time on our return journey, with just 2 stops - one for repairing the flat tyre, one for lunch at Ajmer. Unfortunately, while the (almost 400 km) journey till Jaipur took 6.5 hours, it took another 6 hours to travel the nightmare Jaipur-Delhi highway. We reached home at 10 PM, tired like dogs.

That's all folks. You have reached the end of the account, of one my most unforgettable journeys. Hope you liked the travelogue.

[vrprabhu]

Rated 5 *****. Thanks for sharing.

I enjoyed the brief mentions of your girth :-), and is that the reason why there wasn't much mention about the food? Of course, I remember seeing a menu board displaying Idli & Dosa!!

[NOS Power]

Rated 5 stars......

Mr. Predator owner, this is by far the best travelogue I have read from you, and that is after knowing you for so many years.

Wonderful addition are the endless pics. Its a brilliant addition to your already great writeups.

Great going.

This thread should be in the state tourism guide websites.

[Wanderers]

Hi predatorwheelz,

This was the big one I would say. You covered good part of Rajasthan, which catches you more and more once you start sinking deeper inside it.
There is always something more to explore, which demands another visit.

Loved the finer points on Chittorgarh, which we missed during my recent trip. Would have loved to follow it up with Kumbhalgarh but may be it was saved for next trip to Baroda.

Thanks

[ultimatechamp]

Excellent narration Predatorwheelz ! Loved the detailed and colorful story-telling. As usual your travelogue is inspiring , but felt that it was abruptly ended. Why so ?
Anyway,fantastic trip and travelogue. Kudos