Rajasthan 4 January 2010

Rajasthan 4 January 2010
Early morning tour of the Red fort in Agra - if anything even more impressive than Taj Mahal. Built centuries ago of red sandstone, it is really a fortified palace with crocodile infested moat and a second (dry) moat filled with wild and dangerous animals. The Palace itself on the top level in the centre is amazing, structurally intact but, of course, without the gold, jewels, carpets and drapes that adorned the walls and floors originally. The guided tour is enjoyable and interesting.
After the red Fort, we have a four hour public bus journey then a hairy 4x4 ride into the hinterland ending up at Fort Mad Hogarth. The 500 year old fort is situated on an elephant back shaped hill which rises in the middle of a plain stretching for many miles to the foothills of surrounding mountain ranges. You have to see it to believe it. Astounding. I don't know who Hogarth was but for generations it has been the family home of successive Maharajahs, currently Maharajah Thakur Shiv Pratop Singh. We meet the Maharajah and his young family, and he explains that some guestrooms in the fort are let out to visitors like ourselves to raise money that is being ploughed back into renovations. We have evening drinks and a group photo with the Maharajah on top of one of the turrets. A child in the village below is flying a kite that sways and flutters in the wind above us. The sun sets behind the distant mountains. Magical.
All the best, John