Why India?

This seems to be the first question we get from (most) people when we tell them where we are going next. The obvious answer is, "Because it's there." This has pretty much been our answer to that question on most of our travels. It's a big world out there and we intend to see as much of it as possible - from one corner to the other (well, there are really no corners on a sphere, but that's besides the point).

We knew that we want to go to somewhere in Asia this year since we hadn't been there before. Keeping in mind some of our wildlife goals (i.e. seeing animals in their natural environment that unfortunately may not exist there before the end of our lifetimes), India and the tiger seemed the logical choice. I have heard recently, and I have no idea if this is true or not (but, since this is the internet, "facts" are all subjective anyway), that there are more tigers in captivity in the State of Texas than there are in the wild in India.

As we started planning this trip over one long year ago and after a lot of intial research found a great tour company that was able to really help pull it all together (Destination Himalaya - www.trekindia.com). We knew that our primary goal for the trip was the tigers, but definately wanted to experience India and it's cultures in the short 2 weeks that we have. We are limited to northern India only on this trip (southern India, from my understanding, is significantly different from the culture to the food). I think that we've come up with a itinerary that combines everything well in a short time. We thank our tour advisor, John, for his advice and guidance in where we could reasonably get to in this trip and for making arrangements for guides and drivers in each stop along the way. We are relatively adventurous, but trying to navigate Delhi (and beyond) on our own...don't think so!

Here's our rough itinerary for those who want to follow along - conveniently, the days correspond to the dates - so Day 1, is November 1, etc.:
Day 1: Depart USA
Day 2: Arrive in Delhi - a full 23 hours and 40 minutes after we left (some of that, of course, is the time change)
Day 3: Delhi
Day 4: & 5: Agra
Day 6: Jhansi, Orccha, continuing on to Khajuraho (for those of you local - you know this is the name of the best indian resturant around - located in Ardmore, PA)
Day 7: Khajuraho
Day 8 & 9 & 10: Bandhavgarh National Park - tiger viewing hopefully!
Day 11 & 12: Panna National Park - more tiger viewing!
Day 13 & 14: Varanasi
Day 15: Return to Delhi for return flight home
Day 16: Arrive home!