ECO TOURS
Treading lightly.........


Indian Postage Stamps commerating
the fauna & flora of the Himalaya

" Environmentally Responsible Travel and visitation to relatively undisturbed natural areas in order to enjoy, study and appreciate nature (and any accompanying cultural features) that promotes conservation, has low visitor impact, and provides for beneficially active, socio economic involvement of local populations." Hector Ceballos-Lascurain [Ibex has the honour of also having Hector as a client in India - please see 'What Clients Say" ]

Definition of eco tourism, first adopted by the Board of Directors in 1991 of the International Eco tourism Society.
"Ecotourism is responsible travel to natural areas that conserves the environment and sustains the well being of local people."

World Heritage Site tour

To celebrate the Year of Eco tourism 2002, Ibex has woven together some of the premier World Heritage sites in India as a tour circuit. These are monuments selected by UNESCO to encourage protection and preservation of cultural sites considered to be of outstanding value to humanity. In addition, the natural World Heritage site of Keoladeo Ghana bird sanctuary at Bharatpur is also included.

The other cultural sites include monuments with historical, aesthetic, archaeological, scientific, ethnological or anthropological value. Our guides are specially trained at different locales to bring out the history and cultural significance of the people and its landscape of India. Delhi - Agra - Fatehpur Sikri - Bharatpur - Khajuraho - Sanchi - Elephanta caves - Ellora caves - Ajanta caves - Goa - Mammallapuram - Chennai - Mumbai Click Here For Reservation/More Information

Painting of Agra Fort

South India Eco Paradise tour

From the beautiful garden city of Bangalore, you travel south to the princely state of Mysore, famous for sandalwood and jasmine. City Palace designed by Henry Irwin and built in 1897 in the Indo Saracenic style in grand proportions. From here, the Eco paradise takes you to the District of Coorg, originally an English settlement and rich in coffee estates, pepper and cardamom and on to the Wyanad hills in pristine verdant tropical rainforests.

We then travel to Cochin, a trading Portugese port since Roman times. The Jewish synagogue is in Mattanchery and the Jews have claimed to have settled here in 587 BC and some legends trace their origin to King Solomon 1030 BC.

A houseboat "Kettuvalam" on the backwaters

The unique journey through the backwaters on a houseboat shows the unique Kerala village life, after which you arrive by boat, cutting through the floating scented hyacinth to the wonderful backwater resorts. We then move to the heart of cardamom hills to the Periyar tiger reserve, an exclusive haven for South India's wild life.

The journey culminates in the blue hills of the Nilgiri mountains in Munnar, surrounded by tea estates and forest, rich in wild life, including the reclusive Nilgiri Tahr.

A Niligiri Tahr

Delhi or Mumbai - Bangalore - Mysore - Coorg - Wyanad - Cochin - Backwaters - Kumarakom - Periyar - Munnar - Cochin ~ onward destination (15 nights/16 days)

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