INDIA

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a 'heady' dinner, Dungapur Palace hotel, India

Dungapur Palace Hotel Rajasthan, India

Anyone who reads the information attached to these monthly photos will have picked a 'palace-hotel' trend. This month, will be the last for a while! Not because I have exhausted the palace theme, but it is time for a change.
I could not leave the subject however without commenting about the abundance of animal heads which adorn many of India's most prominent palace hotels. Here, in the dining room of Dungapur palace, the former owners love of big game hunting is very much in evidence. Not in this photo are the numerous tiger 'rugs' and, in the adjoining drawing room, the array of large animal heads from India and Africa.
In a world where wildlife is under increasing threat the usual response to this display of slaughter is dismay. However, times were very different when the royal families of India indulged themselves with hunting parties. Those same hunters changed to become ardent and articulate conservationists who allowed their private private hunting areas to become national parks and reserves. Without the Maharajahs' active interest in hunting, and subsequently in conservation, the status of Indian wildlife would be in much more parlous state.

Next month:   I don't know...but not a palace!

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Come and form your own opinions about 'hunting Maharajahs'
....in a lot of palace hotels, by joining our tour later this year.

the 'Warp and Weft of India' Oct - Nov 2000.

There are limited spaces for 2000 but we shall run it again in 2002.
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revision 18 Mar 2001
http://www.greenkiwi.co.nz/footprints/photo/ph0008.htm