Published by Harper’s BAZAAR, Singapore

Welcome to adventure cruising in remote India, a journey that assails your senses with fresh conundrums every day. There are many dilemmas facing today’s traveller: Is my carbon footprint light enough? Are local people benefitting from my visit? Am I respecting the culture? So perhaps it wasn’t so surprising, as we drive towards Kaziranga National Park, in Assam India, at 5am, that someone asks: “How will I know if my elephant is well cared for?” We’d travelled hundreds of kilometres and endured a 90-minute white-knuckled road trip to get this far before sunrise for an elephant safari through the plains. For modern day globetrotters, eco- and socialconsciousness plays a big part in their holiday choices. Google “should I ride an elephant” and you’ll find hundreds of posts arguing the toss. We quiz our mahout relentlessly and were encouraged by the fact that, in this World Heritage Site, our female elephant only works two hours a day before the sun gets too hot.