India Rural Tours

Goa is now gearing up to organise the Bonderam Festival, which is celebrated on the island of Divar, located 12 kms from Panjim city, on the 4th Saturday of August. This year the festival falls on August 24. The name Bonderam Originates from “Bandeira” – the Portugese word for Flag. During the Portugese rule there were frequent disputes between the villagers on the Divar island over property issues. Thus the Portugese introduced a system by putting up flags to demarcate the boundaries. This laidback island comes alive on this festival day. The day begins with a Flag Parade from the main Divar junction, which is accompanied by a Brass band. After this the Bonderam festival, is officially declared open. This is followed by a fancy dress competition, a float parade and a live musical performance featuring the Top bands of Goa. Why not combine a Goa Holiday with a visit to this festival !! Its not just about Goa in the rains.

We have started a Blog on our Group Companys website - www.Milonitours/Blog/ . We welcome contributions from all travel buffs - anything interesting to narrate or visuals which are often more powerful than words. You can upload it yourself (We will create an ID for you) or send to us at [email protected] and [email protected]. We will have it uploaded with due credits. Looking forward.

A lesser known fact about Indian Tourism is that certain stretches the Western Ghats – a mountainous chain stretching along the entire West coast of India has been declared a World Natural Heritage Site by Unesco. As per the UNesco Document – it represents one of the best examples of the Monsoon system on the Planet. It also has an exceptionally high level of biological diversity and endemism and is recognized as one of the world’s eight ‘hottest hotspots’ of biological diversity. The forests of the site include some of the best representatives of non-equatorial tropical evergreen forests anywhere and are home to at least 325 globally threatened flora, fauna, bird, amphibian, reptile and fish species. The closest point to Mumbai is the Koyna Wildlife Sanctuary and Chandoli National Park about 400kms away – and bordering Chiplun. For those who love Wildlife, mountains and evergreen forests – this is the place to go and you don’t need a flight to reach here.

Those looking for a monsoon holiday without denting your pockets significantly (Blame it on Euro), we can recommend a Villas at Varca Palms Beach Resort in South Goa. For those familiar with the area, it is between Mahindra Varca and Zuri. If you want a clean uncrowded beach, clean swimming pool, a spa, a casino nearby and a villa to live without paying a bombshell – you can head for this place. A little isolated – and hence advisable only for those who prefer it that way or those willing to travel by scooters / taxis to reach the town / market. For enquiries please call us on 98203 16986 or 022-319 00 660