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India: Mandu

The Jahaz Mahal at Mandu
The Jahaz Mahal at Mandu

After two days of long bus journeys north from Ajanta, through dusty landscapes and the transit city of Indore, I finally arrived in Mandu. I've been getting itchy feet while exploring the hot, dusty, flat plains of central India, and I'm beginning to dream of lofty hill stations nestling at the feet of snow-capped Himalayas, but Mandu has reminded me once and for all why the arid desert areas of India are in a world of their own. Mandu is a huge fortress built by the Muslims, a combination of two of the things that make travelling worthwhile: glorious landscapes and fantastic architecture. And when I say fantastic, I really mean it; Mandu is utterly spectacular.

A baobab tree
The baobab trees are beautiful
The Hindola Mahal
The Hindola Mahal
The Dai-ka-Mahal
The Dai-ka-Mahal

1 The baobab trees look exactly like the boab trees of northern Australia, and this similarity is no coincidence, as the baobab and the boab are different species of the Adansonia genus.