Slowing Down on an Epic Journey

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MARCH 2024

Meeting Places

Antara’s Epic Cruise on the MV Ganga Vilas

MV Ganga Vilas at night, reflection of lights on the ship can be seen on the river below

Clare Arni, 2023

The beautifully designed and outfitted Ganga Vilas sails languorously on the river’s meandering path, starting from the holy city of Varanasi, past ancient ruins, the unhurried pace of weavers’ villages, sunflower fields, structures of faith and conquest, and the deep tangled mangroves of the Sunderbans.

Traversing the legendary Ganges all the way to its delta, the ship takes you to where the dainty Padma meets the vast Brahmaputra. Through 2 countries, 5 states and 27 river systems, there are more meetings. The slow pleasure of this extraordinary 51-day journey (the longest river cruise in the world) contains many confluences. The silence of the forest meets the cries of riverine birds. The muezzin’s call mingles with the bustle of the market. And the echoes of memory resound in the fascinating legends our guides colourfully retell.

Antara’s Epic Cruise: Highlights

WILD

Amit Jana, 2023

The estuarine wildlife you encounter on this cruise as you sail around the lush, mysterious Sunderbans, is unique. At Bhagbatpur on the India side, you’ll visit the government Crocodile Project and its hatchery. You’ll see multi-hued birds and the Batagur Baska tortoise, too. And if you’re lucky, perhaps you’ll be blessed with a glimpse of a certain striped interloper. The natural beauty of the dense mangroves and their silent waterways, and the distinctive culture of the people that live here will stay with you for a lifetime.

SPIRITUAL

Iqbal Hossain, 2018

In Tangail, Bangladesh, visit the stunning 17th century Atia Mosque, built by the Mughals combining their architecture with the older Bengal Sultanate style, and the Sufi saint Shah Baba Kashmiri’s mausoleum at its crumbling heart. If the weavers

LOCAL

Floating market at Barisal, Bangladesh. These are boats full of green apples.

Mushfiq Ahmad, 2018

Buy a kilo of delicious ‘Bengal’s Apples’, or as we know them better – guavas – from farmers and wholesalers who gather in the hundreds at this generations-old, wonderful spectacle of a floating market at Barisal, in Bangladesh.

There’s so much more to see, savor and experience on this epic voyage while sailing in comfort and surrounded by the hospitality of Antara. Who knows – you might discover more than just South Asia from the river – you might find yourself.