Orissa contrasts. (Above) Tribal weekly market in Koraput near Bastar; (Below) Konark's Sun Temple on the Bay of Bengal.

SECRET INDIA IS EXTENDING its reach to the beautiful forests of little-known Pench National Park near Nagpur, to Pachmarhi in the Satpuras, to adjacent Orissa with the World Heritage Temples of Puri and Konark and the wetlands of Chilika Lake, and to the spectacular tribal hill scenery of Andhra Pradesh.

A most unusual passenger train links Tribal Bastar via South Orissa to the Andhra Pradesh coast. The spectacular daylight crossing of the Eastern Ghats features the highest broad-gauge station in India at Shimiliguda (996m).

Combining a road trip from Bastar through tribal Koraput in Orissa, you can join (or leave) the train in the ecologically important Araku Valley high on the Andhra border.

Rest in log cabins by the tiny forest station of Tyada, visit the age-old Borra Caves, then descend to the excellent air and rail services and first-class hotels of bustling Visakhapatnam, a practical, efficient gateway to Hyderabad, Chennai and the exotic wonders of South India.

Click here for a Map of Orissa and the Eastern Ghats train route.

AND LAST, BUT FAR FROM LEAST, Kolkata,

formerly and still frequently known as Calcutta...

After the stress of Delhi and Mumbai, Kolkata’s pleasantly compact airport is a haven of polite, welcoming people. From legendary Howrah Station, Raipur and Secret India are but a comfortable overnight AC sleeper compartment away.

Kolkata hosts the Indian Museum and a rich heritage of cultural and historical magnets. In easy reach are Rabindranath Tagore’s Shantiniketan and the artisan villages of West Bengal.

South of the city lies that part of the world’s greatest three-river delta known as the Sunderbans, true home to the Royal Bengal Tiger and a mass of other riverine and avian wildlife.

Travel in the Sunderbans is strictly controlled and only by boat (left). Facilities at Sunderban Tiger Camp, a private island resort on the edge of the core area, are basic but adequate, with an enthusiastic and knowledgeable boat crew - a perfect aquatic complement to the more leisured conditions of Secret India's deep interior jungles of Kanha and Pench.