After two weeks of rough travelling in Assam and Arunachal Pradesh, we took a break at the Burra Sahib, now known as the Kaziranga Golf Resort. An 18 hole golf course had just opened in November and the hotel was still working out some kinks with the electricity, internet, and swimming pool. The massage and morning yoga were quite good and the staff was able to put on a very good cooking class for us of Assamese cuisine. The rooms were very comfortable, the bathrooms could have been larger. I felt the pricing was quite fair and I would return.

We recently stayed here with our 3 year old daughter hoping for a memorable tea garden experience. It did not deliver. I'll admit that my review is tainted by high expectations created out of the unreasonable sums we had to pay upfront to book, but I'll try to keep my review as objective as possible.

The place is far from anything and in the middle of gorgeous tea plantations, which would be great if there was anything to do at the bungalow: they charged 600 rs a person for a tour of the tea factory(!), there are no books or games or anything in their extremely uncomfortable sitting areas. They had the power generator off most of the day, and the pool is a frog hatchery! In order to do anything we had to hire a car for the whole day, for which they tried to overcharge us. The staff, though sweet and kind and eager to please, spoke almost no English and had virtually no way to communicate any of the activities nearby. They had no maps, guidebooks or anything but a worthless little Assam Tourism brochure. At their recommendation we drove the 2 hours to Sivsagar which was nice but nothing to write home about. Meanwhile, unbeknownst to us or them (our guidebooks did cover Assam well) the Gibbon wildlife sanctuary is only 30 minutes away and hosts seven different primates. We learned of this in Jet Airways flight magazine on the way back to Mumbai. Other sources of irritation were the loud buzzing of the generator outside our window all night, the pee-colored bathwater, the slatted doors open to the air with no mosquito nets over the bed, and the lack of an alcohol license. They had a few warm beers on hand, but c'mon, we're in the middle of nowhere!

Now, if you are a seasoned traveller in India (as am I), surely you understand that one must be tolerant of a few inconveniences and keep expectations low, but really, this place is barely functional, good enough for 1 or 2 stars, but they billed us rs 7,500 PER NIGHT (half-board). Does this sound like a 160 USD /night accomodation? I thought not. Meanwhile, we had recently stayed at the Wild Mahseer near Nameri National Park, and the Iora at Kaziranga and enjoyed those fully.

Stay at your own risk.