Turn a visit into an adventure

With polo now being played in upwards of 80 countries around the world, there is no shortage of holiday destinations for aficionados and their families looking to combine their passion for the sport with other activities ranging from hunting and fishing to cameltrekking and tiger-spotting.

International travel companies such as Abercrombie & Kent and IJ’s Exotic Polo Holidays offer luxury off-the-peg or customised packages to a plethora of destinations, but it can sometimes be more satisfying to plan your own itinerary, helped by polo friends, before you go globetrotting.

Here are a few tips on where to go and what to do in two of the most popular countries for polo vacations: India and Argentina.

I N D I A

In the mid-19th century, representatives of the British Raj ‘discovered’ the ancient game of polo in Manipur in north-east India. The sport soon spread and today, the Indian Polo Association lists 35 clubs, from Bangalore in the south to Kolkata in the east and Delhi in the north. However, the real heart and soul of Indian polo is in Rajasthan, to the northwest, on the frontier with Pakistan.

Jaipur, the region’s capital, began its rise to polo fame between the wars, when the late Maharaja Sawai Man Singh II (1912-1970) took his Jaipur team to England and won every major tournament there. ‘Jai’, as he was known, became a 9-goal player and, for more than a decade, his team dominated Indian polo.

Jai went on to play polo all over the world. His Jaipur home, Rambagh Palace, became a haven for polo-playing friends and celebrities from abroad. When the Indian government withdrew the privy purse from erstwhile rulers of princely states, he was one of the first of the maharajas to turn his palace into a hotel.

The Taj Rambagh Palace now offers five-star accommodation with echoes of the glory days of Jaipur polo, and the adjacent

Rambagh Polo Ground still hosts matches. Polo instruction and tournaments for visitors, meanwhile, are available at the Jaipur Riding & Polo Club, just 25km from the city. The club was founded and is run by Colonel KS Garcha, formerly a leading Indian player, who won the national championships 13 times and has competed in some 25 countries.

Jaipur is also home to the Indian Army’s 61st Cavalry Regiment, which has long provided many of India’s top polo players. Don’t miss the annual spring review of the regiment on the Rambagh Polo Ground, which rivals that of the Household Cavalry.

Also located on the outskirts of Jaipur, in the Aravali Hills, stands the picturesque town of Mundota, which boasts not only a fort and a palace, but now a new polo facility being developed by Vikram Rathore, India’s polo ambassador to FIP. Scheduled to open by the end of the year, the resort will offer a luxury hotel and polo ground with arena, pavilion and

Information on polo holidays in India is available from: • tajhotels.com • abercrombiekent.co.uk • ranthamborenationalpark.com • ratanada-polo-palace.com

Previous page A local surveys the scene from one of the palaces in the ‘pink city’ of Jaipur, Rajasthan. Clockwise from far left Colonel KS Garcha, founder of the Jaipur Riding & Polo Club, in action; a Bengal tiger in the Ranthambore National Park; Mundota, a former fort and a palace near Jaipur, which will open as a luxury polo facility at the end of the year; an elephant-polo match adds to the ambience of regal splendour at the Taj Umaid Bhuwan Palace; the charge of the 61st Cavalry in Jaipur – one of the three last remaining horsed cavalry army regiments anywhere in the world

stables for 50 horses. It will also be the base for one of India’s top teams, the Sahara Warriors, which is patroned by Sahara Shri Subrata Roy, owner of Force India F1 team.

Rathore is optimistic that the development will be ‘the Indian polo concierge, facilitating the needs of the discerning player from across the globe who wants to do anything to do with polo in India, be that running their own team, playing a tournament or taking lessons’.

For polo tourists with an interest in wildlife, there are two national parks within 129km of Jaipur that offer the chance to spot India’s most emblematic predator, the Bengal tiger. The Ranthambore National Park – once the hunting grounds of the maharajas of Jaipur – offers guided tours for viewing tigers, leopards and crocodiles.

Some 320km west of Jaipur is Jodhpur, another Rajasthan city steeped in polo tradition. This was the home of the late Rao Raja Hanut Singh of Jodhpur (1900-1982). During World War I, at the age of only 14, he served with his father’s Jodhpur Lancers – one of the units responsible for taking Haifa from the Ottomans. After the war, Hanut became the most famous player ever to come out of India. A 9-goal player at 21, he held that rating for 45 years.

I stayed with him at his house at Ratanada in Jodhpur in the Seventies, when he wrote for my book Chakkar. Now, his son, Hari, who played polo with Hanut on their Ratanada team, runs a 50-room hotel there, called, appropriately, the Ratanada Polo Palace. For the real royal experience in Jodhpur, however, a stay at the Taj Umaid Bhawan Palace Hotel is a must. Construction of the vast marble home of the maharajas of Jodhpur began in the Twenties and took 15 years to complete. With 350 rooms, it was one of the world’s largest private residences.

Today, it is divided into three parts: the residence of the current maharaja, Gaj Singh II; a museum of the Jodhpur dynasty; and the Taj hotel. The rooms and royal suites of the latter, which have been decorated in the same Art Deco style as the original palace, offer the polo tourist unrestrained luxury.

Stretching westward from Jodhpur into neighbouring Pakistan lies the vast Thar Desert – a largely desolate area of more than 200,000 sq km, where spectacular dunes rise some 150m. Several companies offer camel treks and safaris through the desert. A few nights under the stars would seem a perfect way to end a polo holiday.

A R G E N T I N A

Argentina is a vast country of fascinating geography, from the mountains of the Andes in the north to the great flatlands of the pampas to the glaciers of Tierra del Fuego at the southern tip towards Antarctica. Its appeal to the polo traveller, however, is based on its position as the world’s leading polo nation.

The one annual event most likely to draw holidaymakers from abroad is the Abierto – the Argentine Open Championship – played in December in the country’s national polo stadium at Palermo, in the suburbs of Buenos Aires. The Abierto is considered the worldwide pinnacle of the sport, with teams of up to the maximum handicap of 40 goals in contention.

For polo tourists flying in just for the final matches of the Abierto, Buenos Aires has numerous hotels, such as the Palacio Duhau – Park Hyatt (buenosaires.park.hyatt.com), offering five-star luxury accommodation. As the most European of all South American capital cities, it has plenty to keep short-term visitors busy, with sightseeing, tango shows, great food and shopping. Most polo tourists, however, opt for longer holidays in Argentina and head out to the campo – the countryside – to seek instruction, shop for ponies, play in pro-am tournaments or go hunting and fishing.

Several of Argentina’s most famous polo families have estancias that welcome visitors from abroad. For example, the Pieres family’s estancia Ellerstina, with seven polo grounds, offers visitors the opportunity to receive instruction and coaching, buy ponies and play in pro-am tournaments. With scores of estancias around the country, the holidaymaker is spoiled for choice. Some are worth a visit simply for the chance to relax in luxury.

Clockwise from opposite, top left: The luxurious La Bamba de Areco estancia; La Bamba de Areco’s exterior; the stables at El Remanso; instruction is available from top-level coaches such as Marcelo Monteverde; a gaucho rounds up horses at La Carolina; atmospheric evening rides on the pampas at El Rincon

Information on polo holidays in Argentina is available from: • labambadeareco.com • haraslacarolina.com • elremansopolo.com • elrincondelpolo.com • marcelomonteverde.wordpress.com

La Bamba de Areco was acquired by JeanFrançois Decaux, chair of JCDecaux, the world’s largest outdoor-advertising company. Decaux, who also owns a polo club in France, named his high-goal team La Bamba de Areco after the estancia. In 2009, Decaux completely refurbished the whole property in French style. It was as if he had plucked the Ritz Hotel from the Place Vendôme and placed it out on the pampas: rather smaller and with traditional Argentine touches, but with all the luxury of that famous Paris hostelry.

Another foreign-owned estancia worth staying at is Christopher Hanbury’s El Remanso, which is situated south-west of Buenos Aires and less than an hour’s drive from the international airport. Like La Bamba, it offers sophisticated accommodation and is set among 500 hectares of completely flat farmland – perfectly suited to polo. Its tournaments have become firm fixtures on the sporting calendar, and its popularity continues to grow each year. For a look at the latest in polo-pony breeding, the Hanburys’ Lovelocks Polo Stud and the La Carolina breeding farm in San Miguel Del Monte are well worth visiting. La Carolina’s owners also have a playing farm in Pilar. Started by father-and-son team Sir Michael Rake and his son Ashley, the latter is the main base for their horses and features a training centre, 25 boxes, an exercise track and a schooling pen. The impressive set-up lends itself well to La Carolina’s tailored poloholiday packages, which offer Argentine-style accommodation, a pool and gym, and individual

or group lessons with professionals. Sightseeing visits or trips to local spas and golf courses can also be arranged.

A mere 30-minute drive from La Carolina’s sprawling farm stands the town of Open Door – the birthplace of the legendary 10-goal Novillo Astrada brothers and home to more than 30 polo clubs, including the El Rincon polo school with its 50 polo ponies. Guests can stay at the charming ranch house and take part in morning polo classes, with scheduled games in the afternoon.

During the southern-hemisphere winter, holidaymakers can combine snow polo with skiing and other alpine sports at the Pire-Hue Lodge in the foothills of the Andes, while there are fine opportunities for combining polo with hunting and fishing throughout the year. Estancias can help arrange these activities for holidaymakers, including ever-popular wildfowl-shooting. With this much choice, year round, there’s really no excuse not to go.