[moe.ron]

A very interesting tour group.

WEALTHY Americans are paying more than £3,000 to go on controversial package tours to India that mix shopping and sightseeing with handing out food and medicines to the poor.
The tours take groups of up to 15 people on horseback through the western desert state of Rajasthan, stopping off at villages along the way.

Poor villagers are said to be bemused at the sight of the American cavalcade galloping towards them across the dunes. But curiosity turns to pleasure when free livestock, food and medicines are handed out.

Caroline Duncan, 31, an actress from Los Angeles, who was on the first tour organised by Souri’s company, Relief Riders International, last October, was also delighted.

“To hold a sick child in your arms, give her the medicine she needs and then ride into the desert on a beautiful horse under a starry sky to have a fabulous dinner in a fairytale fort is an extraordinary experience,” she said.