We booked a 7-night cruise on the Brahmaputra River on board of RV Charaidew, operated by Assam Bengal Navigation. The food and service on board of the Charaidew was outstanding (we love Indian food) and though space is critical on a boat, our cabin was relatively large. Fortunately, there were only 2 other passengers. If the boat had been filled with 5 other couples (maximum capacity is 24 passengers), it would have been a completely different story since every step and sneeze can be heard all over the boat. But what made the choice of this cruise a mistake was the itinerary. It was sold as a wildlife cruise, but if we had read the program more carefully, we would have noticed that during the entire 8-day cruise there are only 2 afternoon jeep safaris and one morning elephant ride (1 hour) in Kaziranga. Fortunately, we could manage to have an extra jeep safari after the elephant ride – for an extra fee though. Moreover, our mooring place was still more than an hour’s drive away from the places where we had to change vehicles for the safaris, meaning you have to get up at 4am for the morning elephant ride at 6:30am. The rest of the time (4 to 5 days) was spent on sailing and visiting riverside villages, which in our opinion were non-items. And during the sailings, there was absolutely nothing to see except for a wide expanse of water and vast sandy river banks with sporadically a few birds, mostly ruddy shelduck or bar-headed geese. If you love cruising, you should definitely book this – but if you’re into wildlife, you’ll be better off with driving straight to Kaziranga (a mere 4-hour drive from Guwahati) which will cost much less.