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Lagoons and canals; river islands and palm-fringed lakes; bamboo rafting; rice-barge houseboats; floating markets; ayurvedic massage, duck-rearing; cycling; cardamom plantations; elephants and bison; and more…
KERALA BACKWATERS TOUR
13 days/12 nights taking in Kerala: (Cochin) Kochi, houseboat, Allepey, Periyar
Day 1 and 2
Traditional welcome at the airport.
Set on a cluster of islands and narrow peninsulas, Fort Cochin is a city of great cultural diversity - winding streets, shady trees, Kathakali dance, modern Indian art, 500-year old Portuguese houses, mosques, a tiny Jewish community with ancient roots - and ferry boats that scuttle like crabs across the budy harbour.
Once you are settled into your hotel, take strolls or a "tuk tuk" three-wheeler to explore the city. You may also want to watch the city's Kathakali dance show.
Overnight Stay: (2 nights), The Old Courtyard Hotel, Fort Cochin - a 200 year old Portuguese building, built about a cobbled courtyard.
Day 3
The Gramam homestay Backwater Hideaway , just outside Kochi. Gramam, in the village of Kumbalangi, is the home of Byju and Lyma. Their home is built in a traditional Keralan style with a garden that slopes gently away into the backwater lagoon. Surrounding the house are coconuts, areca nuts, mangoes - 12 varieties in all - pepper, pineapple and mangroves, besides various medicinal plants. But the most prized possession is a 200-year-old mango tree called "Chandanakaran" locally, which incidentally is the biggest tree in the village.
In the evening, we can visit Byju's brother - a paddy and prawn farmer - and wander through the paddy fields.
Overnight: (1 night) Gramam homestay - garden filled with coconut palms, peaceful, unspoilt, historical.
Day 4
1½ hour train journey to Alleppey. At the station, you can buy a strong sweet cup of coffee, before bracing yourself for the journey in one of the ancient looking carriages, doors hung open and slats across the window. Sit in the carriage and you'll hear the boys walking through calling 'coffee, coffee, coffee'.
From the train, you will be whisked off to the houseboat on the Kerala backwaters. One of Kerala's most luxurious forms of accommodation, the houseboat is a converted rice-barge. Reclining on cushions, you'll travel through the rivers and a labyrinth of man-made canals that flow through island paddy fields.
The lives of the people who live here are built around these waters - women pound their washing, children brushing teeth, the men lingering at the local 'chai' shop, and canoes and ferry boats scurrying by.
Overnight: (1 night) on-board the house boat with lunch and dinner served aboard.
Day 5 to 7
Met by the 100 year-old wooden canoe (called a 'country boat') owned by Vinod and taken to his family homestay on Emerald Isle, an island of 400 homes
You can take it easy over the next few days - reading in the hammock, dangling your toes in the water, taking massages, and trying out the local tea shop.
Or - if you're feeling more active - you can take a motorboat to visit the fruit and vegetable market, the ancient Bhagawati temple or the local pottery factory; go cycling through the necklace of villages of Kuttanad; take evening walks or go bird watching through the paddy fields and homesteads; take fishing lessons; and learn to cook in the family kitchens.
Overnight: (three nights) Emerald Isle homestay - warm family hospitality, courtyard gardens, hammock and nearby chai shop. The rice, pepper, coconut are all from the owner's family farm.
Day 8 - 11
5 hour drive to Periyar Nature Reserve and the adjacent - and wonderfully manic - pilgrimage town of Kumily. You don't need to appreciate wildlife to enjoy the area, since the reserve and town have much to offer.
Periyar is a 777 sq km forested wildlife reserve - home to bison, antelopes, sambar, wild boar, langur, elephants and tigers. Run under the imaginative supervision of the Kerala Forest Department, it is also home to the indigenous Mannan community, who help conserve the reserve in exchange for income from eco-tourism. Living in the outskirts of the reserve, they run many of the activities that we can do - trekking, bamboo rafting, night treks, elephant rides and plantation visits.
The bullock cart ride is one example of the potential benefits of eco-tourism. Three months ago, the riders of the bullock carts were part of a 24-strong gang who logged the reserve for sandal-wood. Just one sandal-wood tree can bring rich earnings for these people. With the security of income offered by the bullock cart rides, they have now become protectors.
The ride starts in Tamil Nadu, over the border from Kerala. You'll travel by bullock cart through immaculately kept agricultural plantations - vanilla, mango, cotton, chilli, beans, tomatoes, pumpkins, guavas, papayas - past women harvesting grapes, herons and kingfishers, a herd of mountain sheep, and men on motorbikes. A quick picnic - before returning along the banks of the river, fringed by palms, and the sun-setting behind the mountains.
Overnight: (4 nights) Bamboo Grove.
NOTE: If you enjoy camping, you'll like Bamboo Grove. The only visitor accommodation built in the vicinity of the reserve, these traditional bamboo and mud huts are built primarily with local materials. You may be met by monkeys (doors should be kept shut), there's a tree hut for the children, and all food is freshly prepared in the kitchens 100 metres down the road. Income generated from Bamboo Grove is ploughed back into the nature reserve and staff are from the locality.
OR
If you're a wildlife lover looking for something truly remote, you might instead want to stay in Gavi, also within the Periyar Tiger Reserve.
In the 1960's Tamil plantation laborers from the hills of Sri Lanka were repatriated to India. Gavi - a bumpy 2-hour journey into the rain forest - is one area where they settled, providing the labour force for the surrounding cardamom plantations. Now, with cardamom prices falling, the livelihood of the 1,500 inhabitants is threatened, so a plan was made to open up selective areas of the wilderness to ecotourism.
Large herds of elephants, bison, deer & the big cats roam freely at Gavi and the forests are home to over 260 species of birds-the Malabar Hornbills, Sunbirds, woodpeckers, King fishers and myriads of Mynas, Drongos, Cuckoos and Bulbuls.
You can take lazy strolls (making sure you are in the company of your guides always - lots of elephants around), go rowing on the boat in the lake or trek for hours. For the more adventurous, there's a programme of camping in the wilderness at Meenar, or to Valley View with its spectacular views of Chenthamara Kokka-the deep ravine and the dense forests down below.
Overnight: (4 nights) Green Mansions forest ecolodge at Gavi - western style building with a communal atmosphere. Overnight camping in the forest is also available.
Day twelve
We'll make our way back to Kochi in the afternoon for an overnight stay near the airport. On our way, we'll stop off at Thomas' ancestral home, 120 years old and hidden amongst the trees. As guests, we'll share lunch with his brother's family who now live in the house, drink toddy and rest. For exercise, we can take a quick tour of the local rubber processing factory that helps provide a living to small-scale producers in the area.
Overnight: (1 night) Brunton Boatyard.
Day 13
Back to airport and home, James.
This is a sample tour. All our tours are customized to meet your needs. We can mix and match according to the dates, length of stay and places you would like to visit, although we like to base tours around the key community projects we support. Note that we don't arrange air flights.
Vinodâ's homestay at Emerald Isle can only be reached by boat. Phone in advance and the hand-paddled boat will cross the lagoons to meet you at the landing point. If you go fishing with the family, they'll show you how to cook your catch into Karimeen Pollichathu, Avoli Fry and Neimeen Curry ' accompanied with dosa and appam-egg roast.
It is these personal experiences - pure and un-spoilt by commercial pressures – that make Kerala so special. Here, tourism is embedded in the local culture and reflects the peacefulness of that culture. They do things beautifully and enjoy sharing it with you.
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