Category: <span>Kerala</span>

Date: August 31st, 2009

This is in continuation of a travel series that began in Kumarakom. To recap, we had gone to Kottayam for a friend’s wedding and after another friend, Ramesh, joined us in the afternoon, we took a bus from Kottayam’s main bus depot to reach the town of Kumily.

The nearly 3 hour long journey was quite an experience by itself. Once we passed the low lying towns, we sensed we were going uphill, but it’s not like we could see anything. It was pitch dark outside, and we could only assume the bus was taking hair-pin bends when the three of us slid from side to side on our seats. We had a blast, quite a roller coaster ride it was!

We reached Kumily town past 7pm, if I remember correctly. We didn’t have a reservation anywhere but we got a room easily for less than Rs. 1000 a night. I don’t remember the name of the hotel, sorry, it’s been nearly 3 years ago and I don’t remember where I wrote down all the details.

We had our drinks from a bar near by and then ate hot dosas and fried eggs from the street stalls that appear in the market centre at night.

The next day, we woke up early and took an autorickshaw to the Periyar National Park and Wildlife Sanctuary. We wanted to get there as soon as it opened at 6am as we were keen on taking the very first boat ride on Periyar Lake, for a couple of reasons. One, a lot of guides said it was the best time to see animals and the other being, the morning calm in the air. Plus, if we got the very first boat ride itself, we could have left for Ernakulum today itself.

We bouight our tickets (Rs. 150 for the upper deck) and got on our boat.

Periyar lake tree branches in water Thekkady — The reason you see tree branches sticking out of the water is because Periyar Lake is an artificially created lake, flooded when they built the Mullaperiyar Dam in 1895

Thekkady Periyar lake reflection in water Kerala India — The morning calm surely made for awesome reflections in the water

Periyar lake trees branches reflection in water Thekkady Kerala — The boat ride is extremely smooth... and very relaxing

Thekkady Periyar lake park cloud sky Kerala — The skies looked good too

Periyar lake ripples water Thekkady Kerala India — We may have woken up real early for this, but the morning ride was well worth it

Periyar lake morning calm Thekkady Kerala — You could make up for lost sleep here if you wanted to. It's a perfectly quiet environment.

Private island resort Thekkady Periyar National park — This island looked like it belong to a private hotel or resort

Periyar wildlife sanctuary trees lake Kerala India — Drifting peacefully on this lake, I did wonder what this forest must have looked like before it was flooded

Cow buffalo grazing grass periyar wildlife sanctuary — This being a wildlife sanctuary, there are supposed to be animals, even tigers. But all we saw were water buffaloes.

Water buffaloes Thekkady Periyar sanctuary Kerala India — Oh well, something better than nothing

Thekkady boat ride Periyar lake Kerala India — Our boat was full of tourists from all over India and abroad

Water birds flying Periyar lake Thekkady Kerala — Saw a lot of these birds

Bird swimming in water Thekkady Periyar lake Kerala — Ducks?

Large bird on tree Periyar lake wildlife sanctuary Kerala — We saw a large variety of birds. Too bad I didn't have a super-zoom lens back then.

Elephants on hills Periyar Nature park Kerala — An hour into our journey , we spot a few elephants grazing high up on the hills

Small birds on trees Periyar lake Kerala — But the rest of the time it was bird watching

Here’s a video I took:

Thekkady lake Periyar National park Kumli Kerala India — After a pleasant journey, we returned back to the banks from where we began our ride

What was a pleasant journey for us ended up being a nightmare for other tourists a few weeks later. On September 30th, one of the tour boats operated by KTDC capsized and over 40 tourists died. It was a grim day for Thekkady’s tourism and one that woke up officials to address passenger safety. It wasn’t even until this incident that the boat operators insisted on life jackets for all passengers. Appalling, when you think about how they wait until some lives were lost to understand the value of certain basics.

Periyar wildlife sanctuary auto ride Kerala — We took an auto rickshaw back to our hotel

Corner road Periyar wildlife sanctuary Thekkady Kumli Kerala — The wildlife sanctuary is pretty big and you even have a tiger reserve nearby

Periyar wildlife sanctuary elephant park Thekkady Kerala — You have elephants rides here too

Elephant scrubbing against tree Thekkady Kerala India — This being Kerala, you're bound to see a lot of them

We checked out of our hotel, had lunch and got a KSRTC bus going to Ernakulam, Cochin from the town bus station.

KSRTC bus ride to Ernakulam from Kumli Kerala India — This would be a good opportunity to see the sights we missed last night

Idukki hills Kumli Kerala India — Man, did we miss some sights alright!

Idukki hills through bus door Kerala — I took all these photos from inside the bus while it drove back down the narrow hill road

Idukki hills farming Kerala India — Needless to say, the journey was beautiful

Idukki hill Western ghats cloudy sky Kerala India — The Western Ghats of India are really beautiful

Idukki hills waterfalls Kerala — There were quite a few small waterfalls I spotted

Idukki waterfalls Kerala — The bus even rode past a few

Idukki Kerala misty hills Western ghats India — It's no wonder Idukki district is such a popular tourist destination

Rubber plantations Idukki Kerala — We passed a lot of rubber plantations on the way

We reached Ernakulam (Cochin’s main city) just past sunset. After a tea break, we took an autorickshaw to Fort Kochi, where we would be staying the next two days. (Photos from Fort Kochi in the next post)

Previous post in this series:

Kerala 2009: Vembanad Lake, Kumarakom

Date: 28th August 2009

Though the main purpose of this trip was to attend a friend’s wedding, as always, being an out-of-town wedding, I’d use the opportunity to travel around. This time, it was a chance to explore a bit of south Kerala. Being from north Kerala and having only visited Trivandrum years back, I’ve longed to visit the parts of Kerala that are now most synonymous with tourism in Kerala.

We (me and a friend) left Bangalore city from K.R. Puram station in the evening and headed for Ernakulam, an overnight train ride that took nearly 12 hours. Upon arriving (really) early in the morning, we got off the train only to board the one next to it. An hour-long journey took us to our friend’s hometown in Kottayam. Given that we had a day before his wedding — and the fact that his place had little to offer in terms of “tourist sights,” we decided to head for the tourist village of Kumarakom.

When we heard Kumarakom wasn’t very far from Kottayam city, we thought of saving some time by taking an auto. Then the auto driver said it would come to around Rs. 160 (€2.50/$3). So instead, we just waited for the KSRTC bus — which cost us Rs. 6 (too low to convert!) per person. Clearly the better option.

30 minutes later, we were at the “jetty” stop, pretty much the starting point for the boat rides to the lake. There are other roads on either side of the stream that will lead you to the many resorts that surround Vembanad Lake, the biggest lake in Kerala.

We opted for the 1-hour boat ride from the KTDC which cost Rs. 350 (€5/$7). (We didn’t try bargaining because these rides were conducted by the tourism department and it was written on a board there. But you could try.)

Kumarakom lake houseboats backwaters — These houseboats can cost anywhere from Rs. 3,000 to Rs. 16,000 per day

Kumarakom lake houseboats kerala — The prices vary based on the amenities available on each boat

The backwaters leading up to the lake were lined up with houseboats and smaller boats parked on either side. It was an odd mix of luxury resorts among houses belonging to villagers, both living off a tourism economy.

The backwaters eventually lead out to Vembanad Lake.

And even though the pictures may not give you the scale, trust me, it’s big!

Kumarakom Bird Sanctuary is located on the east coast of the lake, which explained all the birds flying around and getting a better view of the lake.

The boat ride is very relaxing and I would definitely recommend taking it at around sunset.

Mithun kumarakom lake boat ride — Me, about to fall asleep from the lazy ride

Kumarakom has dozens of resorts by the lake. From high-end properties from the Taj Group and the famous Kumarakom Lake resort to mid-range offerings farther away. If you can afford it, it really is a great option for a romantic sojourn.

Back on land, we paid up and took a bus back to Kottayam. The next morning was our friend’s wedding, the venue being the local church.