KERALA BACKWATERS INSIDERS TOUR

If you prefer homestays and eco-cabins to high levels of comfort throughout, this is the tour for you - inexpensive, adventurous, with a hint of luxury. (If you want total luxury, see 'Kerala Culture Tour').

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Sample tour to Kerala backwaters: 15 days/14 nights
Kerala: (Cochin) Kochi, Periyar, Allepey, houseboat.

Cost: £1,940 for a couple (not per person) for this Kerala backwaters tour, excluding flights. All our tours are private - you won't be part of a group.

The price quoted for the Kerala backwaters tour is for full board (except at Old Courtyard and Wildernest), A/C car/driver until Emerald Isle and then local transfer to the house boat, Arakkal & drop back to the airport (you won’t need a car and driver when staying at Emerald Isle and Arakkal as a car can be hired locally), local hosts/guides and other travel costs.

This is a sample tour to Kerala backwaters, we can mix and match according to the dates and places you would like to visit. Note that we don’t arrange air flights.

Day one to two: Kerala backwaters
Is your arrival in the City of Kochi. Set on a cluster of islands and narrow peninsulas, Kochi is a city of 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 scuttling backwards and forwards. Once you are settled into your hotel, we can take an evening stroll around the city.

Overnight: (2 nights), The Old Courtyard Hotel, Fort Cochin (200 year old Portuguese building, centered around a cobblestone courtyard).

Day three to four
We'll make our way to Dewalokam towards the foothills near Thodupuzha (2 hours drive from Kochi). The home stay is located on the banks of Kannadipuzha in the lower and middle ranges of the Sahyadri Mountains of the Western Ghats. A large variety of spices are grown here, including pepper, nutmeg, cardamom, cloves, ginger, turmeric, vanilla, and tamarind. Here you can go for village walk, forest walk and have traditional ayurveda massage. If time permits we can also take a quick tour of the local rubber processing facility that helps provide a living to small-scale rubber producers in the area.

Overnight: (2 nights), Dewalokam homestay

Day five to seven
We'll take the 4 hour drive to Periyar Nature Reserve and the adjacent - and wonderfully manic - spice trading town of Kumily.

Periyar is a 777 sq km forested wildlife reserve - home to bison, antelopes, sambar, wild boar, langur, elephants and tigers. It is home also to the indigenous Mannan tribe, 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 - trekking, bamboo rafting, night treks, elephant rides and plantation visits.

Over the next few days, we'll participate in these activities, and spend time with the Mannan people, visiting their homes and village.

The bullock cart ride is one example of the potential benefits of eco-tourism. Few years 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: (3 nights), Wildernest. (For those who wish to stay in more luxurious accommodation, we can use Spice Village or the former Maharaja's hunting lodge - Lake Palace)
Boating, tribal village visit included in the cost
- Entry fees for one visit to Periyar Reserve. Any additional entry into the park would be approximately GBP 4.00 per person per entry.
- There are extra charges for other programmes such as: Bullock cart ride, bamboo rafting, border hiking - approximately GBP 18.00 each - check with the forest department published rates at the time of purchasing the tickets

Day eight to ten
We'll make our way to the backwaters and will be met at Allepey 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: (3 nights), Emerald Isle homestay - warm family hospitality, courtyard gardens, hammock and nearby chai shop. The rice, pepper, coconut are all from Vinod's family farm. A quick count on our fingers, and we estimate that a stay at Emerald Isle directly supports the livelihood of over 15 families. Activities are not included in the cost

Day eleven
From Emerald Isle we'll make our way to the house boat, one of Kerala's most luxurious forms of accommodation. Reclining on cushions and drifting through quiet canals, you'll pass through paddy fields grazed by ducks, floating markets, local toddy shops, temples and churches. Lunch, dinner and overnight stay is possible on board.

Overnight: (1 night), on-board the house boat. Lunch and dinner on board.

Day twelve to fourteen
We'll make our way to Arakkal homestay - just 300 meters from the sea. Here you can stroll along the beach (it's a public beach used by the local fishermen), go swimming, and take cycle rides. It may also be possible to arrange elephant rides.

Overnight: (3 nights), Arakkal homestay. (For those who wish to stay in more luxurious accommodation, we can use the Marari Beach Resort)

Day fifteen
After a farewell meal, we'll take the two-hour drive to the airport for your departure back home

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GENERAL INFORMATION

Other things to do in the Kerala backwaters
Other activities that you can do: kayaking, farm walks, a visit to Kalamandalam dance school, a visit to the elephant training center at Kodanad, mountain biking from Munnar to Periyar, birding at Thattekkad while staying in tented accommodation in the lowland forests.

Accommodation
The tour is designed around the homestays and forest ecolodges mentioned in the itinerary. These accommodations are beautifully kept, well equipped, homely, with quality food cooked especially for you.

Seasons for Kerala backwaters
September until the following April are the best months for visiting. June, July and August are the monsoon months. You can still travel during monsoon season if you can put up with the rain. On the second Saturday of August each year is the famous regatta on Vembanad Lake. Scores of long 'snake boats' fill the lake, each boat crewed by up to 100 rowers. The annual event celebrates the seafaring and martial traditions of ancient Kerala.

Contact us about the Kerala backwaters tour

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