Kerala - am I in India?

I arrived in Cochin, Kerala after a restless night delayed in Singapore sleeping beside the masses of AirIndia’s finest subjects. They had kindly put me on the next available flight with another carrier to get me to Kerala so I was happy to have arrived safely before a national strike took place by the airline.

I headed directly for Fort Kochi with my cab driver on a foot ferry, his services stretched to ensure I found a bed for the night. I'd had delayed flight from Singapore but to me this seemed very unlike the India I had experienced 4 years before in the north.

Chinese fishing nets in Fort Kochi

Admiring the Chinese Fishing nets and their crafty, if off season fishermen was a real highlight of my Kochi experience. The huge foreign fishing dredges that sailed past seemed to ruin all of my sunset pictures. Alas the fisherman wearing longys tucked into short skirt like ensembles were incredibly friendly and allowed me onto the their elaborate contraptions to share in the experience.

I met a British girl on a four day hiatus from her business trip to the Tech city of Hyderabad in central southern India and we made our way south to the town of Allepey. Famed for its access to the 1500km of waterways, we organised a canoe trip and made for the beach for a day.

I would highly recommend visiting Mariri beach 18km north of Allepey. Arriving at the beach early in the morning, we were only one of about 10 Westerners on the beach with schools of teenage Indian boys clubbed together (when I say schools I really mean a gaggle, a crew, a flock, a herd). We spotted dolphins in the strong surf and admired the persistent fishermen on styrofoam rafts. We ate in a local woman's house for lunch and were feed like queens for £2. It was lovely day out and the last of the beach stops on the Big Adventure.

backwaters beyond Allepey

The following morning we woke for dawn on the back waters taking a canoe to see the water in the quiet. We were first invited into our canoeist home and met his wife, son and mother. They were all very hospitable, serving strong black tea and doted on their little man.

The backwaters were stiflingly hot and we made a few pit stops - one for breakfast of chapati and dhal and another to visit a fresh water lake and see a rice paddy field...not something new on The Big Adventure but it was the first ready for harvest. I was like Lady Muck on the boat watching Collette paddling away to a happy rhythm whilst I sweltered in the shade of the long boat.

Kathakali Performance

That evening I enjoyed a traditional Keralan art form known as Kathakali. It was really interesting to sit in the front row and arrive early to see the two actors apply their make-up. The storyline was about the wooing by the King of Heavens son by a demoness. The moral of the story is not to trust any one you don't know. Not something I ever take heed of!

Calicut, was my next stop as a mainline coastal town and the northern most city of Kerala. Here I simply stopped to break the journey to the Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary. Arriving on the eve of a Communist Party Conference in Communist governed Kerala was not my wisest move...alas this is what travel is all about, or at least I love flying by the seat of my poo pants. Its like I'm on Aladdin's Carpet.

I took a bus to the Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary which has several towns - I chose Kalpetta only after waking in the bus to discover it crammed and the road of the very steep hill crowded with Christians making a pilgrimage to the top of the hill. Not an easy feat in the blistering heat and in flipflips on the steep switch back road. The pilgrims where of all ages, shapes, sizes and honestly kept to the mantra of one foot in front of the other...it was pretty amazing to see - from the bus window!.

The Wildlife Sanctuary I was to discover on arrival was closed, due to fires aparently - but the air clarity was better than Laos or Myanmar's burning rice days. I was most disappointed as I had hoped to see an elephant in the wild. Alas I signed up for a day tour which took me to a luscious tea plantation, some disappointing waterfalls and an overpopulated journey to the least spectacular but possibly most difficult to reach caves I have ever bothered with. I had 2 American baby doctors and an Italian traveller on my tour, which turned out to be one of this combinations you look back and will forever laugh about....as our driver explained that the wild elephants had knocked over the entire coconut plantation in a neighbouring field one baby doctor remarked "is the coconut farm still operational"....hmm no trees, no coconuts mate...stereotypes didn't stop there with the innocent continuing to enquire if Kerala had any spices. Yikes!

We ended the tour by driving along the outskirts of the Sanctuary along the state highway crossing into the neighbouring state. We did this about three times seeing spotted deer and monkeys feeding their babes before we pulled over to a clearing and our driver gleefully pointed into the trees. We all took a long time to focus on the hiding elephant, seemingly eating. And then gracefully it stepped into a small clearing so we could see it in full. I was so annoyed I didn't have my big lense with me  - why I am carrying it I have no idea! - alas this is a shot of a wild Asian elephant (I don't post my best on my blog as I like to keep these shots for my friends and family on FB!).

What an absolute lifetime highlight!

Spotting my first wild elephant

Travel tips in Kerala -

• Arrival to Cochin - try to arrive before 6pm. Airport taxi's there after are expensive to Fort Kochi. 
• Fort Kochi to Allepey buses are frequent and cost 35R
• Canoe boat tour for half day (canoeing yourself optional) R600 - House Boats are R6,000
• Take the train to Calicut (5hours) connecting buses to town in Waynard (3hours)  every 15 minutes - its more frequent and easy to navigate
• Calicut is not the best city to visit during a Communist Party convention - there are no cheap rooms available. Shock horror
• Waynard Wildlife Sanctuary is best not visited during a religious holiday - including Christian holidays!