Sunday, October 25, 2015

Kerala Backwaters - Nedumudi, Alappuzha

The backwaters of Kerala are high on the list of "must sees" for almost every visitor to Kerala so that's where we headed to by car from Kovalam. These backwaters are dominated by the massive 2033km2 Lake Vembanad.  Fed by ten large rivers as well as many smaller ones and interlaced by a network of canals, Vembanad is the largest waterway in India. Stretching from near Alappuzha to Kochi [ Cochin] it is 96km long. 

Separated from the Arabian Sea by a narrow barrier island with another barrier to ensure that the sea water is kept out engineered near Kuttanad, its water irrigates the below sea level rice paddy fields. In the wet season the paddy fields' verdant quilt covers the land.

More than a million people live in the villages along the palm fringed canals, surviving by farming rice and fishing. The tourism economy here is huge with an overnight houseboat cruise being one of the "must do" activities on most visitors' lists. This was not our plan though. Instead we chose to stay in a canal side guest house and to take a shakira ride for a few hours and spend time walking around the canal side villages. 


Nedumudi Central -where I thought we would be located
This was not to be! As we entered the backwaters area it was soon became clear that the place we were looking for was not well known! Not even people living in the area knew of it. Phone calls to the guest house resulted in confusing our driver even more. Google Earth indicated that it was located in the middle of a waterway. I had gone to the ipad to look for alternative accommodation when we came to the end of the narrow dirt road. Waterway ahead! A large four wheel drive vehicle skidded to a halt beside us and two large Indian guys jumped out, strode to the edge of the water and scanned upstream. 

"The boat's coming!" they told the two women who were trailing behind. 

"Are you going to Holly Hock Resort?" I asked, hoping that Google Earth had misled us. " We were supposed to be at a waterside village, not seemingly in the middle of a watery nowhere. "Do you know where it is?

The answer to both questions was "Yes!" so that's how we found ourselves on a boat with two other couples heading upstream to our Backwater destination. No village. No other dwellings. Just a guesthouse on the quiet side of the Kollam - Kottapuram Waterway. Very picturesque. Very quiet. All rooms occupied.
On the way to our guest house
All rooms occupied and the biggest and best located room reserved for the foreign guests. Until we found that the aircon was not working, we appreciated the generous gesture to foreign tourists. After several staff went through the motions of trying to fix it, then trying to persuade us that it was actually working, albeit just a "little bit," the admission came that the problem was a long term one. It was then revealed that the other rooms were occupied by honeymoon couples and that they really needed air conditioning more than we did, hence the room allocation! OK! We'll manage with the fan. A very grinding one!

Houseboat, Kerala Backwaters
The remainder of the day passed very pleasantly, seated on the verandah watching a steady stream of houseboats chugging upstream. Some of them parked for the night a little further upstream, confirming my decision that staying on one was not for us. Travelling just seventeen kilometres before stopping for the night means that most of the time is spent sitting bank side. At first light they start the return trip so as to be ready to leave at noon for their next hire. Although tourism brings major dollars to the Backwaters it also brings problems. Healthy water ways are essential for crop production and fishing and local people are concerned at the high number of them polluting the waterways. In the mornings I observed some staff on the returning houseboats heaving the rubbish off the back. No wonder the banks have plastic drink bottles bobbing around in significant numbers. 
Houseboats moored for the night

After a very nice dinner, served on our verandah, we decided to have an early night and, despite the lack of aircon, we were soon sound asleep. At 1am I awoke feeling thirsty and put my feet on the tiled floor. In less than a second I was right back on my bed. The light of a hastily found torch revealed that the floor was now a carpet of frogs! Jumping shiny frogs! Fortunately my drink bottle was handy so in bed I stayed until morning light sent the frogs back outside to hide. Sam however, did not sleep well after that. He was worried that snakes would be looking for a frog snack. Fortunately one of the honeymoon couples checked out and we were able to move to an aircon and a frog safe room for our remaining two nights.
Evening on the Kerala backwaters
 Mornings on the water are quietly busy with men in dugout canoes crossing their water road presumably going to work.

Fisherman
This fisherman came both early morning and early evening to check his many crab pots. He got only a few tiddlers. Not even enough for a mouthful.
Kollam- Kottapuram Waterway, Kerala
School bus
The school bus was the fastest vehicle!

Patching up the banks.
Behind the fringe of palm and banana trees is intensive rice farming.


Essential items that are always packed for our holidays overseas are a bottle of brandy and the gear to make tea and coffee and a block of cheese. On arrival we get fruit and crackers and some other nibbles to have on hand.  Without those necessities we would have have been very thirsty and hungry at this guesthouse. Once all the honeymooners had checked out, everything on the menu was "finished", promises to take the boat and bring provisions broken without comment. The staff disappeared, reappearing only briefly to serve lunch and dinner before again disappearing again until breakfast! We were literally on our own!
Nedumudi, Kerala
Although this experience was not what we planned we were quite happy to laze quietly, watching the activity on the waterway, the cormorants and sea eagles fishing, the company of a couple of blue kingfishers, ducks and several other types of birds. Cricket was on the TV, I had books and Sudoku to do and a siesta in between.
Nedumudi, Kerala Backwaters
On departure we realised that we had indeed been very lost in getting to Nedumudi. We had been on the wrong side of the waterway and several kilometres out as well. Google maps had been correct though! Our destination was in the middle of a waterway! Give or take a few metres!

3 comments:

  1. You sure have some interesting adventures on your travels. I doubt we would be so adventurous with accommodation and then finding it. Sounds like they could do with some hospitality training.

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  2. Your words and photos are enchanting. I always wanted to visit Kerala but have put it off a couple of times. Just when I think I am done with Asia, something else interests me. Thanks for this.

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  3. These days kerala backwaters plays the most essential role in the business of tourism of Kerala and even features some of the most well-liked target. A Kerala backwater is the second recognized aspect of Kerala Tourism after beaches.

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