Kerala Adventure

For centuries the hub of India’s spice and tea trade, Fort Cochin occupies the northern tip of a peninsula dividing the mouth of the Vembanad Lake from the Arabian Sea. Its red-tiled skyline bears the imprint of its former colonial residents: Lusitanian chapels, Jewish synagogues, Dutch burghers’ houses, Armenian mansions, and British bungalows and godowns (warehouses) all survive in the Fort’s grid of narrow lanes – the largest collection of early colonial buildings in Asia. You’ll get a picture-postcard view of the waterfront, with its iconic Chinese fishing nets, during the harbour cruise in the evening.

Your three-wheeler tour of Cochin’s landmarks will begin at the beautiful Dutch Palace in Matancherry, famed for its traditional Keralan murals, followed by a visit to the old Synagogue in nearby Jew Town. This district holds several huge, and very well stocked, antiques emporia that are well worth a browse.

After lunch the group will be driven to the southern edge of Ernakulam and transferred to a punted boat for the 20-minute crossing to Kumbalangi, a pretty backwater village. You’ll be shown around a crab farm, a workshop where coconut husk is processed into coir, a spice plantation and palm-leaf weaving factory, and see a large Chinese fishing net in action.

At the foot of the Western Ghat mountain range, sandwiched between two tributaries of Kerala’s mightiest river, Thattekad encompasses a tract of former rubber plantation where an astonishing 275 species of bird have been recorded. In a typical day here, you can expect to notch up between 80 and 100, but even if you’re not an avid ornithologist, the deep flowing river, tropical forest and abundance of wildlife provide an uplifting stopover between the coast and high ranges. 

At an altitude of 2,170m (7,130ft), Kolukkumalai presents a total change of climate and atmosphere. Nights are cool and daytime temperatures close to those of a typical British summer. The tea plantation – the last ever founded by the British in India –  lies miles off the main road and the far reaching views, tranquility and sense of space are glorious. After a restorative pot of home-grown tea, the group will tour the old factory, with its Heath-Robinson-esque machinery and rickety wooden staircases steeped in the aroma of fermenting tea leaves and engine oil. Steel girders punch-marked ‘1933 Lanarkshire’ hold the place together! Your room for the night will be in a restored pluckers bungalow nearby, from where the vistas across the valley are spellbinding.

As you climb through the lush tea groves of the estate, you’ll pass gangs of smiling tea pluckers at work (or tucking into tins of rice and dal for breakfast!). Along the way look out for daisies and other familiar survivors of long-disappeared memsahibs’ bungalow gardens bobbing in the breeze. Following well-trodden paths through mostly short grass, the mountain ascent is moderately strenuous – comparable to that of a low fell in the Lake District – and takes around 2 hours. Weather permitting, you’ll be rewarded with stupendous views over the valley below. Enjoy a picnic lunch at the top before descending.

As the old shola forest was cleared and tea estates established in the Western Ghat mountains through the 19th and early 20th centuries, bunaglows were constructed for the British estate managers and their families to live in, and these provide wonderful bases from which to enjoy to distinctive atmosphere of the high range. Set amid lawned gardens, with deep pillared verandahs and superb views over the terraced valleys below, the one you’ll be staying perfectly recaptures the pre-Independence feel of the area.

The mountains of inland Kerala, which run the entire length of the state, are one of the world’s biodiversity hot spots. Tea, coffee and spice plantations dominate many areas, but abundant forest also survives, and the Periyar Wildlife Sanctuary encompasses one of the most readily accessible of these. Centred on a flooded valley system, the park is among the largest in India, famous first and foremost for its herds of wild elephant, which congregate in the dry season around the shores of Periyar Lake.

During the afternoon tour of a local spice plantation, you’ll see how cardamom, cloves, nutmeg, pepper and cinnamon are cultivated and processed.

Boat safaris on Periyar Lake are fun, but too noisy for serious wildlife spotting. A better option is to take to the footpaths in the company of a local guide, who can track and identify the many creatures who live in this well-preserved tract of forest. Malabar giant squirrels, palm civets and sambar deer are commonly encountered, as are hornbills and other spectacular birds. Elephants may be sighted around the water’s edge and are best viewed from the safety of a boat or safari raft.

Up until the 1980s, large barges made of oiled jackwood and canopies of plaited palm leaves were used throughout the Kuttinad region to transport rice and other produce through the backwaters. Now, trucks do the haulage work, but the boats – known as kettu vallam in Malayali – take visitors on cruises around the canals, rivers and lagoons of this fascinating region, where most of the population still live in island villages.  A far cry from the oily craft of old, kettu vallam are today fitted with comfortable en-suite, air-con bedrooms, galleys, and viewing decks from which you’ll be able to watch the watery world slip past. Four-course meals of delicious Keralan curries are served by liveried staff in the evening.