Kerala Attractions

The Backwaters of Kerala

One of the most memorable experiences for travellers in Kerala is a boat journey on the backwaters of Kerala. The best known is the area known as Kuttanad, situated between the hills in the west and the Arabian Sea, stretching for 50 miles south of Cochin. This extraordinary maze of rivers, lakes, canals and estuaries is lined with dense tropical greenery, and reveals a Keralan lifestyle that is totally hidden from the road. Boats are the only way to explore this area, billed as Kaleidoscope Kerala, where views change around every bend; narrow tree covered canals open into dazzling vistas of paddy fields, and through the trees can be seen churches, mosques and temples, and small farms and villages which remain almost untouched by the modern world. Buffalos are used for ploughing the fields and women bathe and wash their clothes in the rivers. Roads do cross this area but are almost entirely linked by manually operated ferries rather than bridges. Kingfishers, cormorants and fish eagles compete with fisherman in rowing boats for the dwindling fish population; a massive increase in the population has resulted in much illegal land reclamation and use of harmful fertilisers, which have damaged the ecosystem.