One night on a houseboat from Allepy to explore Kerala’s backwaters is a “must do” for backpackers and tour package participants alike. After talking to many people, we decided to do the poor man’s version and far more environmentally friendly canoe and public ferry routes. So, we missed the armada of house boats leaving around 11 am and returning in the evening to sit cheek by jowl at the Aleppy port until the tourists are disgorged 22 hours after their embarkation. We also saved about US$80.
After leaving Amma’s ashram via rickshaw and train, we arrived in time to catch the 9:30 public ferry from Allepy to Kottayam. The ferry ride was an often magical 3 ½ hour cruise through lakes and canals which costs us about less than 25 cents each. We didn’t get a tour guide but we did get a close up view of the locals getting on and off the ferry at the countless small piers on either canal side as they went about their daily business. Some slept, others talked in a desultory manner with people sharing their padded bench, and only a very few occasionally watched the many foreigners click away with their digital cameras with air of resigned bemusement. We also got to see daily human life along the canal. Bathing, washing clothes, working in the rice fields, moving products via long narrow boats or on their heads, or just watching the world go by. The bird life was actually even more fascinating. Watching the all white egret and all black cormorants searching for their meals in the canals, catching the occasional brilliant blue flash of the kingfisher speeding by, and seeing the many dark on top but white on the inside birds flying around. We saw several other birds that were identified by our guide the next day but which names I’ve already forgotten.
Yet, I won’t soon forget the very tasty thali (the all you eat rice plate) at Kottayam’s Anand Lodge because of the four different sauces, yogurt, rice pudding, and three different vegetable servings. I now even like cooked cauliflower! After the much needed lunch, we traveled on to Kumarakom by rickshaw so we could visit its bird sanctuary which often hosts many migratory birds from as far away as Siberia. We figured we could combine bird watching, backwater tours, and quiet village life in one side trip. So, for about US$8 for a two hour canoe ride, we blindly followed our guide in the darkness at 6 am from our River View Cottage to a roadside chai stand. He then led us to his canoe and informed us later that he wouldn’t go into the park itself as “there are no birds there.” So, down a long waterway and into Vembanad Lake (India’s largest lake according to him), he paddled us as the rising sun slowly burned the morning mist off the water.
If our guide ever chose to shoot any birds, I have no doubt his superman like eyes and steely calm would devastate the abundant bird life within a month as he could spot the smallest bird hidden in the jungle like foliage more than 30 yards away. To overcome the language barrier, he had an English birding book with pictures and descriptions of birds found in south India that we kept with us in front. He would then point out the bird, say the English name, and then the page number in the book so we could actually understand what he said and see the bird close up. If he didn’t remember the page number, he had a handy cheat sheet in his chest pocket. Until about 7:30, we didn’t see any tourists and only a few locals. The only noise were the birds and the sounds of his paddle or pole pushing us slowly through the water. We could often get within 20 yards of birds.
As we started our return to the starting point, some Indian tourists on the shores of the sanctuary asked us if we had seen any birds, when our guide reeled off the more than 20 different birds that we had seen, they responded that they hadn’t seen any. In turn, I felt embarrassed that I hadn’t quite trusted the guide but had accepted not going into the park as there had been no point in arguing. All that talk in the ashram about “adjust, adapt, and accommodate” worked out well on this leisurely backwaters adventure. I won’t regret missing the houseboat experience, I will just regret forgetting all the bird names already.
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- Two different birds
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- spiffy boat and bridge
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- tourist canoe out of allepy
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- the sunrise over the lake
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- Our birding guide at dawn
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- Cormorants from the ferry
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- locals on ferry watching wave surge
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- A ferry stop
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- A deluxe houseboat
