Kerala Wildlife and Backwaters Tour

Kerala greets most travelers with warm, damp air the moment the aircraft door opens at Cochin International Airport. Beyond the baggage hall our local representative holds up a board bearing your name, then leads the way to the car for an hour's ride into Ernakulam, the mainland half of Kochi, where your first hotel sits close to the waterfront. If your flight lands overnight, the morning is left blank for sleep. Your guide for the week calls in around midday to introduce themselves, talk over the coming days and help with practical points such as cash machines, SIM cards and what to pack for the forest days.

When the sun drops lower, head out for a gentle first stroll along Marine Drive, a broad promenade beside the backwater harbor where office workers jog, couples share paper cones of peanuts and fishing boats chug past toward the sea. Look up and you will see Brahminy kites, the chestnut and white raptor that Hindus link with the god Vishnu, wheeling above the water in dozens. Little cormorants dive near the jetties, and pond herons stand motionless on floating clumps of water hyacinth. The rainbow bridge and the shaded walkway make it an easy place to stretch your legs after a long flight.

For a taste of how people in Kochi actually get around, your guide can take you across the harbor on one of the public ferries to Vypeen Island and back, a ride of about twenty minutes each way that costs very little and puts you shoulder to shoulder with commuters, schoolchildren and fish sellers. Container ships, dredgers and old wooden cargo boats share the channel, and the lights of Fort Kochi begin to show on the far bank as evening falls. Dinner is your choice, though Ernakulam's seafood restaurants are a fine place to try a first plate of karimeen fry. Overnight in Kochi.

Leaving the city after breakfast, the car takes the road through Aluva, where the Periyar River splits into two arms before reaching the sea, and on through Kothamangalam into rolling country covered with rubber plantations and small farms. Within two hours you reach Thattekad, a quiet village sitting on a bend of the same river where wooded hills close in on both banks. Your room is at a family-run homestay or small lodge near the river, simple in style but clean and well run, and lunch tends to be whatever the family kitchen has made that day, often red rice, a tangy fish curry, beans tossed with grated coconut and crisp pappadam.

The Salim Ali Bird Sanctuary, as Thattekad is officially known, protects around 25 square kilometers of mixed forest that the famous Indian ornithologist ranked among the finest bird forests on the peninsula. The wider area's checklist runs past 300 species, from tiny Vigors's sunbirds to great hornbills and crested hawk-eagles. Even if you have never owned a pair of binoculars, a few hours here with a good local guide shows why birders from around the world make the trip. The guide will lend you a spare pair of binoculars if you need one and set the pace to suit the group.

At around 3:30 pm the walk sets off along the sanctuary boundary and the edges of nearby plantations, with the guide pausing at known roosts and feeding trees. Malabar grey hornbills, orange minivets and bronzed drongos are frequent, and the guide will be looking for the Sri Lanka frogmouth, a beautifully camouflaged night bird that sleeps by day in thick undergrowth. As light fades, the calls of jungle owlets and the Indian nightjar start up. Spotlighting and playback are not used, out of respect for the birds. Wear long sleeves and trousers and bring repellent for the evening. Overnight in Thattekad.

The best birding of the day takes place before breakfast, so coffee arrives at your door shortly after 6 am. Your guide leads a second walk inside the sanctuary, where the cool morning brings out a different set of species, perhaps a male Malabar trogon, black-headed and rose-red underneath, flocks of yellow-browed bulbuls, and white-bellied blue flycatchers in the understory. Along the riverbank, stork-billed kingfishers and Oriental darters are often seen. Your guide will also point out tracks and signs of mammals that use the forest at night, such as wild boar, porcupine and the occasional elephant moving between hill ranges.

A late breakfast is followed by the climb into the hills via Neriamangalam and Adimali. The road climbs past small waterfalls, a long viewpoint over the Periyar valley and spice farms where cardamom grows beneath tall shade trees. Lunch is at a family restaurant along the route, and the driver can stop for photos wherever it is safe. The altitude rises from almost sea level to around 1,500 meters, so you will feel the air change from humid to fresh. Bring a warm layer within reach, as mornings and evenings in Munnar can be cool, particularly from December to February.

You stay two nights at a resort among the tea gardens a little way out of town, chosen for its gardens and its views over rolling green hills. Late in the afternoon, you can walk the paths between the tea bushes alongside a local guide, hearing how the estates were cleared and planted by British planters from the 1880s onward, and how the tea is plucked by hand every week or two. Workers carry the leaves in baskets to weighing points along the paths. Look out for the scaly-breasted munia and the grey junglefowl at the edges of the estate. Dinner is at the resort. Overnight in Munnar.

Today belongs to the Nilgiri tahr, an agile wild goat that lives only on the high crags and grasslands of the southern Western Ghats. Its largest single population is protected by Eravikulam National Park, which begins only a few kilometers beyond Munnar, and you aim to be among the first visitors in line when the park opens. Entry tickets are bought online in advance and a forest department bus takes you the last few kilometers to Rajamala, the small tourist area at the southern edge of the park. Each year the park closes for roughly two months in late winter while tahr kids are born, and we adjust the itinerary if your dates fall in that window.

At Rajamala a paved, walled path winds up the hillside, and tahr are frequently seen grazing just below or beside it. Adult males are darker, with a pale saddle on the back, while females and young are a warm brown. Rangers ask visitors to stay on the path, keep voices low and never offer food, and it is worth following these rules carefully. The views stretch across rolling grassland and patches of shola forest toward Anamudi, the loftiest summit south of the Himalayas, whose top is off limits to visitors. Keep watching the grass for Nilgiri pipits and the sky for black eagles hunting along the slopes.

After lunch in town you stop at the Tea Museum, set up by a large plantation company, where old rollers and photographs trace a century and a half of planting history, followed by a short demonstration of how green leaf is withered, rolled and dried. Later the driver heads up the valley to Mattupetty Dam, whose reservoir is ringed by grassy slopes; in late afternoon, elephants occasionally wander down to the opposite bank. On the way back you pass the Kundala dairy farm grasslands and small stalls selling homemade chocolate and spices. Overnight in Munnar.

Morning mist often fills the valleys below the resort, and if you rise early you can watch it burn off as the sun climbs over the hills. After breakfast you drive south through Devikulam and on to Poopara, where the tea estates give way to steep cardamom country. The road follows the ridges for much of the way, with occasional views east over the Bodinayakanur plains. Small roadside towns sell bananas, jackfruit and roasted corn, and in the right season you may see groups of women picking pods of green cardamom. With a lunch break the transfer fills most of the morning at Kattappana or Kumily.

Thekkady is the town that serves Periyar Tiger Reserve, one of the oldest protected forests in South India and brought under Project Tiger in 1978. You check in for three nights at a resort bordering the forest, leaving time to settle in, have lunch and rest before the afternoon. Your guide will go through the forest department programs booked for the next two days, explain what to wear and what to leave behind, and make sure your passport details have been registered for the permits. Wildlife programs inside the reserve are limited, so these bookings are made early.

At about 3:30 pm you walk through a working spice farm a few minutes from the hotel. The owner or one of the farm guides shows you how black pepper vines climb tall trees, how cardamom pods sprout on runners at ground level, and where nutmeg, cloves, cinnamon and vanilla fit into the farm's yearly cycle. Many farms in the area also keep bees and grow coffee and cocoa. Anything you like can be bought straight from the farm shop, with no obligation. In the evening there is an optional Kathakali or Kalaripayattu performance at one of the little performance halls in Kumily. Overnight in Thekkady.

Today is the heart of the trip. The bamboo rafting programme inside Periyar Tiger Reserve is one of the forest department's most popular eco-tourism activities, and it is a full-day commitment, usually starting around 8 am and finishing around 5 pm. Your driver takes you to the meeting point early, where you meet the armed forest guard and tribal guides from the local community who lead each small group. Many of these guides once made a living collecting forest produce or poaching, and the program was set up partly to give them steady work as protectors of the forest. Their knowledge of tracks and calls is impressive.

The day combines a few hours of trekking through forest and grassland with stretches on long bamboo rafts paddled across quiet arms of Periyar Lake. Moving silently over the water allows you to approach the shoreline without startling the animals. Common sightings include sambar deer, wild boar, gaur, Nilgiri langurs and many waterbirds, while elephants are often seen in the drier months when they come down to the lake. Tigers, leopards and dholes also live here, and while their tracks are often found, actually seeing one is a matter of luck. A simple packed lunch is eaten in the forest, and drinking water is carried by the team.

Practical preparation makes the day far more comfortable. Wear sturdy shoes with good grip, quick-drying trousers and earth-toned clothing, and keep a hat, sunscreen and a light rain jacket in a small backpack. Leech socks are provided during wet months, and plastic bottles and wrappers are discouraged inside the reserve. A moderate level of fitness is needed, as the walking sections can be uneven and warm by midday. Once you are back late in the day, take a long shower and relax in the garden with a cup of tea while Malabar grey hornbills fly to their evening roosts. Overnight in Thekkady.

A slower day follows yesterday's effort. After breakfast you head to the boat landing inside the reserve for a forest department cruise on Periyar Lake, a reservoir created more than a century ago when the river was dammed to supply water to Tamil Nadu. Boats leave at set times through the day and ticket numbers are limited, so we aim for the first or second departure, when the light is soft and animals are more likely to be at the water. Sit on the upper deck if you can, keep your camera ready and allow roughly ninety minutes on the water.

The lake winds into the forest in long, narrow arms, and the boat follows the shoreline past old dead trees that stick out of the water like masts. Common sightings include herds of sambar, wild boar, Indian bison and families of elephants grazing near the banks, along with otters, monitor lizards and plenty of kingfishers, darters and ospreys. Tigers are seldom seen from the boats, so treat any big-cat sighting as a bonus. Life jackets are mandatory on board, and the boat crew asks passengers to remain seated and quiet. Your guide will help spot animals and identify the birds you see along the way.

In the afternoon you visit the countryside around Kumily with your guide, walking through small farms, a tribal community market or a cooperative selling forest honey, depending on the day of the week. These visits give you a glimpse of how people living alongside the reserve make a living today, and how eco-development committees share income from tourism with local families. Back at the hotel, use the free time for a swim, an Ayurvedic massage or a walk around the garden, where Malabar giant squirrels can often be seen. Dinner is at the resort, and an early bedtime helps before the drive west. Overnight in Thekkady.

After an early breakfast you leave the hills and drive west through Vandiperiyar and Kuttikkanam, where tea estates give way to rubber plantations and finally to the coconut-lined plains of central Kerala. The descent is gradual, and the road passes small churches, temples and roadside stalls selling pineapple and tapioca chips. The timing is set to bring you to the Alleppey jetty around noon, when houseboats are ready for boarding. As you approach the coast, rice paddies and canals begin to appear on both sides of the road, and you get a first look at the low-lying Kuttanad region you will be cruising through this afternoon.

Your private Alleppey houseboat is a converted rice barge, called kettuvallam in Malayalam, fitted with a bedroom, bathroom, open lounge and small kitchen. A welcome drink comes first, and lunch follows once the moorings are cast off: Kerala red rice, a fish dish, two or three vegetable sides and something sweet. For the next few hours the boat glides through wide lakes and narrow canals bordered by coconut palms and paddy fields. Kingfishers, egrets and herons hunt along the banks, while village children wave from the water steps outside their homes. Most of the time the only sound is the gentle hum of the motor.

Backwater rules require all houseboats to stop moving and moor by early evening so that fishermen can lay their nets overnight. Your crew chooses a quiet spot alongside a village or paddy field, and you can stroll along the bank with one of them before the light goes. Tea and banana fritters are served on deck, followed by dinner cooked to your taste, and the cook will tone the chili down on request. Night falls quickly on the water, and the only light comes from the boat and the houses across the canal. Bedroom windows are screened against mosquitoes, and the air conditioning usually runs at night only. Overnight on the houseboat.

Wake before seven if you can: the canals are glassy and grey at dawn, and lone fishermen are already casting from dugouts. On deck, appam and egg roast are served as the crew steers for the jetty, where the cruise wraps up by about 9 am. From Alleppey your driver takes the coastal highway north to Fort Kochi, passing fishing harbors, coir works and large churches along the way, reaching a restored heritage property among the old lanes before lunch. After lunch a guide takes you round on foot; this district was a major port for spices and timber long before European traders arrived.

Stops include St. Francis Church, the first resting place of da Gama before his body went back to Lisbon, and lanes of tiled colonial bungalows under giant rain trees. In Mattancherry you visit the Dutch Palace, famous for its murals of scenes from Hindu epics, and walk on to Jew Town and the Paradesi Synagogue, built in the 16th century and still in use. Both sites keep weekly closing days (Friday for the palace; Friday, Saturday and Jewish festivals for the synagogue), so we may reshuffle the final days around them. Spice warehouses along the street still trade in pepper, ginger and turmeric, and the antique shops are fun to browse.

Toward sunset, walk along the beachfront to see the famous Chinese fishing nets being lowered and raised by teams of fishermen, and pick a fresh fish from the stalls nearby to have cooked at one of the small restaurants. If you missed a performance in Thekkady, Fort Kochi's small cultural halls stage Kathakali most evenings, where the make-up session starts well before the show. For a farewell meal, the old town's cafés and courtyard restaurants are an easy walk away. Pack your bags tonight, keeping binoculars and field notes handy for the flight home. Overnight in Kochi.

Flight times decide how much of the morning is free, but there may be room for one more waterfront walk, a look at the Indo-Portuguese Museum or a quiet coffee in one of the old warehouses turned into cafés. Pick-up is set so that you reach Cochin International Airport a full three hours ahead of an overseas flight, since traffic on the bridges into Ernakulam can be slow. Late-night flyers can keep a room for the day or add a beach night at Cherai, at an additional cost.

Over ten days you have watched hornbills in the trees at Thattekad, walked among Nilgiri tahr on the highest grasslands in Kerala, rafted across Periyar Lake with tribal guides and spent a calm night anchored in the backwaters. It is a fair sample of what this small state offers anyone interested in wildlife. Kabini, Wayanad and the Anamalai hills lie within easy reach for a second visit, and our team can sketch a plan for those whenever you are ready. We keep in contact until check-in is done. Have a good flight home.