A Cruise through the Backwaters of Alappuzha

I had two of my friends visiting me in the month of February, Sushmitha and Vani. Sushmitha was my classmate during my MBA days (1998 – 2000) now residing at Calicut and Vani was her childhood friend in Delhi the capital of India. Although we’d talked many times on the telephone I’d never met Vani personally.

They wanted to spend a day in Alappuzha sight seeing and to enjoy the tranquil backwaters. The plan was a cruise through the backwaters of alappuzha to spend some time relaxing and enjoying the secenic backwaters also to give Vani a glimpse into the day to day life of the people who live in this waterlogged region of alappuzha. We started our journey by around 7am from the alappuzha jetty in a small motor boat. ( we chose a small boat coz we were told its most suited means to navigate through the narrow canals )

vani was very much worried bout getting sun burned and concerned about not having a solid roof over the ferry !!

It was nice to have a small ferry to ourselves, and nicer to know that we’d get an off season discount in February…but the loose chairs on the upper deck were shaky n I decided to just settle on the floor n the others soon followed suit.

This particular region with its extensive network of rivers all connected by interlinking canals is geographically a unique place, altitude of places like kuttanad are actually below sealevel. The marshy lands here and the paddy fields are believed to be a hotspot of migratory birds. Kumarakom the famous bird sanctuary and pathiramanal island another famous tourist attraction is also nearby. Kuttanad is also known as the rice bowl of kerala, and the main occupation of the people is agriculture and fishing.

The tour began n we settled down to the palm-fringed and tranquil backwaters which sometimes lead us to small canals and then suddenly came upon vast lake like openings only to lead us into another maze of canals…vani instinctively felt like leaving behind breadcrumbs to find her way back !

As we were gently cruising through the backwaters the scenes on both the banks began to change, the crowded streets of alappuzha was long gone and the leisurely life style of the villages began to unfold. We asked the boat man to take us through a narrow canal rather than through the vast river. And soon we realized that now we’ve set the course right for our tour.

Single house on an island

All of us had digital cameras and went berserk clicking pictures of the palms, the big, bold and beautiful houseboats, the under clad foreigners in them, the birds and the bees, the canals merging into each other and of course, pictures of each other too!

A duck farmer herding his ducks to the river through the paddy fields

Ducks entering the river

Its amazing to see how a single man manages to control these hundreds of thousands of ducks all by himself.

The first half of the tour was spent just soaking in our environment, those awesome trees lining them, the small villages and fields we passed by and oh, I loved the ”boat-stop” on the way where villagers were waiting for a ferry to take them to their destinations. We stopped at one or two places on the way where we were able to admire all the birds n Sushmitha was brave enough to learn a bird’s name or two and utter it in every alternate sentence for the rest of the day!! Soon like all crusaders, we were hungry and thirsty and stopped at a field on the way to eat our bread and butter at bout noon.

The local ferry,

These small country boats are engaged in transporting people across the rivers.



Cargo Transport

This boat here should be a sure case of overloading , atleast that’s the feeling I get as I can only see a couple of inches difference between the boat and the water level.

We missed having a music system at the point but didn’t mind loosing track of time at all ...though obviously we all had cell phones which occasionally buzzed and brought us back to the harsh realities of life with a thud !


Are there tradewinds out here - i need to find out

An eco friendly mode of transport. This scene proves that keralites are at the forefront of utilising sustainable energy sources for their travel needs.


Local fishermen on their small boat. These vast stretches of backwaters are an ideal breeding ground for the fishes and as a result the fishermen often get catches by their nets full.


karimeen (pearlspot) This variety of fish is a delicacy and is in great demand in Kerala and other States and is sold at Rs 50-80 per kg.




A view of coconut trees growing in a narrow strip of land that separates the lake and the paddy fields.


Water lilly in full bloom, it’s a very common sight in alappuzha.


Egrets

I’ve never seen so many birds at one place in my entire life.













Purple Moorhen ( Porphyrio porphyrio ) is usually found near marshy reed beds, flooded ricefields, etc.
kingfisher

Ground Thrush

A dragon fly emerging from the cocoon.

– words of wisdom –

Did u know that dragon flies lives the early part of its life entirely in water only coming to the top to emerge from its cocoon. And that it preys only on mosquitoes and small insects.



The ferry driver stopped again at a small hutment where we were able to laze around again and have coconut water and delicious tender coconuts and vani had this brilliant idea of growing a coconut tree in her backyard in delhi

…and she met just her kind of bird too…a gorgeous red-head chick !

Flooded Paddy fields in the fading light. The setting sun was a reminder for us that its time to turn back and head towards home.

Even on our way back we saw a number of other birds but the fading light and lack of time didn’t allow us to photograph any of these. we had to head back to the mainlands and the rest of the journey we all spend in being lulled into a dreamy sleep by the smooth waters and partially wished that this day would never end and partially looking forward to our next great day in this beautiful God’s own country. Thank you God for letting us in!!