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The southern state of Kerala is a land truly blessed by nature. Kerala has enchanting mountains, pristine rainforests, golden sun-sand beaches and unique backwaters that hold their own even in the face of fast developing towns and cities. The coconut palms (that give the state its name) are every... Read More

By :     65,701 views    Comments :  50
Finally, after planning for almost 4 years, we made it to Munnar. One thing that I searched for before this trip was a description about the route (fast and best). Though I found the information in bits and pieces, it was not a holistic one. This is ... Read More
By :     47,305 views    Comments :  27
Palakkad is an important Rubber growing district of Kerala. Karimba a village in Palakkad is famous for Rubber Nursery Last year, when I was at Karimba village of Palakkad, I visited a Co-operative Rubber processing and marketing society there. I am... Read More
By :     32,812 views    Comments :  46
On one cool morning last year, we some of the members of Marthoma Church, Karimba, gathered at the Parsonage. After coffee at 6 am we started for Palayur (an important pilgrimage center of Syrian Christians) in a hired Bus. Shortly before 8 am we rea... Read More
By :     24,796 views    Comments :  18
Ever heard of ‘Godliness meter’? They have placed one such thing at the border where the train from Kerala crosses into Tamilnadu. Many Keralites have left for greener pastures over the last century; if the exodus was to the Far East in the begin... Read More
By :     22,006 views    Comments :  22
Table of Contents : Part 1 : Kumarkom - Backwaters n Houseboat Part 2 : Munnar - Unspoilt Hill Station It was beginning of April and our next sport was Munnar. From Kumarkom we traveled north till Thiruvankulam and then took right on NH 49 t... Read More
By :     18,050 views    Comments :  19
A dream come true. The planning of "Wayanad visit" started way back in 2006 and had been in "planning" stage until recently when the plan was converted to execution :-). A conversation over the coffee table sparked off a 3-day vacation to the mist... Read More
By :     17,358 views    Comments :  41
Kerala backwater is a bewildering labyrinth of waterways, composed of lagoons, lakes, rivers, rivulets, canals, streams and salty seawater. This complex crisscrossing network of brackish lagoons and lakes lie parallel to the Arabian sea coast of the ... Read More
By :     16,909 views    Comments :  12
I was all excited when Jim called up and invited me for his wedding. 2 reasons. 1. Jim was getting married and 2. it was happening in Kerala, which meant that I had a chance to go to Kerala. I had been planning kerala tour for quite some time, but ... Read More
By :     15,129 views    Comments :  47
Lord Parshuram threw the axe And the sea gave way to a strip of land and thus formed the green Kaleidoscopic – God’s own country Kerala. Geographically Kerala is separated from rest of India by the massive Western Ghats and enjoys an extensive ... Read More
By :     13,524 views    Comments :  36
When we started our trip to the backwaters of Kerala, in all the travel books we had read, area around the backwaters was referred to as the “Venice of the East.” Till we reached Kollam and explored it, we were finding this comparison exaggerated... Read More
By :     13,435 views    Comments :  11
We were looking at options to celebrate our marriage anniversary and zeroed in on Wayanad. We were warned of the Kerala rains, but then we wanted the rains and it turned out to be real good. The two and a half days we spent there, the weather was pic... Read More
By :     9,910 views    Comments :  10
Welcome to the God’ own Country – Kerala (India) I was in Kochi from 19.08.09 to 24.08.09 to attend a conference in Hotel Le – Meriden. Morning to evening I had to be busy with the conference and time was a big constraint for me to explore ... Read More
By :     9,718 views    Comments :  19
After retirement I moved from Calcutta to Palakkad. Now I am in Delhi. During the Last 20 years I have been to some of the Beautiful places in Palakkad District, there are numerous of them. During the last one year I have taken some photos of places ... Read More
By :     9,180 views    Comments :  41
Jungle attracts both Jaishree and me. Even during our non-holiday times we hear Jungle calling us. The images of wild terrain float in our eyes. This romance with Jungle and wild life started with our honeymoon in Bandipur. After that this affair is ... Read More
By :     9,164 views    Comments :  23
As we strolled in the market of Kumily, scent of freshly cut spices, sold in every nook and corner of this small town increased our urge to visit one of the many spice plantations on the outskirts. Our guided tour to the kingdom of spices offered us ... Read More
By :     8,683 views    Comments :  44
In my previous post, I wrote about our first day in Kollam without mentioning anything about the town itself. In this post I will start with a few lines on it before going into details of our second day. Kollam, pronounced as Koilam was previously kn... Read More
By :     8,464 views    Comments :  5
In my earlier post about Munnar, I had mentioned about the route to get to Munnar. This post is a continuation of the first one. The name Munnar is believed to be derived from the Malayalam words Muunu (three) and aaru (river), referring to the town... Read More
By :     7,793 views    Comments :  8
This is in continuation from my previous post. 23.08.09 (Fort Cochin) The best way to explore the near by area of Fort Cochin is to take a ferry boat (Passenger Boat) from Boat Jetty - Marien Drive & get down at Fort Cochin. From there wal... Read More
By :     7,209 views    Comments :  23
It was a week long escape to Kerala- God’s own country. The green and cozy-lazy Kochin, lush beauty of Munnar, expanse of Periyar and finally a trip along the waterways. Nothing more we could ask for. Yes indeed Kerala is beautiful with loa... Read More
By :     6,779 views    Comments :  14
Marayoor is a very small taluka town about 40km N of Munnar on the Munnar - Udumalpet road. It’s claim to fame is as a major prehistoric site where dolmens and cave paintings have been discovered. Marayoor is also known for its delicious jagger... Read More
By :     6,426 views    Comments :  14
Table of Contents : Part 1 : Kumarkom - Backwaters n Houseboat Part 2 : Munnar - Unspoilt Hill Station It had been a while and I had been yearning for an summer trip.  I decided to visit God's own country (Created by Lord Parashurama by thr... Read More
By :     4,776 views    Comments :  12
We had just set foot in God’s own country, in search of that elusive stuff called peace. It had rained just then. The sheer collage of colors blinded us – a natural mosaic of greens, yellows and browns which merged into a beautiful pattern. Even ... Read More
By :     4,504 views    Comments :  17
Kerala has more than its fair share of wildlife sanctuaries and national parks in the Western Ghats. Of these, the Periyar Tiger Reserve at Thekkady [Kumily] is the most visited. It is our favourite wildlife reserve simply because we have always ... Read More
By :     3,826 views    Comments :  5
I wanted to see and photograph the elusive mountain goat known as Nilgiri Tahr for some time, and grabbed the opportunity three years ago when I traveled to Kerala with my brother. It was a long flight from Canada, via London and Dubai and landed in ... Read More
By :     3,700 views    Comments :  12
Haven’t you heard this somewhere? Yes, you are right. It is the famous book by Alexander Frater. Suddenly, one day, I decided to experience what he had felt, in a smaller way and write about it, though my writing skills do not match his. I got the ... Read More
By :    84 days ago   Comments :  22
Hello everyone, after a long gap, today I am back to my Kerala series with my concluding post. In our 04 days trip to Kerala one day we spent at Munnar, another day at Athirapally and Vazahal waterfall. Other two days we reserved for Cochin. The day ... Read More
By :    135 days ago   Comments :  13
Today Omnibus is going to Silent Valley Park. All aboard! [caption width=640] River in the Park[/caption] Silent Valley National Park is located in the Nilgiri Hills Biosphere, (Palaghat) Palakkad District in Kerala, South India. It is a rare... Read More
By :    141 days ago   Comments :  22
Our Second day in Kerala Trip was planned for Munnar. Initially we thought of booking a hotel at Munnar so that we can enjoy the scenic view of the place in evening as well as during nights. As lot more places are stored in our other day plans we cho... Read More
By :    194 days ago   Comments :  29
Kerala- God’s own country. It is really God’s country, so we got this opportunity in the month of May 2010. We made plan to visit one of my friend house at Aluva ,Cochin. So after planning and deciding how to visit we thought of taking train fro... Read More
By :    359 days ago   Comments :  25
I am fully aware that you all must have read tons of literature about this Southern paradise of the Indian subcontinent. I wish to take you once more on a virtual trip through the mazes of the exuding beauty of the enchanting Kerala. It was a bri... Read More
By :    1 year, 151 days ago   Comments :  6
This was my first trip after marriage. I took a package of 6 nights and 7 days from Spiceland Holidays. We board our flight on 27th November 2011 at 6 am from Delhi to Kochi. We reached Kochi at 9am and there was a driver waiting for us. He took us d... Read More
By :    1 year, 156 days ago   Comments :  15
October 29, 2011 After a good night's rest, we started early from Kottayam. Since it was the final day of our trip and also the weather being much hotter and humid in the plains, we decided to take it easy and restrict ourselves to places in and a... Read More
By :    1 year, 167 days ago   Comments :  18
22nd of November was nearing by and due to certain inevitable and unavoidable compulsions I found myself unable to be there at my place, Lucknow with my family. Before to this, on all the six occasions, I was very much with my family, on the date, a... Read More
By :    1 year, 173 days ago   Comments :  3
After a good night's sleep at our hotel in Kumily, we woke up with our alarms ringing at 4.30 am. For everyone visiting Thekkady for the first time, there is a reason to wake up at this unearthly hour. The day's first boat ride at Thekkady Wildlife S... Read More
By :    1 year, 180 days ago   Comments :  23
Thekkady Wildlife Sanctuary is a popular travel destination for travellers all over South India. Somehow, a visit to this place had eluded me all these years, in spite of my city, Tiruppur, being just 250 kms away. I decided to visit Thekkady during ... Read More
By :    1 year, 201 days ago   Comments :  6
Last summer (May 2010) it was the call of the wild for us, and we decided to visit the Periyar Tiger Reserve in the Cardamom Hills of Kerala. [caption id="attachment_39591" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="The Periyar Tiger welcomes you."... Read More
By :    1 year, 231 days ago   Comments :  11
Hello Ghumakkars, Lakhnawi Nawab is back. I got a good response to my first story about Trivandrum. In case you haven't read it then do take a look, here http://bit.ly/pjoFcB. We went to Kerala in Dec'11, from the last week of December 2010 till t... Read More
By :    1 year, 241 days ago   Comments :  10
Kuttanad is a region in the central and southern part of Kerala stretching from Kochi down upto Kollam (formerly Quilon), and bordered by the Arabian Sea in the West to the Western Ghats in the East. An immense labyrinth of interconnecting canals, is... Read More
By :    1 year, 257 days ago   Comments :  4
Tucked away at an altitude of 700-2100 meters above sea level in a particularly beautiful corner of Kerala is Wayanad. I packed my bags and headed to Wayanad to enjoy the mesmerizing beauty of one of the better kept secrets of Kerala. As soon as I... Read More
By :    1 year, 273 days ago   Comments :  28
Hello People... I always wanted to tour South India, so I along with my family set out to Kerala in Dec'10. I had heard a lot about its popular tourist destinations. We planned a trip to Trivandrum.We reached Trivandrum in the morning and proceede... Read More
By :    1 year, 298 days ago   Comments :  12
Munnar had been beckoning me for some time. I did lot of legwork on the web to plan my trip. I came across Ghumakkar site as part of this research and has since been hooked to it. “By the Traveller for the Traveller” is really a great concept i... Read More
By :    1 year, 315 days ago   Comments :  12
Haven’t you heard this somewhere? Yes, you are right. It is the famous book by Alexander Frater. Suddenly, one day, I decided to experience what he had felt, in a smaller way and write about it, though my writing skills do not match his. I got the ... Read More
By :    1 year, 343 days ago   Comments :  6
Varkala has always been there in my travel list for a long time and the two day break was apt for me to head to the small fishing hamlet. Being in the southern part of kerala, traveling from bangalore was indeed a long journey. 14 hours was quite ... Read More
By :    2 years, 175 days ago   Comments :  17
Kerala has more than its fair share of wildlife sanctuaries and national parks in the Western Ghats. Of these, the Periyar Tiger Reserve at Thekkady [Kumily] is the most visited. It is our favourite wildlife reserve simply because we have always ... Read More
By :    2 years, 203 days ago   Comments :  14
Marayoor is a very small taluka town about 40km N of Munnar on the Munnar - Udumalpet road. It’s claim to fame is as a major prehistoric site where dolmens and cave paintings have been discovered. Marayoor is also known for its delicious jagger... Read More
By :    3 years, 21 days ago   Comments :  23
It was a week long escape to Kerala- God’s own country. The green and cozy-lazy Kochin, lush beauty of Munnar, expanse of Periyar and finally a trip along the waterways. Nothing more we could ask for. Yes indeed Kerala is beautiful with loa... Read More
By :    3 years, 261 days ago   Comments :  8
This is in continuation from my previous post. 23.08.09 (Fort Cochin) The best way to explore the near by area of Fort Cochin is to take a ferry boat (Passenger Boat) from Boat Jetty - Marien Drive & get down at Fort Cochin. From there wal... Read More
By :    3 years, 261 days ago   Comments :  10
Welcome to the God’ own Country – Kerala (India) I was in Kochi from 19.08.09 to 24.08.09 to attend a conference in Hotel Le – Meriden. Morning to evening I had to be busy with the conference and time was a big constraint for me to explore ... Read More
By :    3 years, 354 days ago   Comments :  5
I wanted to see and photograph the elusive mountain goat known as Nilgiri Tahr for some time, and grabbed the opportunity three years ago when I traveled to Kerala with my brother. It was a long flight from Canada, via London and Dubai and landed in ... Read More
By :    4 years, 5 days ago   Comments :  22
Table of Contents : Part 1 : Kumarkom - Backwaters n Houseboat Part 2 : Munnar - Unspoilt Hill Station It was beginning of April and our next sport was Munnar. From Kumarkom we traveled north till Thiruvankulam and then took right on NH 49 t... Read More