RADventure2
Kalpetta - Kumarakom (Part 8)
- October 23-25, 2016
- Drive : Kalpetta to Kumarakom
- Start Time from Kalpetta: 06:10 hrs;
- Arrival Time at Kumarakom: 16.30 hrs;
- Elapsed time : 10hrs - 20 mins (numerous stops on the way)
- Distance : 318 Km
While one half of Kerala is along the Western Ghats, the
other majestic half is its intricate network of lakes, lagoons, canals, forming
the famous backwaters. Vembanad Lake, the largest lake in Kerala and spans
across three districts - Alappuzha, Kottayam
and Ernakulam.
One of the most popular destination on the shore of the lake is Kumarakom, which
was our next destination as we drove off from Wayanad.
We started off from Kalpetta fairly early in the morning,
would have preferred to leave earlier but for fog. On hilly roads, dense fog is
better avoided.
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| Winding ways ... the exit from Wayanad |
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| Negotiating down the western ghats from Wayanad |
Much of the roads in Kerala, wind their way through the hilly
terrain, and almost all of them are double lane. There is practically no 4 lane
carriageways within Kerala, barring a few exceptions. Having said, the
condition of the national highways are excellent while the state highways are
sad. This too has been an interesting revelation - Where NH/s is bad the SH/s are great and vice versa.
From Kalpetta, our route took us through Vythiri,
Thamarassery, Pantheeramkavu, Tirur, Ponnani, Paravur, Ernakulam, Kumarakom
along NH 66 a very nice drive, but could get clumsy due to ever growing
traffic.
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| Kalpetta to Kumarakom .. the route |
We had two pit stops at Cochin on our way to
Kumarakom. Both the stopovers were to meet college mates who hail from Kerala.
Pit stop – 1 …. Sabu VR and family. We joined Sabu’s family
at lunch, a sumptuous and lip-smacking spread. The interesting part of the
visit was a peep at Sabu’s new home. A marvellous and colossal bungalow, very
well designed and built. We missed the house warming event by a whisker (scheduled
a week later). Over time I guess it will be bustling with life, greenery and
colour.
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| Sabu VR's new home |
Pit stop -2 was at Ajit’s home. Ajit & I were meeting
after 35 years, since we passed out of college. Obviously there was much to
talk about and catch up over coffee and snacks at Ajit’s place. Ajit had built
an interesting home, energy efficient and with good use of technology for recycling.
It had a fish farm, poultry and significant kitchen garden. Very impressive
indeed.
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| With Ajit ... meeting after 35 years |
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| Along with the better halves |
We learnt a few unique practices about the Kerala way of
life – a) most people live in independent
houses or bungalows; b) the designs of the bungalows are quite similar; c) all
most every bungalow has its own fresh water well; d) almost every house has a
garden small or big and a few coconut tree; e) everyone seemed to be in tune
with nature!
One of the main attraction of choosing Taj Kumarakom was its
proximity to Kumarakom bird sanctuary. Did not realise it was that close. Kumarakom
Bird Sanctuary and Taj Kumarakom have a common boundary wall.
The Kumarakom Bird Sanctuary is located
on the northern fringes of Kumarakom village. The Vembanad Wetland system was
included in the list of wetlands of international importance, as defined by the
Ramsar Convention for the conservation and sustainable utilization of wetlands
in 2002. It is the largest of the three Ramsar Sites in the state of Kerala.
Though October is not the best of the times for birding, nevertheless,
I had an eventful day at the Bird Sanctuary, I could manage to spot ‘Paradise
Fly Catcher’ a stunning beauty.
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| Bird Tree on the backwaters |
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| Raptors in action - Kumarakom |
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| This bird made my day - Paradise Fly Catcher - Kumarakom |
Absolutely well worth the 3 nights at
Kumarakom.
Next : Part 9 : Bird kingdom at Kumarakom
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