We got back from our main holiday of the year last Friday, 12 days touring around Kerala. It was really fantastic, the best holiday we’ve ever had by a long shot. The food was stunning, the people were friendly, and the scenery fantastic. It is the most abundantly fertile country we have ever visited. We shall return…

We used the same holiday crew as for our trips to Vietnam and Cuba and lessons were duly learnt from those trips. Specifically, we didn’t try to pack too much into the itinerary: when you only have 12 days, bookended by 22 hour door-to-door trips, it’s not much fun sitting in the back of a car or a plane watching the clock count down.

We did still manage to stay in 6 separate hotels and bed and breakfast establishments. So, straight into the itinerary: we started off with a couple of nights in the Brunton Boatyard, a very classy hotel in Cochin. We did pretty well here, and had the single biggest hotel room that either of us have ever stayed. The sitting room, overlooking the river, must have been about 30 feet long. We had one of the standout meals of the trip on the first night, in the History Restaurant. Very high end service, very refined food. The lunch the next day, a fish curry called a meen, was fantastic.

Cochin we didn’t really explore that heavily. The first day we were there was pretty much a write-off. We took a walk out to look at the Chinese nets, crashed for a few hours, managed to haul ourselves out of bed for dinner and that was it. Next day we had a guided tour of Fort Cochin. It was… OK. It’s interesting to get a flavour of a place, but at the same time I didn’t see anything that made me think I’d come back with my tripod later. To be fair, we were still exhausted from the trip and our guide had a little of the night about him.

From Cochin we took a trip up into the hills forming the plantations around Munnar. On the way there, we stopped off in a tea museum for a highly instructional DVD describing the history of the plantation at a volume level that could remove your top layer of skin. That done we had a quick tour of the factory. Interesting. Ish. It was a bit pants.

On the outskirts of Munnar we stayed in a B&B overlooking the surrounding tea plantations – although it became increasingly misty the higher we went [the place was 1500m above sea level], the views the next morning were stunning. The owner of the place ran a cardamom plantation, which the property was located in. We had a pretty enjoyable tour of the facility, some great food for dinner, and set sail quite early the next morning.

In Thekkady, we stayed in a place called the Wildernest, which although billed as a B&B, was actually pretty cool. We had a completely self contained building with its own little balcony and roof terrace. It was a little rough and ready inside [and the bedclothes were a bit damp from the humidity], but we both really enjoyed it. The staff were very friendly, and served fantastic plumcake, which I ate about half a stone of.

Part of the reason for staying there was to take a forest walk through the Periyar wildlife sanctuary. This meant a very early start to be ready to launch for 7am. This was our first experience with leeches: you get kitted out with canvas gaiters, which you wear over your socks and tie off just below the knee. My inner cynic had assumed that this was a kind of display for the tourists – not so. At the end of the tour, I must have had about 10 in various crevices in my walking boots. I also ground one particularly determined little soul to a mush – it had managed to get right inside my boot. The guide had a bag of ‘tobacco powder’, which I assumed was snuff, which he applied liberally to our boots [and to the one I got on my hand when I put my camera case on the ground. Note to self: I must check if that spider that got in there has turned up yet.] and at various stages of the walk.

Unfortunately, the leeches were close to the top of the highlights we saw during the day. The guide explained that when there is an abundance of water [and it was an unusually long wet season], the animals don’t move from the deep forest. I’m sure my man-flu supplied cough didn’t help either. We did see some deer, a giant red squirrel [he wasn’t *that* big], and something which I think  is called a jewel beetle, which I’d never seen before.

We’d planned to take a trip down to the lake to see what was on offer later that day, but it absolutely poured – one of only two rain-stopped-play incidents we had during the whole trip.

We had more great food that night, very reasonable too, in a spot called the Spice Garden. Before we left on the Sunday morning the macaques, who maraud around the hotel’s grounds, put on a spectacular show which served as our alarm clock. I went up on to the roof terrace [without opening the door out onto it] to watch a massive fight – the younger element were bullying an older male. Quite a nasty affair.

From Thekkady, we moved on to Kumarakom, with a short ferry ride to a hotel called the Coconut Lagoon Resort. This was as close to having a bad time as we managed. The check-in was shambolic. It was suggested that we should have lunch while they got our room ready, only to be told that we couldn’t eat until 1pm [it was 5 to], despite the fact the couple we were sitting next to in the empty restaurant were merrily munching their food. We went back to reception and were told that the room would be ready in a few minutes; then another 10 minutes. Then we were under starters orders, and then on hold for another 10 minutes while our man took a phone call. When we finally did get to the room it was eye wateringly nice, it has to be said. We had our own little pool, which the other half settled beside immediately.

Last part of the rant [well, second last]: the bar staff refused to serve women – or more accurately, studiously ignored women looking for service. Given that more than half of the guests at the hotel were women, this seemed a little counter intuitive. And it wasn’t just us: I met a mother and daughter on a bird-watching trip on a boat, whom we later bumped into in one of the bars, and they were equally frustrated about the service. Obviously some cultural imperative [although it was the only venue it manifest].

The hotel, the grounds, and the waiting staff were all top drawer though.

We only had one night there, and the round-off of the service experience was equally as shambolic as the checkin. There were two different possible points of disembarkation that the boats from the hotel could take you to. Our local agent had phoned the hotel to tell us that we were going to the further of the two, half an hour earlier than we had originally arranged. Unfortunately, the guys at reception had failed to tell us. Anyway, enough said. It’s a lovely hotel with great food, views, rooms and waiting staff. Just don’t go there if you are short on patience.

Our next stop was a tour of the lake on a houseboat, and one of the highlights of the trip. We’d expected it to be a little rough around the edges. It was actually quite stately. Very friendly crew [captain, cook, other bloke] and simply outstanding food. The dinner we had that evening, along with the dinner in the Brunton Boatyard, were the two standout meals of the trip.

We had a canoe ride that afternoon which allowed me to indulge my emerging obsession: if I became obsessed with hummingbirds in Cuba, the Indian equivalent for this holiday were the kingfishers. They are like flying jewellery, and they are there in abundance. I got reasonable captures of common, white-throated, and stork-billed.

From the boat, we had a short car transfer to the Marari Beach Resort, our last venue of the holiday, and another lovely hotel in the same chain as the Brunton Boatyard and the Coconut Lagoon. Of the three I’d rate, taking into account the service, the environment, the food, and the quality of the rooms the Brunton Boatyard first, the Marari next and then – the most visually spectacular – the Coconut last.

I lucked out here on the photographic options. They had a butterfly garden across the road, so I spent the final couple of days dazzling the insects with my flash and a mountain of macro.

So photography wise… It was a bit of a mixed bag to be honest. I had man-flu at the start of the holiday, and a bit of a reaction to the 20-odd bites I picked up during the last three days, which didn’t help. I used my 10-22mm and tripod once; no night photography at all; not great luck at the wildlife reserve; no people shots [at least that were keepers].

I don’t really have any standout photos that I’m particularly pleased with, but still, it was a blast.

Here’s a selection…