To The Beach

First stop: beach. For some much needed relaxation after our time with Raleigh, myself and a few other Raleigh project managers headed over to Kannur in Kerala for a few days. We were staying in a beach house and got exactly what we ordered - golden sand, palm trees and delicious Keralan cuisine.

 

Me, Simon, Jakhya, Steve and Katherine all in a tuk tuk

From Kannur we headed south to Alleppey for a trip on the backwaters, and then inland to Periyar National Park. Here we picked up the level of activity again, including trekking both on foot and by elephant. We were lucky enough on a boat trip in the afternoon to see wild elephants by the side of the water, a truly amazing sight which I sadly can't show here as my camera memory card is not letting me upload any more photos!

Periyar National Park

On the backwaters

From Kumily, where we stayed for Periyar, we took a very bumpy and eventful bus journey to Trivandrum, spending the first hour mostly in mid-air as we flew around the back of the bus every corner, then stopping once when the driver hit a motorcyclist (thankfully he was ok), a second time to take the motorcyclist to the local hospital, and a third time when the tread came off one of the tyres, which couldn't be resolved so we had to catch another passing bus. Needless to say we were relieved to arrive in Trivandrum in one piece.

After a night in Trivandrum we all went our separate ways - it was sad to say goodbye to the other Raleigh volunteers after sharing some great experiences together, but it was also the start of the next part of my south Indian adventure- the next leg of which has been with my parents who I met up with in Trivandrum. From there we headed into the hills of Tamil Nadu, taking the miniature train up to Ooty - a beautiful but slow journey through forest and tea plantations, with fantastic views most of the way. We spent a couple of nights in Coonoor, a large hill station, staying at a farm which is frequented by wild bison and elephants. We got a bit too close for comfort to a bison on an afternoon stroll through the tea plantations, and also spotted a Malabar squirrel which is quite rare in that area.

Back down from the mountains we had a few days in Cochin, staying at a wonderful home-stay in Fort Cochin. Now I'm in Varkala, back by the beach, before exploring a different area of the Western Ghats around Munnar. I'm not sure I'll resolve the problems I'm having getting my photos uploaded, so it might have to wait until I'm back for a few days in October before I can add more photos. Hopefully technology will be on my side!