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| CGH
Earth Kerela Tour – 13 nights |
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About this holiday
This is a two-week tour that focuses
on a very special small chain of boutique, eco-themed hotels
run by CGH Earth, an innovative and mightily impressive hotel
development and management company with a local touch and
an eye for detail. Explore historic Kochi (long known as Cochin),
a colourful melting pot of foreign influences and architecture;
visit the beautiful Periyar National Park in the spice-growing
Cardamom Hills; cruise through Kerala’s serene backwaters,
a vast network of vegetation-clocked rivers, streams, lagoons,
canals and tanks; and relax on an unspoilt stretch of palm-fringed
coastline.
Holiday highlights
• Wander around historic Fort
Kochi
• Visit St. Francis Church, Mattancherry Palace &
medieval synagogue
• Watch a traditional Kathakali dance performance
• Explore Kerala’s serene backwaters and village
life
• Munnar’s tea-growing hills and Thekkady’s
spice plantations
• Two-night stay on exclusive Kettuvallam style houseboat
• Watch elephant herds bathing in Periyar National Park
• Relax on Kerala’s golden beaches
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Day
1 & 2:
Arrive to be met by a Red Dot representative and transferred
in one of our comfortable Ambassador cars to Fort Cochin, an
ancient trading port since at least Roman times that provided
a safe port of call for sailors on the main trade route from
Europe to China. The journey from the airport will take approximately
one hour before you check-in to the fabulous Brunton Boatyard.
Rest for the remainder of the day, dipping into the cool swimming
pool overlooking the harbour and enjoying you first taste of
Kerela’s distinctive, spicy cuisine. The next day we will
show you around Cochin, the highlights of which include Mattancherry
Palace, a gift to the Raja of Kochi back in 1557, St. Francis
Church, first built in 1510 and the resting place of Vasco de
Gama, and a magnificent synagogue dating back to 1568.
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Accommodation profile:
The Brunton Boatyard, the refurbished colonial Geo Brunton and
Sons boatyard which look after the empires shippers for centuries,
is a fabulous monument to the past, a property full of history,
memories and stories. It’s an unpretentious and unique
22-bedrooom boutique hotel with a personal touch. All the spacious
bedrooms have hardwood four-poster beds and an old-world feel.
The wide window shutters open out to the Arabian Sea and playful
dolphins can often been seen showing off in front of the swimming
pool terrace. |
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Day
3 & 4:
Today we transfer to the foothills of
the Western Ghats, an area famous for its cardamom, clove, pepper,
coffee and rubber plantations. Indeed, the air is scented and
spicy. The journey will take four-and-a-half hours. Our destination
is the picturesque Periyar National Park, the leading wildlife
park in South India, which was designated as part of Project
Tiger in 1972. The lakeside sanctuary, best explored by boat
or on foot with a trekking guide, is home to a relatively small
population of game but, encouragingly, thanks to enlightened
anti-poaching policies of the Kerala Forest Department, the
game numbers are increasing fast.
The forest department have successfully
co-opted the sup port
of the indigenous Mannan
community who now conserve the reserve
in exchange for money from eco-tourism. You are likely to se
e elephant
grazing by
the lakeside and bison, sambar, wild boar and barking deer are
also commonly s potted. But the
tigers are shy and are usually heard not
seen, especially during the nights as they prowl the jungle
for their prey. We recommend staying nearby this national park
at Spice Village. Spend two nights here. We can also organise
a spice plantation tour, a night trek and even a bullock cart
ride (an innovative idea to prevent unsustainable sandlewood
logging).
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Accommodation profile:
Spice Village is a ground-breaking property; a hotel that put
spice plantation hotels on the map and showed others that sensitivity
to social and environ mental issues has all-round benefits for
the traveller, employee and local resident. This is, first and
foremost, a natural hotel surrounded by jungle and plantations.
Even the design of the cottages are modelled on the jungle dwellings
of local inhabitants, built with elephant grass and spilt bamboo.
Built in 1992, the rooms are not luxurious but very large, peaceful
and comfortable. There is no TV but no shortage of entertainment
– a full orchestra of birds and insects sing through the
night’s. The staff are unfailingly warm, courteous and
attentive. The Kerala-style cuisine is sumptuous, flavoured
with spices and herbs from the neighbouring fields. Red Dot
is a big fan and wholeheartedly recommends it. |
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Day 5 & 6:
From Periyar you travel south to Kumarakom,
an island on the large Lake Vembanad that is blessed with an
idyllic location. The area has attracted several exotic hotels
offering backwater and Ayurveda holidays. There is also a wonderful
bird sanctuary. We head straight for Coconut Lagoon, one of
Red Dot’s favourite properties in Kerala for a relaxing
one-night stay.
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Acommodation profile: Coconut
Lagoon is an architectural triumph, a boutique hotel that has
been cleverly crafted from the fragments of ancient village
homes and palaces. In some cases whole houses, complete with
beautiful wood carvings and its original brass work, have been
painstakingly transplanted into the property piece-by-piece.
The result is the ultimate backwater resort, a property where
fine traditional craftsmanship and the stunningly beautiful
natural surroundings makes it utterly impossible not to relax,
unwind and dream. The Keralan cuisine is delicious and the staff
are friendly and attentive. Like the other Casino Hotels, there
is a special emphasis on caring for the environment. In fact,
they are so serious about the natural environment that there
is a fulltime director in charge of there environmental policies,
which include comprehensive waste management schemes and a breeding
programme to protect the endangered Vechoor cows. |
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Day 7 & 8:
Relax during the morning at Coconut
Lagoon and wait for the arrival of your traditional Kettuvallum
houseboat (reconverted rice barges) around noon for one of the
highlights of your holiday – a two-night journey through
Kuttanad country to Kollam, a land of shimmering waterways,
dense tropical greenery and age-old village livelihoods so vividly
described in Arundhati Roy’s remarkable novel The God
of Small Things. Your houseboat, fully staffed with a friendly
and attentive crew, will chug
slowly through canals
and creeks allowing you to relax and unwind.
Hours slip by easily as you gaze ashore, soaking up a myriad
of views as you pass homes, farms,
paddy fields, playful children,
fisherfolk in traditional dugouts and bathing buffaloes. See
fish eagles circling for prey and wise comorants perched on
the riverbank. At 6pm the houseboat will moor up and the staff
will cook a sumptuous traditional feast. Sleep contentedly in
your cabin. Spend the following on the houseboat as well. |
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Day 9 to 13:
After breakfast on the houseboat and a further two hours cruising
you will be picked up by your driver and transferred one-and-a-half
hours to Kerala’s palm-fringed coastline, the meeting
point of the Arabian Sea and Indian Ocean. Stay at Marari Beach,
a natural and peaceful beach retreat away from the larger developments
to the south, for five nights.
Accommodation profile:
CGH Earth have once again excelled themselves with a beach resort
that offers more than just sun, sea and sand. As they say in
the brochure: “A beach is just a beach, until you find
its living heart. For us, the search ended in the little village
of Mararikulam”. And true to the advertising guff Marari
is a hotel with real character and personality. There are 52
thatched-roofed cottages spread over a huge 25-acre plot, all
separated by open parkland and fruit-laden trees connected by
winding pathways. The cottages are styled on the old village
houses with their palm roofs swooping low over raised verandas.
The interiors are simple, natural and comfortable. Like all
the other CGH Earth properties, the quality of the food is top-class
with a heave reliance of local produce and the hotel’s
own organic garden. The staff are warm and attentive. The long
and unspoilt beach offers magical walks and refreshing swimming.
Avoid staying between June and August. |
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| Day 14: Transfer
to Cochin in time for your return flight. |
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Cost:
TBC
Package price includes:
- 11 night’s BB hotel accommodation on twin-sharing
basis
- 2 night’s full-board accommodation on non-a/c houseboat
- Airconditioned car and English-speaking driver for transfers
- Entrance fees: St. Francis Church, Mattancherry Palace,
Synagogue, Kathakali dance performance
- Guide for half-day Cochin tour
- One boat ride in Periyar National Park
- Spice plantation tour
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