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Earth Kerala & Lakshadweep – 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 colorful 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 in the unspoilt
palm-fringed islands of Lakshadweep.
Holiday highlights
• Wander around historic Fort Kochi
• Visit St. Francis Church and
Mattancherry Palace
• Watch a traditional Kathakali
dance performance
• Explore Kerala’s serene backwaters and village
life
• Thekkady’s spice plantations
• Two-night stay on exclusive Kettuvallam style houseboat
• Watch elephant herds bathing in Periyar National Park
• Relax on Lakshadweep’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
Kerala’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.
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.
Day 3 & 4:
Today we transfer to the foothills of the Western
Ghats, an area famous for its cardamom, clove, pepper, and 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 support of the indigenous Mannan community
who now conserve the reserve in exchange for money from eco-tourism.
You are likely to see elephant grazing by the lakeside and bison,
sambar, wild boar and barking deer are also commonly spotted.
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).
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 environs 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
nights. The staff is 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.
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. |
Accommodation 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.
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,
fisher folk 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.
Day 9 to 13: After breakfast on the houseboat
and a further few hours cruising you will be picked up by your
driver and journey to the Cochin airport to transfer to Lakshadweep
which is a one hour flight from Cochin. These are Kerala’s
Crusoe-like Lakshadweep Islands (or Laccadives as they were
formerly called), a string of little-known tropical islands
lying 200 or so miles off the Kerala coast. Stay at Bangaram
Island, set amongst the coral atolls, endless sands, submerged
banks and vibrant reefs covering a magical underwater world,
for five nights.
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Accommodation profile: The Lakshadweep Islands
are Kerala’s rustic and exclusive alternative to the Maldives,
a coral paradise offering undisturbed escapism. Managed by the
CGH Earth Group, the most innovative and enlightened hotel chain
in Kerala, Bangaram Island is referred to as the “jewel
of the Lakshadeep,” an uninhabited 128-acre island that
now has 30 tiled-roof beach huts complete with thatched roof
verandahs. The accommodation is simple, comfortable, but refreshingly
unpretentious. A hotel atmosphere is avoided to preserve Bangaram’s
unique natural environment but there are enough creature comforts
to put one at ease. The island itself presents an amazing spectacle
of sparkling coral reefs, turquoise blue lagoons, silvery beaches
and lush green coconut palms, all preserved in the state little
different from the days of Charam Perumal's reign – a
mythical king of Kerala. The property is promoted as a beach
escape, an undiscovered diving destination with virgin reefs
and also as an Ayurvedic retreat.
Day 14: Transfer to Cochin in time for your
return flight. |
| 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
• Return air transfers from Cochin to Lakshadweep
Island
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