Walking and cycling holiday in Kerala, India
| country: | India |
| location: | Kerala, Western Ghats |
| trip type: | Moderate & cycling walking holidays |
| departures: | This itinerary can be tailor made and starts any day of the week throughout the year |
| price: | From £555 (7 days) excluding flights |
| vouchers: | Gift vouchers can be used with this holiday |
the amazing things you'll be doing
The tea growing areas of Munnar and the rain forests at Periyar have spectacular walking trails. Besides being a region of endemism, this area also has indigenous people living within the forests here. This trip will also take us amidst endemic mammals, birds, butterflies, cloud forests with its own collection of rare flowers and other wildlife like elephants. While the eco-system around Munnar is primarily shola-grassland type. (Sholas are high altitude montane forests & typical to the Western Ghats), the forests at Periyar reverberate with wildlife and the mysteries associated with rain forests.
This holiday combines walks through the highest regions of the ecologically sensitive Western Ghats and cycling through the spice growing villages of the Cardamom hills, the people friendly villages and vast stretches of forests.
This holiday combines walks through the highest regions of the ecologically sensitive Western Ghats and cycling through the spice growing villages of the Cardamom hills, the people friendly villages and vast stretches of forests.
day-by-day itinerary
| Day 1: | Sholas and grasslands. We will start the trek from an altitude of 1500m gradually go up to over 2600m, passing through sholas (high altitude rain forests) and grasslands which are typical to the higher areas of the Western Ghats. Overnight camping in the wilderness. |
| Day 2: | Kolukkumalai. Early start as we head along paths over the undulating mountain grasslands and mountain streams which criss-cross the area. Walk through the world’s highest tea estate Kolukkumalai. Descend and continue trekking through grasslands and high altitude rainforest to the Anaerangal Camp at Suryanelli. |
| Day 3: | Anaerangal lake. We will start our trek from the Anaerangal camp and move through forests towards the edge of the Anaerangal lake and meet up with the indigenous tribals in their village. |
| Day 4: | Tea estates. At dawn we will start cycling. The trail passes through the tea estates, dense forests where spices are grown and small hamlets. Stay at a spice plantation homestay or resort. |
| Day 5: | Periyar Tiger Reserve. Our destination today is Periyar Tiger Reserve as we pass through forests, tea gardens and spice plantations. |
| Day 6: | Meenar. We will once again start our walking adventure with a trek will be towards Meenar through lush tropical rain forests. This is the home range of the rare and endangered Lion Tailed Macaques, besides an excellent spot for birds & rare butterflies, as well as large herds of elephants and gaurs. Stay in comfortable large cottage tents or forest eco lodge in the middle of the rain forest. |
| Day 7: | Chenthamara Kokka. We will continue our trek towards Chenthamara Kokka. The trek passes through typical grassland-shola eco-systems and rain forests with large variety of wildlife. |
travelling with a local operator
This holiday is operated by a company based in the holiday destination and they will be able to provide expert local knowledge. They will be able to tailor make your holiday to suit your requirements not only concerning the dates of travel but also typically the standard of accommodation, and thus price. It is rare for local operators to be able to help with the booking of your flights.how this holiday makes a difference
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Environment:
The areas that the guests pass through are parts of the bio-diversity areas, enabling them to sight wildlife, birds and flora seen nowhere else in the world. All this is done without stressing the areas environmentally. The fact that we do not have more than 6 persons on these tours minimizes any detrimental impact. When you walk and cycle through these areas, there is minimum impact on the environment and culture. The accommodation is also of low impact throughout this journey. The tented camps have all the comforts of living with minimum wastage in terms of energy and water consumption. Community: This trip is arranged by local operator and hence the money generated remains local. Moreover, the guides, drivers, cooks and porters are all from the local communities notably the indigenous tribal populations that have been stressed due to loss of traditional means of livelihood. Tours like this ploughs back money into their hands and is eagerly awaited by them to enhance their resources for livelihood. The local guides are knowledgeable of their terrain, flora & fauna and make great educators in the wilderness way of life. A prime factors in this holiday is the location where even today traditional ways of life & agriculture thrives. The guests would also learn more about indigenous people, their way of life and traditions. Moreover, part of the money is ploughed back into these areas where you travel and stay. The food items are sourced locally making survival of this programme a priority for villagers who live near the camps. The eco lodges we use are also well versed in reducing resource consumption and utilizing local expertise in the day to day operations. |
Tourism can be good and bad for destinations & local people. We carefully screen every holiday against our criteria for responsible travel. 'Look behind the brochure' to find how each holiday makes a difference (see left). We don't claim to be perfect - there is no global accreditation - but we've led the way since 2001 and screened 1000's of holidays. We invite every traveller to write a review about their experiences and responsible tourism. This valuable feedback is sent to the people who run the holidays. We keep a very close eye on it and take off holidays that don't live up to our standards. |