Kerala whistle stop tour

Next is a 4 day round trip with the trek PMs (Dr Zoe, Jo and Ivan) to recce camp sites for the treking and adventure project. We start with a 12 hour drive through Karnataka and Tamil Nadu to reach our first stop at Marayoor in the Keralan hills. The journey (not to mention road driving!) is spectacular and as we leave the plateau of Karnataka the road descends through hair pin bends to the flat plains of Tamil Nadu. It gets hotter. We have fun with our risk assessment for the journey - possible road hazards include lorries, buses, autorickshaws, cows, elephants, chickens...


We stop for lunch at the Indian equivalent of a roadside cafe en route and Manju our driver helps us decipher the menu. Manju interpreting the menu and explaing the subtle differences between appams and dosas will turn out to be a continuing theme of our trip... We tuck in to vegetable thalis.


After lunch it's another 6 hours in the car to the Kerala border. At one stage we pass through a vast plain of paddy fields tended by women in saris and oxen carts, dotted with wind turbines for electricity. The juxtaposition of the old and new is striking. As we reach the Tamil Nadu - Kerala border the road climbs again into the hills and we enter the Indira Ghandi wildlife sanctuary. Just after entering the sanctuary we see our first wild elephant (a male tusker, but not fully grown) by the side of the road.


We stay overnight in Marayoor and the next day drive on via Munnar to check out camp sites. One camp site in the hills is in a family's back garden. There isn't much space but it's full of lush tropical plants, banana, jack fruit, pepper and coffee.

The drive through the hills is even more beautiful - woodland, waterfalls and endless tea plantations. It's so green you would hardly believe it is India. Wild poinsettias grow several feet high at the side of the road.


Our plans change so we don't actually end up trekking or camping (hey this is India), but we stay overnight in Kumily before another long journey to Kochi to meet the trek guides. After that it's another long drive and overnight stop before returning to a warm welcome at fieldbase - it's good to catch up with the rest of the team again.