Boat cruise from Kottaym to Alapuzha

One of the secrets of tourism is to be able to have a close experience with nature
without having to shell out a sortune. Alapuzha has several houseboats and ricebarges converted to houseboats, which offer backwater cruises at highly inflated
and exhorbitant prices to both foreign and Indian tourists. However, they ignore the
budget traveler, backpackers and small families who understand value for money
pricing and opt for basic comforts and budget hotels while travelling. Few people
know that there is a regular ferry service fro m Kottayam Boat Jetty to Alapuzha
boat jetty every day run by the KSRTC Boat service for scholl children who live in
the villages connected only by waterways on the Kottayam Alapuzha backwater
stretch. The boat leaves at 3 p.m. sharp and is full of school children making their
way back home from their school which is located on the banks of the boat jetty.
It is not difficult to get a window seat, as most children travel for short distances
and prefer to stand. There is a large space under ones seat to keep ones luggage
too! The first phase of the cruise is through the narrow canals that connect
Kottayam to the giant Vembanad lake. Houses line both sides of the canal and the
boat makes frequent stops to drop off the children, who jump off the boats in glee,
as soon as their boat jetty arrives. The boat stops at each of these village halts for
under five minutes andkeeps cruising at a steady rate between stops. After the first
few stops the boat starts picking up speed and the number of halts reduce to one
every thirty minutes. The last two hours of this three hour long cruise is without any
stops, especially the last hour of the journey before reaching Alapuzha ?Boat Jetty.

While the boat meanders through the canals, one can sight waterbirds at the edges
of the backwaters. Hundreds of species of water birds including several threatened
and endangered species, over 200 species of fish, crocodiles, turtles, otters and
macaques inhabit the forests that surround the giant Vembanad lake. One locates a
quiet place on the boat for getting a better view of the water, the sky and the
treetops. One's patience is rewarded as a group of black headed ibis swoop down
from the skies and take a moments respite on the tree tops before flying off.
However the split second stop is enough to enable one to see the pelican's shiny
beak and plumage.

At sunrise, flocks of seagulls can be seen flying everywhere and the more
adventurous one's even land close to one's boat. One can also spot a group of gulls
flying in a V formation, their whiteness accentuated by the cloudless light blue skies
in the background. As one's boat moves deeper into the lake, the number and
variety of birds sighted continues to increase. A few large water-birds who have
migrated for the winter from China can be sighted too! Some of the other species of
birds that can be sighted during the boat cruise along Chilka include bronze winged

jacana, purple heron, brahminy kite, grand coucal, green billed malpuha, great
egret, oriental magpie robin, purple heron, Chinese pond heron, roufus woodpecker,
blue billed pelican, whiskered tern and the great egret. As the Kumarakom Bird
Sanctuary is located in Kottayam District and is easily accessible by boat. A three
day homestay at the floating bamboo houses of the local villagers is an ideal way to
unwind, distress and relax to the tune of nature. The backwaters of Kerala has been
called the single most important breeding ground for globally threatened large
water-birds!

Seagulls seen during ones boat cruise

Farmer on his floating vegetable narket

A picturesque scene during the backwater cruise

A rice-barge encountered along the way

A hornbill lands close to our boat

The clouds looks suspended over the water by invisible strings

Our humble sea-canoe at Allepuzha

At Alapuzha boat jetty