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A magical cruise through emerald waters.
Kerala - God's own country! It is said to have sprung from the ocean. All along its coast, exotic backwaters, canals, lagoons and inlets create an intricate maze that stretches for 1900 km across the land.
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Your journey through backwaters takes you floating slowly past coconut palms dipping down towards the water and serene villages, as the moving landscape creates a living portrait of Kerala's rural life. Other country crafts will go by, some carrying a load of fresh bananas or coir, others filled with people traveling to nearby villages. The dominant colours are the deep green of paddy fields and palm groves, the azure blue of the sky and the golden shimmer of the sun on the ripples of the waterways.
At Kumarakam, a 14-acre bird sanctuary, that is accessible from Alappuzha, by the vividly beautiful Vembanad Lake, see the nesting storks and a variety of water fowl. Some of the most unforgettable scenery is on another waterway from Alappuzha that leads up to the ancient port of Kollam, winding up the Pampa river to the island hamlet of Chempakkulam and then into the Kuttan, believed to be of the Buddha, beside the ruins of an ancient Buddhist settlement.
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