Thekkady, India
The gardens are silent save for the early morning calls of the local birds and monkeys as we leave our cottage soon after 6am to meet a waiting Tensing. The hills are shrouded in mist as we leave the hotel and drive to Thekkady, and the entrance to the Periyar Tiger Reserve.
Having gone on three tiger safaris in northern India a few years ago and spotted what amounted to just a flash of a tail in the far distance after many hours spent racing round in jeeps, we're under no illusions this time and have opted for just one excursion; a boat ride around the lake to enjoy the scenery.
The entire wildlife reserve is over 750 square kilometres of protected countryside and home to many species of flora and fauna, particularly birds. It’s also absolutely swarming with tourists at this ungodly hour all heading out onto the lake as the sun rises.
Most of the tourists are Indian and Tensing tells us that Kerala is the most popular destination for Indian families from the north as it is so lush and verdant compared to the dry, arid lands and ferocious heat they are used to. And Thekkady is full of hotels catering to domestic tourists, with coaches painted in a variety of garish colours parked in multitudes outside.
Our tickets suggest that we have seats on the upper deck of our boat but the queuing system is chaotic, with hundreds of people cramming towards the embarkation points and a real cacophony of noise coming from all directions. A well-spoken Indian woman tells us that there’s no hope of anyone getting an allocated seat. "It’s everyone for themselves!" she warns.
However, we are duly led to the front of the queue and allowed to board first, with front row seats on the upper deck – essentially the best seats in the house. God knows how much extra we’ve paid for the privilege, but when we see some of the overloaded boats beside us, we’re grateful whatever the cost, especially as we’re all forced to wear life jackets, donning huge orange vests under strict instruction!
We set off in our various boats onto the misty lake, its still and silent beauty marred by the noise of the families on other boats but fortunately ours is a smaller, more tranquil affair and we cruise around for an hour away from the crowds. To be honest, there’s not an enormous amount to see but families of cormorants nest in various tree stumps protruding from the waters and we spy the odd flashes of blue kingfishers in flight, high-circling eagles and white egrets walking in the shallows. I snap away and end up with more photos of birds than Bill Oddie.
Much excitement ensues when a herd of samba deer, a smattering of antelopes and some wild boar are spotted at the shoreline in the distance but without the benefit of a pair of binoculars (or the zoom on my camera) they are just shadows from afar. The supposed bison our guide announces at another stage are mere figments of his imagination, as far as I can tell.
Nevertheless, despite the distinct lack of wild animals it’s a diverting enough way to spend an hour, and as the sun starts to heat the day Coman snoozes beside me purring contentedly like a cat.
Once back on land we rejoin Tensing and he takes us back to our hotel for breakfast and to change into more summery gear before we set off again for The Spice Farm in Kumily, known as the Cardamom Hills of Kerala. Our guide here is a young guy called Anoz, who is quite the flirt and tells us his name means 'loveable person’, before asking if we agree with a charming smile.
He leads us through the plantation very knowledgably pointing out a plethora of spices and informing us of their Ayurvedic health properties. Cardamom itself, the queen of spices, is part of the ginger family and the third most expensive spice in the world after saffron and vanilla.
It is great for the heart and preventing strokes, but like aspirin should be taken with caution as too much can thin the blood. It is also starting to become increasingly rare as global warming is decimating the bee population around the world and cardamom can only be naturally pollinated as there’s no method of artificial fertilization for it.
Pepper he claims is the king of spices, and grows by wrapping itself around the coral tree in a symbiotic pairing, while vanilla, introduced from Mexico is part of the orchid family. He shows us the piri piri chili, supposedly the third hottest chili in the world and tells us if we ate five of them we’d make it back to London under our own steam as they’d put such a rocket up our arse!!
We’re shown a chikos fruit, which is a bit like a kiwi and great for diabetes, and also a jack fruit and a huge cocoa pod. He tells us about the alzheimer’s-preventing nature of green tea and reveals a magic trick with the scent of the ruta herb, which permeates straight through your hand. We ask him if they grow any other herbs and Anoz misunderstands us and declares they don’t grow any marijuana at all, no sirree! When we assure him that’s not what we meant, he confesses that there are other parts of Kerala, and of course Goa, where marijuana cultivation is big business.
On he goes, illustrating the difference between Arabica coffee, originally from Ethiopia, and Robusta coffee from Brazil. He strips cinnamon bark from a tree, shows us clove flowers, plucks leaves from the curry tree and describes how they’re used in cooking to lower fat in meat-bashed dishes, describes nutmeg and its floral component mace as the “amazing spice” due to its curative nature for both stomach ache and insomnia, rubs a piment leave into our hand with the rich fragrance of all-spice and gives us fresh pepper pods to eat which taste beautiful, developing a zingy, hot heat in the mouth.
But the miracle is turmeric. I’ve known for years that its active ingredient is incredible – anti-carcinogenic, anti-inflammatory, anti-obesity and a potent antihistamine amongst many other things, far better than almost any pill that doctors can prescribe – but its Anoz’s treatment of Coman’s ever-growing mosquito bites, which are now on his chest and in bloody welts on his fingers, that is most impressive.
Picking a piece of fresh turmeric from the ground he rubs it over the bites with fresh aloe vera from a nearby plant to follow and they all but disappear, the irritation fading almost instantly. It’s quite remarkable. No wonder Anoz disarmingly manages to sell us thousands of rupees worth of spices from the shop at the end of our tour. It’s a veritable pharmacy as well as a cook’s treasure trove.
We finish the morning with a short detour to an elephant farm, at Tensing’s suggestion. While we both have reservations about captive elephants, India is full of working pachyderms and their numbers would be hugely depleted if that were not the case.
We are introduced to a large, 32 year old female named Bima by her mahout, Rajiv, and taken on a twenty minute trek through the jungle on her back. I sit at the front and feel the breeze of her ears waft over my splayed legs whenever she flaps them. Coman opts to sit side-saddle behind me, which is a wise move as when we dismount I feel like I’ve been doing the splits. Thank God for all my recent yoga!
Bima stands with us for photos afterwards and raises her trunk for us to stroke it. We have no idea if she is truly happy with the life she leads but her eyes seem bright and alert and she happily munches away on her ready supply of food before unleashing a torrent of shit everywhere. We leave hoping that our fee has gone to help feed her and preserve the future of these great beasts, rather than keep them enslaved in servitude.
I walk slightly bow-legged to the car, looking forward to an Ayurvedic massage to come later this afternoon to sort my inner thighs out!
