Snapshots of Kerala (South India)

by Andreas Niggemann

I was on a trip in Kerala in March 1996 and want to share some of my views with you.

Kochi (engl. Cochin)

Chinese fish nets at Kochi. In the biggest port in Kerala, some of these old fishing nets are located at the entrance of the harbour. Most of the catch is sold directly behind the nets on a small market.

The synagoge in Kochi. Sad to say, the jewish community in Kerala is fading away. Most are already gone to Israel.

Periyar

"Tame" elephants on the streets working for the people. You definitly need a good driver to survive such "suprises".

In the sanctuary of Periyar (near the town of Thekkady) you can find all sorts of animals. You can see wild elephants, bisons and many types of birds. This photo was taken just at the end of the dry periode, so the water of the Lake Periyar is very low.

Backwaters

The Backwaters is a big canal system a few miles from the coast. The central part of this impressive water system is the area between Kochi an Alappuzha (Alleppy) and around the Vembanad lake.

This is a typical rice boat, responsible for carring nearly everything within the Backwaters. The water is very low so two boatsmen (one on each end) can navigate the boat with the sticks.

This is a different type of rice boat, build for tourists only. You can hire a boat at Coconut Lagoon for approx. $150 per day. It has a small engine, one captain, one chef de cuisine, two servants and there is room for a max. of 6 tourists.

Fishermen on Vembanad lake.

Woman in Sari (and umbrella) with child.

Old woman in a boat. You can see many women on the canals and in the streets doing business while the males standing by, hands in the pockets.

School girls at the bank of a Backwaters canal. "Pen", "Pen", "Pen" they are requesting. In other countries the children asking for money or sweets, here they are asking for something usefull.

If you want to see the photos in more detail, you can download each image in high resolution by klicking on the image. Every image is a 80KByte-210KByte JPG-File.

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