Reviews

Most Inspirational Moment

The most inspirational moment of the trip was Madurai Temple. Seeing people together in the temple, praying and lighting candles was a lovely sight to see.

Thoughts on Group Leader

Suresh was a very good group leader. He had a lot of knowledge of the areas we visited as well as the recent history of India in general.

Advice for Potential Travellers

Make sure you don't take too much money with you. It is hard to try and get it converted back to English pounds on the last days without getting really bad exchange rates.

Most Inspirational Moment

The moments that stood out most were the little extras that the leader threw into the trip, like the Rescue Tuk Tuks that saved us from the rain in the plantations and our last night at the Onam celebrations in Trivandrum - We even made it into their local newspaper with our yellow balloons! The meal at family home was also fantastic. I loved so much of the trip. 

Thoughts on Group Leader

Suresh was brilliant. So knowledgable and has a wicked sense of humour. 

Advice for Potential Travellers

Take loads of cheap pens to hand out to the children. You will have never heard the phrase "One pen?" so many times in your life before. Get an easy to apply mosquito cream instead of the greasy sprays as you want to make sure that you apply it diligently daily otherwise you will be eaten. Not a malaria risk, just annoying bites. Boots Repel Citrapel 75 cream worked brilliantly for me. 

Most Inspirational Moment

The temple visit to Madurai is a real highlight, and we were lucky to see part of the Painguri festival (not for the squeamish!)

Thoughts on Group Leader

The leader, Suresh Moni was excellent. Very knowledgeable and enthusiastic, and attentive to the diffferent needs of the group.

Advice for Potential Travellers

The hill walk at Munnar is not difficult, but with the heat was not attempted by all the group - some were fitter than others!

Most Inspirational Moment

There were so many: the two idyllic days on the houseboat; the moving Madurai temple and pilgrims; the exhilarating trek in the Munnar hills; our lovely meal with an Indian family; the tea plantations; the two peaceful days in the Coir village; exciting wildlife walk in Periyar; the elephant santuary; the (optional) train trip to Vekala beach; moving Gandhi museum; surfing and strolling at Kovalam; Trivandrum; bustling and atmospheric markets and villages- and so much more!

Thoughts on Group Leader

Suresh was outstanding: highly knowedgeable, friendly, witty, very caring, attentive to the needs of all, and extremely hard-working. Easily one of the best leaders I have experienced.

Advice for Potential Travellers

Lassi is a nice drink, and cools hot curries. Chai tea grew on me- refreshing. Munnar is cold at night!Some markets and towns are dusty: I found tissues, eye lotion and throat sweets helpful. Antiseptic handwash and wipes are important.  

Most Inspirational Moment

There were so many colourful sights. I enjoyed travelling over the Western Ghats through the tea plantations and spice gardens. The colour and human hubbub in the temples in Madurai was fascinating. I enjoyed relaxing in the houseboats on the Allepey backwaters watching daily life unfold on the banks. Watching the fishermen hauling in the nets in Kovalam was interesting.

Thoughts on Group Leader

Manoj the Tour Leader was excellent. He was very professional, calm and efficient and made sure that the needs of the group were met. The driver and assistant were also very professional and helpful and ensured our safety. Manoj dealt with problems in a manner that was co-operative such as having to leave early in the morning to flee from Thekkady to beat the blockade. He quickly worked out the needs of the group and would make sure they were met. He provided good advice on eating places, places to buy articles and places of interest. He was very knowledgeable and provided sufficient information to make the tour interesting. He also gave good tips on photography, being an expert.

Advice for Potential Travellers

Be prepared for different climates as the tour goes from warm tropical to chilly mountain climes.Take rehydration powders as there is a possibility of stomach problems.Although we were able to borrow adaptors and eventually managed to buy one, the normal plug adaptors you buy here did not seem to fit Indian plugs. You will be taking a lot of photos!Be prepared for quite a lot of travelling on mixed road surfaces.

Most Inspirational Moment

This trip's major plus point over other trips concentrating on Kerala is the diversion to Madurai.  It was amazing, fascinating and well worth the travel involved.  The huge Hindu temple was definitely the real highlight of the trip.Otherwise, Kerala's amazing natural beauty (particularly the tea plantation and the backwaters) and its stunningly tasty food were things that will live long in the memory.

Advice for Potential Travellers

The day trip to the southern tip of India is well worth making.  After having spent time travelling you might feel like stretching out on the beach at Kovalam, but the trip was a nice chance to do your own thing.  There is a beautiful wooden palace to be seen and the chance to see three oceans meet.

Most Inspirational Moment

We really enjoyed the optional trip down to the very tip of India. I would recommend that that day be part of the itinerary. The wooden palace en route was amazing, and the island off the coast where the three seas meet was just wonderful. The ferry was an experience not to be missed.The houseboat was very well appointed and the food excellent with such an attenetive crew. The views as we cruised the backwaters were a delight = very restful and romantic.

Thoughts on Group Leader

Gopal was lovely. Kind efficient and very thorough. He was very good at making sure we enjoyed all sorts of culinary delights. It was our third trip  to India but he found us different tasty meals that we had not tasted before.

Advice for Potential Travellers

You know leeches are not so bad. Inconvenient but not life threatening!!

Most Inspirational Moment

There were many highlights - climbing Munnar Hill, elephant riding, houseboat trip, seeing the birds (feathered variety :)).

Thoughts on Group Leader

Absolutely wonderful - nice and calm, good sense of humour, checked out the welfare of the group both individually and as a group, organised and able to try and put in an alternative when we couldn't do part of the trip due to a border dispute.

Advice for Potential Travellers

Hiking boots instead of trainers would be better for the hill climb and the Periyar National Park.Need to be relaxed about slow service in restaurants - enjoy the time with your fellow travellers!Enjoy, enjoy, enjoy!!!

Most Inspirational Moment

The houseboat.  There is something intrinsically peaceful and calming about meandering along the back waters on a fabulous houseboat where the crew conjure up wonderful meals from, seemingly, thin air, oh and banana fritters just in case we were hungry in the afternoon!

Thoughts on Group Leader

Lukose was brilliant.  He anticipated our every question and had an uncanny ability to appear as if from nowhere as soon as anyone even passingly mentionned that there was something they wanted to ask him.  Very knowledgeable about the places we visited and India in general; and very quick to call someone if there was a question he didn't know the answer to.  He was very quick to get to grips with different peoples' wants and needs (beer and ice playing a large part in that!).  The trip ran like clockwork.  What can I say, a good few of us wanted to take Lukose home with us to organise our lives in the UK!

Advice for Potential Travellers

Definitely go on this trip it's a great experience.  Don't expect to be able to go to lots of bars, there isn't the same kind of drinking culture in Kerala as there is at home, but Kingfisher beer is available in most places! The day walk from Mattupetty Dam was a lot harder than many people anticipated.  The walk is really quite steep all of the way up and combined with the humidity / heat does make it quite difficult.  That said it is worth doing, the view from the top is great and it was good to do something more active.   The air con on the house boat was  really cold at night, take layers! I wouldn't recommend the visit to Kanyakumari - we spent a lot of time queuing and there really wasn't anything much to see.  The wooden palace about an hour away was beautiful so perhaps that could be a shorter optional trip.   The German bakery, Waves, at Kovalam is a must visit restaurant - food and cake is fantastic, as is the sister Fusion restaurant.  

Most Inspirational Moment

Difficlut to pick - there were sevaral between sceenry/geography, food, people.

Thoughts on Group Leader

Excellent

Advice for Potential Travellers

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