Around 900km of interconnected lakes and canals make up Kerala's extraordinary, watery "backwaters". It's like an enormous, rural Venice, with houses lining the edges of the waterways and residents carrying out their daily errands by canoe. The only solid bits of ground are the canal banks, which are just wide enough for one house and the narrow tow path which links the houses. As far as you can see is nothing but water, rice paddies, coconut palms and banana trees.
The best way to observe all this is from the deck of a traditionally-styled house boat, which can be chartered for scenic and relaxing one or two-night excursions. In between eating the delicious meals cooked by your onboard chef, you can while away the hours in a wicker chair or day bed, watching the endlessly fascinating backwater life go by as you cruise the labyrinth of canals.
Our excellent onboard cooks treated us to huge spreads of authentic Keralan food: crispy-fried, delicate and moist whole fish; tasty vegetable curries; steamed vegetables flavoured with coconut, mustard seeds, turmeric and curry leaves; and a rich, dark chicken curry.
The residents of the backwaters bathe, brush their teeth, wash their clothes and do their dishes in the murky water of the canals. They cross the water by canoe or bridge several times a day to get to school, church or the shops. But I got the feeling the backwaters both sustain and threaten people's livelihoods in this low-lying community. We saw a few houses flooded with a foot or more of water, with many other residents reinforcing the banks outside their homes with sandbags against the rising water level.
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