Over the millennia the Arabian Sea has been incessantly depositing sand and silt on to its beaches wave after rolling waves. Some of these deposits consist of valuable ores of Titanium, Uranium, Thorium and other heavy metals – Kerala has the second highest deposits of Thorium in the world and this is being replenished constantly by the Arabian Sea. However, from the tourist point of view the Arabian sea has been building up islands after islands for a hundred thousand years and more. The result is that the West Kerala is dotted and hyphened with hundreds of thousands of islands, some as small as a few feet across while others like Vypeen stretch for a dozen kilometers and more.
The seas that intrude into the land between these islands are called backwaters and the backwaters of Kerala are a unique experience as far as Indian tourism is involved. At some places the backwaters form canals hardly negotiable in canoes while in some other places the backwaters widens out into placid lakes, which are often a 1-2 kilometers wide. These Kerala backwaters also make for an inland water transport system that can take you from the north to the South of Kerala though now it is now limited to about 150 km from Allepey to Trivandrum.
This exotic and unique feature of Kerala is one of the reasons that induced the National Geographic Traveler to describe Kerala as ‘Paradise Found’ and to recommend it for the tour of a lifetime – the other reason is Munnar and its surroundings. Alleppey and Kumarakam are the most important destinations of Kerala under the backwater category of tourism. An overnight stay in one of the so-called houseboats is a unique experience of Kerala tourism.
Houseboats are a recent development of Kerala tourism. The labyrinth of backwater canals were the main infrastructure for transport in Kerala until fifty years ago – they are still the main line of transport in Kumarakam and Kuttanad. Bulk transport and long distance travel were effected in what are called ‘vallams’ which are refined canoes some 20-30 feet long and 4-6 feet wide in the middle. Awnings 6-8 feet long and 3-5 feet high made of bamboo thatched over with coconut leaves provided shelter from the weather on long the distance travels. A decade or so ago someone thought of extending the scope of these awnings to 10-12 feet high and 30-40 feet in length and about 12 feet wide in the middle. Living facilities like rooms, toilets and kitchens were incorporated under these awnings to make the famous houseboats of Kerala. Over the decades the number of such houseboats have burgeoned into a few thousands. In the beginning houseboats were single storied, single room affairs that accommodated a couple or two. Now they have evolved into multistoried, multi-roomed affairs and some of these houseboats of Kerala even sport conference/convention facilities which can accommodate over a hundred participants.
The popularity of these houseboats vis-à-vis Kerala tourism led to environmental problems from toilet and fuel effluents on the backwaters of Kerala – the houseboats are powered by diesel-guzzling outboard motors. Agitations from environmentalists and the local populations forced the government to implement strict regimen of pollution controls. Consequently all the houseboats of Kerala are equipped with the state of the art effluent treatment systems and provide for an environmental friendly eco-tourism.
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