Whistle-stopping through South Kerala

The earlier post brought back memories of another whistle-stop tour to Kerala I made many years back. I was in Bangalore then, and always wanted to make a trip to Kerala, but it was getting difficult to coordinate a holiday with a whole bunch of interested friends. A friend was getting engaged in Trivandrum, and two of us decided to travel with him, for a short weekend trip. We took a bus from Bangalore on a Thursday afternoon to Quilon, the buses to Trivandrum were all booked. At Quilon, we got into a train for the hour's journey to Trivandrum.

There wasn't much to do in Trivandrum, so I suggested a trip to Kanyakumari. There's nothing much in Kanyakumari other than a rock, my friend told me, and instead we spent the evening at the Kovalam beach. Beautiful waters, but a bit too touristy for my liking. The next morning, we drove down to Periyar wildlife sanctuary at Thekkady. Took a boat safari and went up the river looking for elephants. The next morning, we signed up for a walk into the forest to take a closer look at the magnificent beasts, braving leeches, leopards and other wildlife, along with a forest guide. We did see the elephants close range in the wild, quite an experience. Luckily, they didn't charge at us :)

After that, it was another long drive to Cochin, where we took a boat ride in the harbour, and got into a bus back to Bangalore. Our friend went back to Trivandrum for his engagement.