A Luxury Trip to Kerala

Ever since, the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir has lost most of its beauty and free access owing to the ruthlessness it suffered by the hands of the terrorists and other unhealthy elements, Kerala has become the next ‘heaven on earth’ as far as the beauty is concerned. The South Indian state is known to be full of a lot of dense forests, beaches and some historical monuments giving us a good glimpse in the very rich historical background of the place. And then there is the best known fact that Kerala is the most literate state in the entire country having 100% literacy rate and thus, one must have no problems in communicating with local people when one must get lost, which usually happens a lot in the visit to the southern Indian states.

So, I made my landing on the Trivandrum airport and while driving to my hotel room, on the way, I witnessed a few things that got my heart pumped up at the very instant. The scenic beauty of the place and the freshness of the weather got me to fall in love with it real bad.

Frequently making its way in the list of the top tourist destinations in the world, Kerala has a lot to offer. The widespread popularity of the place can very well be understood by the fact that In 2012, it replaced the very popular historical and the number one tourist attraction, the Taj Mahal to be the number one travel destination in Google’s search trends for India. The things that attracts the tourists the most is Kerala’s beaches, backwaters, lakes, mountain ranges, waterfalls, and wildlife sanctuaries which serves to be the major attractions for both domestic and international tourists. Out of all the above mentioned things, the waterfalls are what makes the city what it is. And over the years, many Indian and international movies has captured the eccentric beauty of the place quite with a panache and as a result, the tourism is slowly becoming the top source for the income generation by the local people. The one surprising fact, however is that the state was almost not that popular before the 80’s, but the travel and tourism industry in the state saw a massive jump post 80’s.

I went for mountaineering, trekking and bird-watching programmes which serves as the main adventure sports for the state and while I was going through them, I realised that it was safer than most of the places that I have played these sports in. The other major attraction is the wildlife in itself, which is present in the state in the purest form. On a wildlife trip, I had the chance to witness the wild elephants in its wilderness. And although it was a scary feeling to be this close to the biggest animal on the planet, and that too untamed, I realised that it was a very strange metaphor for the trip. Kerala is the place where the nature is in its purest form and just like that elephant, the nature remains ‘untamed’ here.