—Categories: beach, kerala

Kappad Beach

Bandipur -> Wayanad -> Kozhikode -> Guruvayur -> Cochin -> Periyar

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We drove from Kalpetta to Kozhikode(or Calicut), stopping at Phookot Lake. The drive took us via coffee estates, farms growing beetlenut and pepper and stretches of forest. It was a winding road on nearly flat ground, with green stretches on either side. Then, as if suddenly the earth collapsed and gave away, the road opened into a steep and deep incline, giving us wide and open views of the Kerala’s coastal plains. To both side of the road were steep hills covered with thick evergreen forest that rose from the plains. The place, called Lakkidi ghat, marks the point where the western ghats make way to the lower regions. We stopped here for sometime to relish the views of those plains contrasting with mountains.

The drive to the plains was slow and easy, taking us through inclines and steep curves along badly maintained roads. Once in the plains, there was remarkable change in the weather, with temperature and humidity moving up to a level of minor discomfort. It was nearly an hour’s drive from here to Kozhikode, where we had our lunch. Since we had no other plans for rest of the day, we decided to drive up to the beach as early as 2.30pm.

Kozhikode does not have an impressive beach, but has a beautiful marine drive. We decided to drive aimlessly up north and look around for a good spot. The drive took us through traffic free roads with fishermen’s houses all along. We could smell fish all the way during the drive, and could see people working with their nets or the fish they had caught during the day. A 20 minutes drive and we saw the signs leading to Kappad beach, and headed that way.


At Kappad in the evening

It was 3pm, hot and sunny when we got there, so we parked and just waited for an hour. Around 4, small bits of clouds started covering up the sun and it was a good time to get out relax in the beach. The beach has a rock formation on one side and stretches endlessly on the other end. Beach shore is short and quickly gives way to soil in a 20 meter span. The sea here is deep, and you can’t go far into the water beyond few meters. A few moss covered rocks are scattered here and there which provide a distinct contrast to rest of the beach side. It is a beautiful beachside and we spent rest of the evening relaxing sitting on the rocks or the sand, occasionally getting into the water, and the watching the sun drowning far away in the horizon.

Around 7pm, we had a good dinner in nearby Kappad Beach Resort and headed further down towards Kochin. We drove till 11pm, and exhausted after a long day well spent, checked into a hotel to spend rest of the night.

About Kappad Beach

The beach is situated a short drive from Kozhikoda(or Calicut), and is a good place spend an evening. It is well connected by public transport from the town, or you can hire an auto-rickshaw to drop you here.

It is not much of a wide beach – sand gives away quickly into the soil. And the water is deep and you can’t spend much time or go far into the water. But it is a beautiful beach nevertheless and is good for spending some time relaxed.

The only accommodation nearby is Kappad Beach Resort. It seems to be a good place to stay, and we found it to be more or less empty while we were there. Kozhikode town has plenty accommodation of at different levels.

To be continued..

—Categories: kerala

Sorry, the hill is closed!!!

Bandipur -> Wayanad -> Kozhikode -> Guruvayur -> Cochin -> Periyar

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+Next: From Wayand to Kozhikode and Kappad Beach
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This is an experience we had in Wayanad the last time I was there.

We were on our way to birding in Edakal hill. Birding is an early morning activity, and we were there as early as 7am. When we arrived and parked the car at the base of the hill, some locals told that the hill is closed and opens only at 9.30!

Next day we were at Phookot Lake, again for birding. It was around 8am when we reached there. The lake was closed too and it was to open sometime later.

I have a few questions to ask about this.

I understand when a museum is closed, or a temple is closed. They have to be closed because the caretakers have their working hours and it can’t be kept open when there is no one inside. And going one step ahead, we can even say it is up to the museum authorities because they have built the museum and they can do what they please with it. But can we apply the same logic to a hill or natural lake? The people who ‘close’ this did not build it, nor do they own it. They ideally have no authority over that.

There is some good logic in restricting entry to ticket holders or making some money by selling entry passes. The tourist spot, be it a hill or lake needs some maintenance and protection when there is an inflow of people. This needs money, and collecting it from visitors is fair. The people who collect money may also have provided some facilities to tourists like drinking water, a place to rest, steps to climb the hill, etc.

But does all this give them authority to prevent a tourist from enjoying the beauty of sunrise from the top of the hill because the hill is not open, or sunset because the hill is closed?! If they can’t have a ticket vendor up there on a time when someone wants to go up, at least they should keep it open. There should be some sense to think of people who wake up before the ticket vendor does. Again, I would not have complained, were it not a natural structure which was built by nature many millenniums ago. I don’t see how some one suddenly gains authority to ‘close’ such structures.

In fact, the hill or lake being closed did not bother us much, as we spent a lot of time birding around the area and arrived at the ‘closed’ place much later. But it definitely hurts if I wanted to spend a serene early morning hour sitting and enjoying the beauty of the lake, but was denied access because the ticketing guy is not yet out of his bed.

—Categories: kerala

OF PHOTOGRAPHS(AND LOOSING THEM..)

Bandipur -> Wayanad -> Kozhikode -> Guruvayur -> Cochin -> Periyar

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Last Saturday, I headed out for a photoshoot in the evening. As I usually do, I cleaned up the memory card in my camera of all the previously existing images.

I turned on the computer yesterday afternoon to process some images from Kerala that I wanted to post on this blog. I could not find any! It so turned out, I had erased all the images from Kerala on Saturday evening assuming that they are copied to the computer, but I had not done that!

That means most of the posts on the Kerala series might go text-only. One hope – I might be able to procure some images from my fellow travellers. And another solace – I had not really managed to produce any photos of good quality during the Kerala trip, so what is lost is not much.

To be continued..