This tour is organised and led by Steve Davey | The land arrangements are sub-contracted to Intrepid Travel, but the tours don't appear on the Intrepid Travel website | The only way to book is through this site! | ||
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Kerala and the South of India is more verdant and tropical than the North. People tend to be more friendly and whilst it still has a pace and a sense of the exotic, it is more languid and relaxed. The food is completely different too: hotter and with more coconut! This exclusive travel photography tour visits many of the highlights of the region but also takes you off the beaten track to some hidden gems.
If this is your first trip to India, this will be the perfect introduction to this incredible country, and if you have been to India before, then this will be something utterly different to entrance you further.
The trip will include extensive photography tuition from professional travel photographer, Steve Davey, countless photo opportunities and the company of fellow photography enthusiasts.
This trip ran successfully in 2012. It went so well that we will definitely run it again in the future. You can see some pictures from this trip below.
Highlights of this trip
• Elephant Temple Festival
• Historic Town of Kochi
• Periyar National Park
• Kerala Backwaters Cruise
• Sri Meenakshi Temple
• Munnar Tea Plantations
• Relaxed Vembanad Lake
Please note: this tour ran successfully in 2012.
At the momement it is not scheduled to run again, but we may well run it again in the future. If you are interested please
do contact us!
better travel photography
•COM
impressions of kerala
impressions of kerala
photo tours with steve davey
Impressions of Kerala Itinerary
Day 1: Kochi
Day 2: Kochi
Day 3: Munnar
Day 4: Madurai TN
Day 5: Periyar
Day 6: Periyar
Day 7: Kumarakom
Day 8: Alleppey
Day 9: Alleppey
Day 10: Varkala
Day 11: Varkala
Day 12: Kochi
Day 13: Kochi (Festival)
Day 14: Tour ends
Website, Images and text © Steve Davey/stevedavey.com 1990 - 2012
Land arrangements are sub-contracted to Intrepid Travel, who have many years experience in running small group adventures.
Bookings are made through the Intrepid Special Groups Dept. in Melbourne not the Intrepid website or Stores. Contact Steve Davey for information
Start:Not scheduled
End: Not scheduled
Code: TBA
Price: £ TBA pp ex. int. flights, based on
Min 8, max 12 people
Approx other currencies*:
€ TBA • US$ TBA
AU$ TBA • NZ$ TBA
Note: if you have travelled with Intrepid and have a 5% feedback discount you can use it on this trip
Kerala is the land of festivals. Each of the many temples will have at least one festival a year. All of them seem to have a few temple elephants and they often lend them to each other so that each festival will be more spectacular! These elephants are paraded around the temple compounds, decorated with golden caparisons with drummers and sometimes thousands of pilgrims.
Our tour is scheduled to coincide with the festival at the Goureeswara Temple Festival at Cherai near Kochi. The festival isn't the biggest in the region, but should have at least a dozen caparisoned elephants in line abreast! The festival is also a good time to see the spectacular religious Kathakali dancing where costumed dancers act out scenes from Hindu mythology.
Our tour starts in the atmospheric city of Kochi (formerly Cochin), famous for the cantilevered Chinese fishing nets that line the shore of the ancient Fort Kochi area. This was home to the old Jewish town and their synagogue can still be visited – the oldest in India. It was in these characterful streets that Salman Rushdie set The Moors Last Sigh.
From Kochi we head into the mountains to the tea plantations of Munnar where we will have the chance to see how tea is produced and of course sample a brew whilst admiring the view!
For our next stop, we detour out of Kerala to the nearby city of Madurai in Tamil Nadu. The main attraction here is the incredible Sri Meenakshi Temple. This temple is massive, with soaring towers at each of the four gates. These towers are covered with brightly coloured statues and religious icons. The effect is stunning, but for all of this the temple is a relaxed and spiritual place.
We cross back into the Kerala to the Periyar National Park where we get to go on a guided walk with a chance of seeing bison, elephants, deer and even tigers!
Vembanad Lake has been called a paradise on earth, and a fantastic place for birdwatching. We spend a day here, and also get to visit a local tea museum.
Kerala is famed for the sprawling and verdant backwaters. We spend a day cruising through these waters and will be able to take many photographs on our leisurely journey.
We spend two days on the coast at Varkala, where we have a chance to take a dip in the Arabian Sea, visit the 2000 year old Janardhana Temple and even have a traditional Ayurvedic massage.
At the end of the tour we end up back in Kochi, for some more sightseeing and also to have a full day visit to the Poornathrayeesa Temple festival where hopefully we will be able to see the elephant parade!
After the tour, you can either head for home, or spend more time in Kerala, possibly on the beach at Kovalam!
This tour is led by Steve Davey - a professional photographer, whose work appears in publications all over the world. He is the author of the bestselling Unforgettable Places To See Before You Die (BBC Books). Steve recently published Footprint Travel Photography (Footprint Books), which covers everything that you would ever want to know about travelling with a camera. Click for more.
