WWF Travel Blog

Thiruvananthapuram is near the southern tip of India and is built on seven hills near the sea. © Zegrahm Expeditions

Expedition staff Kim Saunders, Elizabeth Gould and Pepper Trail visited Thiruvananthapuram, the capital of Kerala state in India. Here’s how they describe the day they spent in the stunning city.

“This morning we docked as the rising sun illuminated a picturesque mosque. Brightly painted fishing boats highlighted the harbor anchorage. At 7:00 a.m. the call to prayer was heard across the village, and people stopped their work to face the central church. We disembarked for a journey into the farmland of the interior. When the buses could go no further, we hired about 30 motorized rickshaws (three-wheeled taxis), and puttered up the dirt roads into the midst of the plantations. We were given demonstrations of manioc harvesting, climbing palm trees to harvest coconuts, and rubber tapping. Most of us found the multitude of banana varieties tasted better than the “sweet” cassava. On the way back to the ship we stopped to see a lively demonstration of kalaripatu, a local martial art for which Kerala is known.

“After lunch on board, we divided into two groups: one group went into the town of Thiruananth to visit the Padmanabhavam Temple and (horse) palace, while the other half took a walk through the picturesque fishing village where we docked. Large passenger ships are seldom seen in the harbor, so we attracted several thousand locals, who covered the breakwater and watched the captain nimbly back the ship out of the narrow entrance to the harbor.”

Visit Thiruvananthapuram during WWF’s Southern India & the Maldives expedition, December 17, 2011 – January 3, 2012.

© Zegrahm Expeditions. Reprinted with permission.