Five Spectacular Places To Go Kayaking In South India

The afternoon sun casts a golden glow over the water as you dip your paddle into it, sending ripples across the surface. This is south India, where rivers and ancient canals weave through lush green lands, where coconut trees tower over scalloped bays and beaches, and where kayaking offers travellers a connection with nature. From the silky beaches of Goa to the backwaters of Kerala to a grand canyon, here are five spectacular places where you can now rent a kayak or join a kayak tour in south India.

Alleppey, Kerala

Alleppey, in the backwaters of Kerala, is a place of such extraordinary beauty that Lord Curzon, a former British viceroy of India, dubbed it the Venice of the East. Image credit - Ian Neubauer/AMC

The moment you push into the water, you enter another world on an ever-changing journey through a maze of interconnected canals, rivers, lakes and lagoons. The water is inky green, spotted with the disc-like leaves of flowering lilies and lotus blossoms as the distant sound of temple bells wafts through the air. You are in Alleppey, in the backwaters of Kerala, a place of such extraordinary beauty that Lord Curzon, a former British viceroy of India, dubbed it the Venice of the East. Or so the story goes.

Most tourists explore the backwaters of Kerala in houseboats with thatched roofs: conversions and replicas of the old wooden barges used for centuries to transport rice and supplies. But kayaking offers a cheaper, carbon-zero alternative to houseboats that also brings you into direct contact with the people living on the water’s edge: men casting nets into the water, women washing clothes or splitting open coconut husks, and children who yell ‘hello!’

About a dozen small operators offer guided two-hour kayak tours in Alleppey, pushing off at 6 AM for sunrise and 4 PM for sunset tours. No experience is needed, only a basic level of fitness. Online travel agents sell spots for up to 3,000 rupees (NZ$55) but if you go directly to an operator like Kayaking Hub near the Ramada Hotel, it will cost you only 600 rupees (NZ$11)

Kundapura, Kerala

More than 500km north of Alleppey is Kundapura, an inlet brimming with wildlife and surrounded by water on three sides: the Panchgangavalli River in the north, the Kalagarh River in the east and the Arabian Sea and Kodi backwaters in the west.

More than 500km north of Alleppey is Kundapura. Image credit - Ian Neubauer

A former trading port for sailing ships from the Middle East and Europe, Kundapura’s unique landscape and hydrology ensure the waters inside the inlet remain calm all year long. Coupled with little motorised boat traffic – fishermen tend to use paddles and sticks – and very little waterborne trash, Kundapura is a kayakers’ wet dream.  

There are about 20 small operators and guesthouses located around the Kemmannu Hanging Bridge that rent kayaks for only 100 rupees (NZ$1.84) per hour. Most of the tourists who come here have little experience kayaking and do not paddle far from shore. But anyone with confidence and a sense of adventure can spend days exploring the inlet, its islands, channels and mangrove forests.

Another drawcard is that kayaking's almost silent nature allows you to get close to migratory and waterbirds, which are abundant at Kunaparu. Kayakers are bound to see the white ibis, the Indian Cormorant, a duck-like species that chases fish underwater, and, with some luck, a magnificent Indian peacock.  

Palolem Beach, Goa

There are five or six kayak stations on Palolem Beach. Image credit - Ian Neubauer

A crescent-shaped beach bookended by rocky promontories and backdropped by jungle-clad hills, Palolem Beach would not look out of place in the South Pacific or Thailand. It’s one of more than 50 beaches dotting the 160km-long coastline of Goa, the former Portuguese that became the party capital of India. But the parties and mass tourism that accompanies are concentrated in Goa's north, whereas at Palolem, which lies in the south, the only thing you can hear after dark on most nights is that of baby waves crashing on the shore.

There are five or six kayak stations on Palolem Beach. The official rate is 200 rupees (NZ$3.69) per hour. The best place for a paddle is the channel between the northern promontory, Canacona Island and the mouth of the Canacona River. Watching the sunset while kayaking in Palolem is the type of experience holiday memories are made of. And if you get up for a sunrise paddle, you might just see a pod of dolphins gliding through the water.

For a more challenging paddle, head to Patnem Beach on the other side of Palolem’s southern promontory, where there are two kayaking stations. In the afternoon, the surf gets a little choppy, and there’s a deep coastal river edged by jungle to explore.

Dandeli, Karnataka

A town, national park and tiger sanctuary, Dandeli sits in the Western Ghats of Karnataka, a 1,600km mountain range stretching along India’s west coast. In recent years Dandeli has also emerged as an adventure sports destination for ziplining, wildlife safaris, camping, white-water rafting and kayaking.

There’s only one problem. The Kali River, which weaves through Dandeli and the Western Ghats, is a UNESCO World Heritage site owing to an unusually high biodiversity, and it bubbles with crocodiles. To keep it safe, kayaking at Dandeli takes place 20km from town near the village of Ganeshgudi in a tributary of the Kali called the Kalamata River. It feeds into the Supa reservoir, a dam built to generate hydroelectricity -- a far less attractive place for crocodiles than the Kali.

There are several sites and guesthouses on the Kalamata River with names like Hornbill River Resort and Bison River Resort that rent kayaks for 300 rupees. Paddling on the river’s reflective waters, and under the branches of century-old teak trees that reach far over the water’s edge, is heavenly. But you can’t go far downstream, as there are rapids, or far upstream, as there are crocodiles in the dam. “Crocodiles don’t like all this splashing about by kayakers and rafting, so they stay away,” said my guide. “We’ve never had an attack here.”

Gandikota, Andhra Pradesh

Gandikota was once an important medieval city. Image credit - Ian Neubauer

On the eastern face of the Western Ghats lies a vast semi-arid plateau with scattered hills covered in thorny vegetation – an inhospitable dust-blown part of Andhra Pradesh state where temperatures reach 30 degrees Celsius in the wintertime.

Most people who come here are truck drivers, Bollywood scouts looking for desert-like sets or tourists who have come to marvel at Gandikota, a colossal granite gorge that tumbles 100 metres down into the Pennar River.

Gandikota was once an important medieval city. An impenetrable sandstone fort from the 12th century with intricate carvings and archways was built at the highest point of the gorge, and a grand mosque was erected in the 15th century. But the city was long abandoned and today it is a tourism village with a dozen small motels and campsites that get busy on weekends when Indians come to explore the ruins and take selfies of the gorge from viewpoints.

For the ultimate Gandikota experience, follow the steep winding road down to the plateau and around the bank of the Tatireddy Narasimha Reddy Dam to Royal Boat Riders, an operator that takes visitors into the gorge on kayaks, albeit for a rather steep price: 10,000 rupees (NZ$184.41). But there is no other place like it in India.

-Asia Media Centre

Banner Image- Photo from the Palolem Beach, Goa. Image credit - Ian Neubauer