KERALA BACKWATERS
World Famous : As An Important Tourist Attraction of Kerala, India
Significance : Major Means of Transport, Irrigational Source
Main Backwater Districts: Alappuzha, Kottayam, Kollam
THE ENCHANTINGLY PLACID BACKWATERS OF KERALA
Fringing
the coast of Kerala and winding far inland is an intricate network of
innumerable Lagoons, Lakes, Canals, Estuaries and the Deltas of forty-four
rivers that drain into the Arabian Sea.
Over 900 kms of this labyrinthine water world is navigable. As
characteristic of Kerala as the 600km long coastline of dazzling beaches
is the dense, lush Backwaters of the Kerala state.
And while hill stations are all over the country and palm-fringed beaches
too, the Backwaters are unique to Kerala. These Backwaters are both the
basis of a distinct lifestyle and a fascinating thoroughfare. Travelling
by boat along the Backwaters is one of the highlights of Kerala.
The boats cross shallow, palm-fringed lakes studded with cantilevered
Chineses fishing nets and travel along narrow shady canals, where Coir,
Copra, and Cashews are loaded into the boats. The largest backwater
stretch in Kerala is the
Vembanad
Lake, which flows through three districts and opens out into the sea
at the Kochi
port.
Backwaters are the accumulation of Sea Water at the sea beach during the
to-fro motion of sea-waves in the form of lagoons, esturies etc. Today,
Kerala Backwaters has become the most exciting tourist spot in India.
The
Ashtamudi
Lake (literally, having eight arms), which covers a major portion of
Kollam
district in the south, is the second largest and is considered the gateway
to the Backwaters. Each district of Kerala is marked by the presence of
the inviting Backwaters, which form a prominent part of the panoramic
landscape of Kerala.
BACKWATER CRUISE
The most popular backwater cruise is the eight-hour trip between
Kollam and
Alappuzha
and vice versa. The regular public ferry service on this route has been
suspended but tourist boats are as popular as ever.
There are essentially identical daily cruises operated on alternate days
by the Private Alleppy Tourism Development Co-Operative and the State
Government's District Tourism Promotion Council.
THE DWINDLING ECOLOGICAL BALANCE
Although the backwaters have become an important tourist destination,
they are severely threatened by the population growth and industrial and
agricultural development.
The attractive African Moss that often carpets the surface of the
narrower waterways, is a menace to small craft traffic and starves
underwater life of light.
It is a symptom of many serious ecological problems currently affecting
the region, whose population density ranges from two and four times that
of other coastal areas in southwest India.
This has put immense pressure on land and hence a greater reliance on
fertilizers, which eventually make their way into the water causing the
build up of moss. Illegal land reclamation poses the single largest threat
to the already fragile eco-system.
The Naked Truth
In a little over a century, the total area of water in
Kuttanad
has been reduced to two-thirds, while mangrove swamps and fish stocks have
been decimated by pollution and the spread of towns and villages around
the edges of the backwater region. Kerala has 29 major lakes on the
backwater system, seven of which drain into the sea.
Its estimated that the area of these lakes has fallen from 440 sq. kms in
1968 to less than 350 sq. kms due to illegal and legal land reclamation
projects and urban development.
The vast
Vembanad
lake has dropped from 230sq. kms to 179 sq. kms. Ecological damage
includes pollution, the extinction of mangroves, crocodiles and migratory
fish and the destruction of oyster beds.
Many migratory birds no longer visit the backwaters and destructive
fishing using dynamite, poison and very fine nets has caused great damage.
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