Malabar Magic

former Cochin – in the southern part of the state is the best known. The city of Kozhikode – the former Calicut – often called the Jewel of the Malabar is the northern most port.

In Kozhikode’s maritime suburb of Beypore, traditional boats are still built by hand. The teakwood vessels known as urus can take a team of 30 men up to two years to complete before they are then sailed off - mainly - to Arabia. It’s a practice, I learned, that has endured for some 1500 years.

While a few urus are still being made – workers are more likely engaged with making boat repairs these days – a relatively new related industry has emerged. A string of shops crafting and selling scale model boats compete for business along a major street that bisects Beypore. The smallest teak craft, Mohammed Koya told me, costs Rs 185. The largest takes two months to hand craft and costs Rs 32,000.

Kozhikode’s maritime heritage is well documented. The Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama landed at Kappad Beach near Kozhikode in 1498 after discovering a sea passage to the East. Dutch, French and British merchants followed with colonial powers building a series of forts to protect commercial and military interests along the coast.

I stopped at three forts during a fascinating exploration of the Malabar Coast. The British were responsible for

By Thomas E King

constructing the Tellicherry Fort – their first citadel in the country - in 1708 while the triangular San Angelo Fort near Kannur dates to 1505 and the arrival of India’s first Portuguese Viceroy.

I found the Bekal Fort, south of Kasaragod, to be the most spectacular in size, shape and stature. Lauding 40 metres over the Arabian Sea, the fort is considered the best maintained in Kerala.

A lofty observation tower is located in the centre of the stronghold. After walking up a steep incline to reach it I saw workers on the encircling walkway below busy with restoration works on a bastion that has braved the scorching sun and salt breezes for more than three centuries.

I stood and looked out from the red laterite ramparts but could only see a few simple structures along a lengthy stretch of virtually pristine Bekal Beach. This

Malabar Travel Notebook

Flights: Singapore Airlines has 77 flights a week from Australia to Singapore. Airline partner Silkair has numerous onward flights connecting Singapore with Kochi and Trivandrum as well as Coimbatore and Hyderabad. Contact your travel agent or call Singapore Airlines/Silkair on 13 10 11. See www.singaporeair.com.au, www.silkair. com.

Travel: Specialising in sustainable tours that focus on “people, culture and wilderness”, Bangalore-based, The Blue Yonder will design custom holiday packages in the Malabar, other regions of Kerala and throughout India. See www.theblueyonder.com

Accommodation: Surrounded by dense forest and tea plantations, the Vythiri Resort is a calm getaway in the beautiful hills of Wayanad surrounding Kalpetta. Overlooking a palm tree-lined river, the Kadavu Resort & Ayurveda Centre outside Kozhikode offers a wide array of sporting activities and nightly cultural shows. See www.kadavuayurvedaresort.com

Events: Visit India Year 2009 is a promotional campaign offering incentives to visitors until the end of the year. Details about complimentary flights, hotels and tours in tandem with paid services are available on the website: http://visitindia2009. incredibleindia.org/

Information: A map of India and info on Kerala is available from India Tourism Sydney, tel. (02) 9221 9555. See the Government of Kerala website www.keralatourism.org as well as www.incredibleindia.org and www.wayanad.org solitude is set to change, however, as plans have been announced to develop this little visited part of the Malabar Coast with several A-list international hotels and even a regional airport in the next few years.

I only heard whispers about mass development during my time in the Wayanad District, another integral component of the Malabar region. Change will invariably come to one of Kerala’s most forested swathes of wilderness though it will likely take time.

Accessibility and isolation are significant factors that have hindered development. After navigating a road with numerous hairpin bends winding through the dense shola forests of the Western Ghats, I could fully understand this.

Though the Wayand District covers just over 2100 sq. km it’s one of the most biodiverse regions in the state, indeed in South India. Hidden away in the hills are tribal people who still live a primitive lifestyle, rare animals like the world’s smallest deer and several nearly extinct species of squirrels, exotic plants and caves with pictorial writings from the Stone Age.

Surrounded by plantations that sweep over the hills and paddy fields that line the valleys, the district’s capital of Kalpetta is a somewhat ramshackle but pleasant market town. I bought packets of the indigenous Coffea Travencorica in the Kalpetta bazaar although tea is the real name of the game. It’s not the only name, though, as this well watered district is spice central Plantations have been in operation for centuries although agricultural production dates back far earlier. It’s said that the pepper and ginger of Wayanad along with sandalwood, ivory and incense from other parts of the region even found their way to the legendary court of Solomon and Sheba! Malabar’s magic and mystique has indeed been known to the world for a very long time.