South India Travel --› About Kerala --› Kerala Houseboats

Kerala Houseboats

Further inland when one goes into the interiors of this state there are more and endless miles of placid Kerala Backwaters, flanked on either side by a towering palm tress. These meandering freshwaters are all mainly concentrated around the townships of Alleppey, Kumarakom, Kottayam, Quilon and Cochin.

These waterways or better known as backwaters are best traveled in thatched roof houseboats called kettuvallam or in a sleek darting local snake boat.

House Boats With A Difference:
These houseboats of today are very huge which move slowly and stealthily across the clean blue water of the Arabian sea .The original Kettuvalloms were used to carry tonnes of rice and spices - a standard Kettuvallom can hold up to 30 tonnes - from Kuttanad to the Kochi port.

This was regarded as a mode of transport to do trade and commerce but now these are compared with the luxurious five star hotels in the city. The houseboats have all the comforts of a luxury hotel including furnished bedrooms, modern toilets, cozy living rooms, a kitchen and even a balcony for angling.

The Kettuvallam or 'boat with knots'- was so called because the entire boat was held together with coir knots only made from the tough fiber of the coconut- not even a single nail is used during the construction.

This is was a unique thing as the craftsman ship was excellent and also a very unique kind of work reflected in the boat that traversed through the wading waters. The boat is made of planks of jack-wood joined together with coir. This is then coated with a caustic black resin made from boiled cashew kernels.

A portion of the Kettuvallom was covered with bamboo and coir to serve as a restroom and kitchen for the crew. Meals would be cooked on board and supplemented with fresh fish from the backwaters that were caught by the fishermen of those areas.

Today, the tradition is still continued and the food from the local cuisine is served by the Kuttanad localities, on board.

This was one of the masterminds of the administration to start of the cruises in these houseboats when the transport system was taken over by more modern ones like the trucks.

Relax in style, in the beautifully furnished living room as cool breeze wafts in through the awning. And if you can keep your eyes off the enchanting view that Kerala has to offer you, then there are also other facilities like VCD, TV. And Music system - a special service that is exclusive to Rainbow Cruises.