Paravur - Elephant camp

One morning we set out to visit the elephant camp at Paravur.

A little disappointing! Six elephants and all chained...Dashed hopes of gentle elephants roaming around in grassland!

We noticed that they were looked after well by their keepers...


The baby elephant was the saving grace.


The naughty little one kept trying to break free

And this one couldn't stop saluting us and trumpeting as he pushed up his trunk in a salute



Here's the baby elephant's family -


To get there take the route to Paravur off NH 47 near Kollam and ask for directions everytime you see someone on the road (which is noot very often!).

Kollam- Punalur

One place we visited in Kollam district was Punalur. It was late May when we visited Punalur and it was really very hot. We learnt that Punalur has the distinction of being one of the hottest places in Kerala.

The rubber plantations lining either side of the roads are lovely and as evening falls you see dappled light on the floors.

There is an old bridge (built in 1877)



which cannot be used but can be photographed over the gently flowing Kallada river.



Here's how the bridge looks...




There is a Aryas restuarant nearby for an inexpensive and tasty Kerala meal.