After arrival in Cochin, our first excursion was into the Kerala Backwaters. This is an extensive system of rivers, lakes and canals, which run for over 200 kilometers along the south west coast of India. The backwaters are home to very divers wildlifeand many people of different occupation. We saw fishermen dragging the river bed for shell fish. The shells are then used to make calcium powder in factories which burn coconut palm logs in furnaces to break down the shells. All of the trees and plants for a long way around these factories are covered in white powder. We saw men quite literally diving down to two and three meters to bring up scoops of sand for building purposes. Coconut plantations are everywhere and Toddy tappers can be heard all day long in the trees. Toddy is a local drink produced from the flower of the coconut palm. The flower is not allowed to develop into a nut and the tapers climb the trees daily and with a bone hammer they inflict a wound in the stem and catch the fliud that flows out.
