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All days spend along the River Nila Activities
Pottery Workshop, Bell Metal workshop, Folk Expressions, Musical Trail and Day with the Masters at the Kerala Kalamandalam.
About the itinerary
There are many ways to know a river but the best way is to start with the river itself. To explore its very many aspects, it is imperative that you get a feel of the river first. And what better way to do it than by going on a river cruise in a traditional 'thoni'. For each aspect is like a bend in the river a surprise! Each cultural expression that has generated from these river banks has a greater meaning when witnessed. Music, dance, martial arts are all various elements of this package.
Itinerary:
Day 1 Cochin-River Nila:
Arrival into Cochin, meet our representative outside the airport terminal and transfer to River Nila (3 hours drive). Check into hotel / homestay. Relax until late noon.
Visit the Pottery and Bell metal workshops. By sunset visit enjoy the folk expressions that show cases the folk heritage of Nila.
Folk Expressions - An evening with folk artist in a village to understand the folk traditions of the region. A young team of performers will take you through dance forms, music and percussions that make the region so rich in its cultural tradition. Return to hotel by late evening. Overnight in Nila.
Day 2 River Nila:
After breakfast visit a 400 year old house built according to the traditional architectural style. Visit herb and spice plantations and stay with the family for a vegetarian lunch.
We support a planting program known as Traveller's forest. Guests are invited to plant an indigenous sapling and join us in our eco restoration efforts.
Thoni cruise (country boat cruise) in the afternoon combined with a visit to Thunjan Parambu Literature Park and language museum in Tirur. The boat trip concludes at the Vakkad beach.
Return back to the Hotel/Homestay. Overnight in Nila.
Day 3 River Nila:
Musical Trail: Transfer to Mulayankaavu village for Musical Trails. This is a 2-hour lecture demonstration of various school of music that evolved and nurtured on the banks of River Nila. This is a program to showcase the percussion culture of the river valley civilization.Afternoon: Time free
Overnight in Nila.
Day 4 River Nila:
Day with the Masters at Kalamandalam. An interaction with students and masters of classical dance and music school of Kerala. Lunch at the Hotel organized by the school.
Overnight in Nila.
Day 5 River Nila-Cochin:
Transfer to Cochin airport..
How this particular trip makes a difference to the local community / environment :
This trip is part of a river regeneration program. Using stories as a medium, we explain the importance of this river which is part of the social and cultural psyche of Kerala. The boats used as well as the oarsmen are from the local communities. This makes an alternative, supplementary source of incomes to sand miners, coconut processors, and small size property owners.
The day with the musicians help them to promote their art forms, make known to the rest of the world their musical styles and also provides with them a source of income which given the nature of festivals in Kerala is seasonal. These are also lower caste members of the communities who otherwise, wouldn’t get an opportunity to perform in esteemed musical gathering.
The folk expression has brought together about 40 youngsters to pursue their traditional art and percussion culture. Show casing the art forms from young ones have brought in a sense of pride amongst our people and we are getting more and more youngsters to pursue the art forms. The community feeling as part of the initiative now has given us many hopes to revive many lost traditions of our region.
Travellers Forest is an initiative set up by the Nila Foundation with support from The Blue Yonder to increase the green coverage of the area and hence supporting the eco-restoration of the region which might bring back the life into the once mighty river. |
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